It’s a fashion thing. When Marilyn Monroe was having air blown up her dress every little girl wanted to be a film star. When Madonna was dancing about with her bra showing, pop star was the dream. Now Jennifer Lopez is riding high in the Forbes Celebrity Rich List every teen starlet prays that one day, they’ll be a brand name. It’s all about the music, the films, the clothing line, the fragrance.
Of all those chasing the dream, no one’s chasing harder than Christina Milian. Since releasing her self-titled debut in 2002 and racking up two hits, “Am To PM” and “When You Look At Me”, she’s made four films, written songs for a string of US stars, turned her hand to TV presenting and found time to make a new album. Although, evidently, only just - she’s spent most of 2004 shooting Be Cool the sequel to Get Shorty.
The danger for a 22 year-old in the fast lane to brand name ubiquity is that while busy doing everything, none of it gets done that well. And without a doubt, “It’s About Time” could have been done better.
It’s not bad. First single “Dip It Low” shimmies to a saucy oriental flavour and a pneumatic beat that’s good to tap a toe to. “I Need More” is a Neptunes-lite club track and “Whatever U Need”’s a fun, Kanye West style disco-funker with lots of anonymous "yo, yo, yo” raps. But it all lacks fire.
And that’s the frustrating thing. “It’s About Time” is an average album from one of R&B’s few genuine talents. It bags her as welter-weight Jennifer Lopez - which is a cruel irony considering she actually wrote “Play”, one of J. Lo’s biggest hits.
That Milian’s debut album was R&B by numbers wasn’t a problem. It had two great singles and the rest was throwaway pop fun. Second time around though, she’s trying to up the stakes and establish A-list credentials. She’s harder edged, sexier, more dynamic, more sophisticated or at least that’s the idea. Unfortunately, cutting edge by the numbers is just a pale imitation and a let down and “It’s About Time” has a lot of both. “Get Loose” for one, wants to be a big, rowdy club stomper, but Rodney Jerkins has got the autopilot well and truly on and it barely breaks a sweat.
Only on the mid-tempo love songs does she show her real potential. Sharing Janet Jackson’s ability to sound sexy and angelic at the same time, “Someday One Day”, “Highway” and “Miss You Like Crazy” lay honey sweet melodies on sensual slow grinds and come up with tracks that are above and beyond anything else. It’s probably no coincidence that they’re also the ones with her name on the writing credit.
It’s not inconceivable that Christina Milian may indeed be the new Janet Jackson. But she’ll need to write more songs herself and call in some real heavy weight production backup to prove it. Above all else though, she needs to focus her attention. If she doesn’t, she’ll never get her name on a perfume bottle.
