With all the great recent American and Canadian rock-pop acts (Lillix, Fefe etc.) falling at the hurdle of public indifference, I was beginning to think that the occasional pop gem to be discovered on Disney albums (Potential Break-Up Song and See You Again being about as far as I dare delve) were the best we’d be getting from feisty, fun teenage girls on the other side of the Atlantic for a while. I’m certainly not about to start listening to Paramore when I could put on Fefe or Avril and not put up with any pretences of cool. But it seems they haven’t all given up. I just discovered a young lady named Lucy Walsh who is signed to Island/DefJam and is basically like Gwen Stefani would be if she’d been born in Europe and never met Pharrell or Akon.
The single is So Uncool, which is super-catchy, a bit r’n’b but only in a way that adds a bit of sass, rather than full on Pussycat Dolls territory. It also has a spelling bit. There is a hint of similarity to Lindsay Lohan or even Hilary Duff, but I like it much better than even their best output. Considering they couldn’t get hits and they’re super-famous, I doubt Lucy is going to get any further, but she has commercial beauty on her side as the photos show (very Caprice, don’t you think?), so you never know.
I can’t help thinking what a great album Britney could make out of these tracks. Crash reminds me of Josie and the Pussycats (the movie soundtrack). Forever Since will surely not get away with those Umbrella “eh-eh”s, even though they make the track 100% better. Awful Sorry is very lovely, despite its grammatical incorrectness – a proper pop ballad. I notice that Lucy is MySpace friends with JR Rotem, so I guess some of these tracks might reappear on Paris Hilton’s next album, if Lucy’s career is a disaster. No matter what happens to her, I won’t rest til I get her album!