Search - Stella Soleil :: Dirty Little Secret

Like former Eve's Plum singer Colleen "Vitamin C" Fitzpatrick, Stella "Soleil" Katsoudas has alternative sort-of credibility to live down. To do so, Dirty Little Secret, which follows Katsoudas's work with TRL faves Ministry, Die Warzau, and Chemlab, borrows Fitzpatrick's template for ever-so-slightly edgy pop that's nonetheless kid-friendly in an ever-so-slightly naughty way. Where Vitamin C offered an ode to "Graduation Day," Soleil aims to incite juniors and seniors with "Stand Up," a post-prom theme that firmly posits that the celebrants can stay up all night while implying that nothing riskier than a dance party is on the agenda. Similarly, "Pretty Young Thing" tempers its lust with a marriage proposal, while Soleil's wish for an "Imperfect" boy suggests a yearning for a Josh Hartnett type who just happens to forget to comb his hair sometimes. Even "Angel Face," the sexiest song here, is as PG-rated as a typical episode of Dawson's Creek. All this goes by in a flash of stylistic borrowings from Madonna and Britney (and lest we forget, the Turkish hit here overhauled into "Kiss Kiss"). Dirty Little Secret is hardly built to last, but like its pinup-ready frontwoman, it's well built nonetheless. --Rickey Wright