This week, the Pussycat Dolls released their sophomore album 'Doll Domination' but it appears the dolls won't be dominating the charts as much as they'd hoped (or like). Hits Daily Double reports that the dolls are only set to sell between 70,000-75,000 copies, which would be enough to land them in the top 10. Lead singer Nicole's solo bid was a total failure and it seems her failure has rubbed off on the Pussycat Doll's. At one time, Nicole was considered a goldmine to the group and now she's become snake poison. Or could it be because the snake-poison were derived from the songs intended for Nicole's ill-fated solo project 'My Name Is Nicole'? Some of them making their way on 'Doll Domination' instead, which to me is a damn right cheek. Either way, such low sales can somewhat be considered surprising since the funky-grinder 'When I Grow Up' (Rodney 'Darkchild' Jerkins) did really well chartwise.....I can't really say there were much standout tracks on Doll Domination and none of the songs are even touching the hotness that was 'Buttons', although there were a few catchy dance anthems here and there.... starting with 'Bottle Pop', which is a quite the bouncy dance number that it is. But it becomes monotonous after a while. At least as far as lyrics are concerned because it's not that different from When I Grow Up or 'Doncha'. How many 'I am the shiznit and chicks wanna be me and become a super star' lyrics can they run into the ground? The extremely quirky 'Whatcha Think About That' is officially the second single and takes a different stance. It is all about a woman maintaining her independence and self-control in a relationship so if any man tries to trample on that, he's not worthy of being with in the first place. Missy's verses were pretty effective as well. I actually enjoyed her parts and I'm not even feeling Missy like that anymore.
The R. Kelly-assisted 'Out of This Club' is a syrupy slow number that starts off with a rhythmic piano and then the popularized stuttering synth comes into play along with added bass. The song as a whole is pretty weak and characterless coming from a group with so much poise and charisma. R. Kelly who was ONCE known as the Jesus to R&B music (blasphemy now I know) has just discredited himself even further by using the ridiculously popularized autotune on his vocals (all thanks to T-Pain). I did like the ultra cool R&B-pop number 'Takin All Over The World' as well as the duskily hot 'Magic' and the sassy pop-urban cut 'Elevator'. I was pretty much on the fence with 'Whatchamacallit' which sees The Clutch on writing duties over the Middle-Eastern inspired production. And I could ride with the Timbaland-produced 'Halo' although the song brings REAL meaning to recycling derivativeness. It certainly reeks of Rihanna's 'Rehab' and Justin Timberlake's 'What Goes Around'. As for 'In Person', it's different for PCD as it takes on a Motown-y sort of vibe but Nicole doesn't really pull it off.
Overall, 'Doll Domination' was pretty much a disappointment. Lyrics were fun and light, and some even catchy enough to incorporate singalong choruses, but none of the songs charmed or screamed out at you. I can't really see myself listening to this again, with the exception of Takin All Over The World, Magic, Elevator and Halo. The other songs were pretty much erased soon after listening to them. Hell, even the new Girlicious album shits on the new PCD album and I never in a million years thought I'd say that.....
Rating: 1.8/5
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