Paige: Positively going somewhere

At a time when a lot of pop and dance albums come across as disposable items you can listen to once and not ever again, Jennifer Paige’s new release Positively Somewhere is an enjoyable surprise. Truth to tell, I was only prepared for something pleasant. After all, it has been four years since her first big hit Crush and what I remember about the song is not the melody but the striking video or a pretty girl in a red car on the streets of L.A. If nothing was heard about Jennifer between that and today, it can be because there was nothing interesting about her that the media believed people would want to know.

Well, it turns out that she did quite a lot of important thing during those four years. The tall, beautiful Jennifer went on tour in the US of A and other parts of the world, riding on the tidal wave of the surprise success of Crush. Then she did a movie, or rather she provided the voice for an animated character in the upcoming Disney feature film, The Country Bears which also features Elton John. And then she went to work on her second album which became Positively Somewhere.

The album is simpler than most pop/dance collection we get these days. Jennifer as a music artist is so devoid of gimmickry. But there is no way you can avoid getting into her rhythm once you get your hands on Positively Somewhere. Emphasis here is on the beat and on her classically-trained vocals. Her voice is full and confident, her singing and unique blend of soul, rock, gospel and the blues. And she sounds impressive in all the cuts, always smooth but also powerful.

And what do you know, she comes out even better when she has a truly infectious song that gets everybody dancing. Tops in this list is Make Me, a fantastic mover whose effect on the listener echoes that of Ricky Martin’s during his Copa de Vida days, I can’t get enough of this one and it makes me wonder why Stranded is Jennifer’s first single release from the new album. The second cut, Here With Me is another winner of the same sort.

Other songs included in Positively Somewhere are These Days, Way of the World, Not This Time, You Get Through, Feel So Far Away, The Edge, Tell Me When, Stay the Night and Vapor. Incidentally, Jennifer does not only sing, she also co-wrote some of the songs in the album.

Changing pop divas

The pop divas are a-changing and the signs are all there. Today’s new female pop stars belong to a totally different breed. Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton and Avril Lavigne look like thinking music prodigies more at home inside the ivy-covered walls of a music school than before the cameras of MTV. Does this mean the belly-button baring nymphet who sings a bit and dances a lot is going out of style? Is the end in sight for Britney Spears and her ilk? Could be.

So, just so you won’t get flat-footed when the inevitable happens, there is a perfect souvenir of that passing era in the market. This is a two-volume reissue of the album Britney that gives her fans more of Britney Spears than ever before. The handsome package gives the buyers some of Britney’s biggest sellers from the album Britney, plus bonus-remixed tracks and a VCD that contains music videos, interviews and other special things dear to the hearts of Britney fans.

You will find several sound and video editions of I’m a Slave 4 U, I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman and Overprotected. Other tracks are Lonely, Boys, Anticipating, I Love Rock ’n Roll, Cinderella, Let Me Be, Bombastic Love, That’s Where You Take Me, When I Found You and What It’s Like to Be Me.

P.S. This is for all those Britney fans out there. The pop diva makes an appearance in the new flick Austin Powers: Goldmember. She portrays a Britney Spears who is dating Mini-Me. You might also want to check out future telecasts of the TV series Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, for which she committed to do six episodes. Wonder what she will be playing, a vampire or another slayer?