Habitacion Doble

On their third album, Habitación Doble, the Pérez sisters come up with another handful of Latin pop gems amid an otherwise solid album. Hanna and Ashley Pérez, the American-born twentysomething sisters comprising Ha*Ash, also continue to refine their own particular style of Latin pop, one that crosses Shakira with the slick contemporary singer/songwriter country-pop of Michelle Branch and her side project the Wreckers. The Pérez sisters wrote four of the 11 songs on Habitación Doble, including a couple of the album's best songs ("Hasta Que Llegaste Tu," "Already Home"), and appear to taking the reins away from hitmaker Aureo Baqueiro, who not only produced each Ha*Ash album to date, but also wrote the bulk of the songs. This time Baqueiro is credited with writing only two: "No Te Quiero Nada" and "Vamos a Llamarlo Amor." While both of the Baqueiro songs are highlights, "No Te Quiero Nada" is particularly great. An emotional, punchy song with a standout chorus tailor-made for the Pérez sisters' vocal harmonies and Baqueiro's big wall of production, "No Te Quiero Nada" is among the best Ha*Ash songs to date. Chosen as the lead single, it's a sure-fire Latin pop hit. The other especially notable song on Habitación Doble is "Already Home," one of the aforementioned songs written by the sisters themselves. The song is notable in part because it's sung in English, a new if unsurprising development in the sisters' ongoing recording career; after all, Hanna and Ashley were born in the States and sing well in English, so it was only a matter of time before they tried out an English-language crossover single like "Already Home." The song's crossover potential is enhanced by a vocal feature courtesy of upstart folk-rock singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile.