Dance Revolution

Yet another teen pop group that was formed after a big-name producer started a search to find members, causing agents nationwide to call their young clients, telling them to fly out to L.A. as soon as possible. The producer in question in Ron Fair, the man who brought Christina Aguilera to fame, and accordingly, there's a lot on the Slumber Party Girls's debut, Dance Revolution, that very much resembles the former Mickey Mouse Clubber's records, to the extent that there is even a song on it called "Back to Basics," a Latin pop rousing closer encouraging listeners to "come join the [dance] revolution." But unlike Xtina, the Slumber Party Girls ditch sexuality and aim instead for fun, generally positive messages about friendship, boys, school, dancing, and hanging out. There is still a certain amount of sensuality in the music, as much as any club-oriented rhythm section provides, but SPG are much more kid-friendly than Ashlee Simpson or Britney Spears or most of the rest of the artists that pop radio listening youngsters may find. The album is expertly produced, moving gently between genres, presumably in an attempt to attract as large of an audience as possible, as well as to reflect the ethnic diversity of the group (representing Asian, Latina, Anglo-European, and African-American cultures), from the rock of "My Life" to the salsa, complete with Spanish lyrics, of the aptly named "Salsa," but stays mostly in the super-clean dancey pop/R&B realm, with good beats and hooks. It's absolutely nothing that hasn't already been done a million times before, but for what it is, it's done pretty well. The five girls in the group, Lina, Mallory, Cassie, Karla, and Caroline, all have great voices and sound much more mature than the 15- and 16-year-olds they were when they recorded Dance Revolution, and the songs are catchy in that fun and unmemorable way, a decent nice combination for kids who are too old for something like Kidz Bop but not quite mature enough for Christina or Britney.