Watching Christina Milian’s stealthy efforts to become ‘the next Beyoncé’ is an embarrassing yet engrossing experience.
Only two years ago, the young Milian showed great promise, having served up a saucy plate of cheeky pop anthems that were offset by her wholesome girl-next door persona. Here, after all, was a teenager that was penning platinum-selling hits for Jennifer Lopez while her pop peers were being fitted for their beauty pageant outfits. The world was surely her oyster, and she was going to swallow it whole.
Presumably, the ensuing years she spent as a VJ on MTV had given her ideas, and gone was the sugary pop starlet, to be replaced by an Amazonian ebony beauty with blonde flowing locks. It’s a shame, really, given her overwhelming potential, that Milian has chosen to emulate Beyoncé so pointedly, not only in appearance, but in musical bent.
Granted, many of us would be more than happy if the charts were crammed with artists blessed with Beyoncé’s talent. Whether or not pop audiences’ appetites can be satiated by Beyoncé-lite contenders is another question entirely. Ultimately, It’s About Time suffers from uncreative, cheap-sounding production; a paradox, given its almost slavish dedication to the teachings of Pharrell Williams. Ballads like ‘Whatever U Want’ and ‘Someday One Day’ are strikingly inauthentic and bloodless. Even the single, ‘Dip It Low’, though hugely catchy, seems lacking in that NERD-y Midas Touch.
A scantily-clad teen popstrel is a many splendoured thing; why they insist on putting out so many stunningly mediocre records remains a mystery.