Stella Soleil
Dirty Little Secret
Universal
Well traveled Stella weaves “intelligent pop” with over-hyped sexuality that’s reminiscent of Madonna in her early days on her first full length album, aptly titled Dirty Little Secret. The lyrics seem to stumble a bit in some of the songs, and toward the end of the disc, become sort of predictable, but I have to say that her voice carries on regardless. If there is anything worth it’s weight on this CD, it’s the sound that Stella exhibits. This, and the fact that she writes her own music and lyrics, separate her from the other overplayed blonde pop icons. The odd Celtic-electronica song “Kiss, Kiss” heads up the CD, and is accompanied by the sweet ballard “You” (which could hold a few different meanings, a common quality of the songs on Dirty Little Secret) and a teenybopper sounding “Look My Way.” With lyrics like “All that I want is a taste of the boy in sympathy/All I want is a taste of the boy inside of me” on “Imperfect,” you can’t deny that the writing has an ulterior motive, and that following with the other aspect of Dirty Little Secret, everything seems to have a double meaning. In the case of Stella Soleil, while this isn’t the worst album I’ve ever heard, it doesn’t have enough going for it to make a road of it’s own. Sex may sell, but in the case of Dirty Little Secret, it’s so overdone and obvious in every aspect of the album that it makes me a little queasy, to be honest. The singing is okay, and the variety is fair, but the subject matter makes so few changes, it’s like one long song with a few different meanings.
Universal Records, 1755 Broadway, New York, NY 10019; http://www.universalrecords.com
