June 1, 2007

Mutya Buena

Real Girl

4 / 10 Back when she was using her own secret language to terrorise all her Sugababe bandmates, it seemed obvious that mardy bum Mutya Buena was destined for a solo career. One that her pierced gob, cleavage, tats and arctic stare suggested might fall somewhere between Amy Winehouse’s plastered songbook and CSS’s bitch-pop. Shame then that ‘Real Girl’ reveals she just wanted to be Mariah Carey. Neo-soul opener ‘Just A Little Bit’ and that Lenny Kravitz sample aside, it’s a debut’s worth of octave-warbling, R&B dross. And not even Winehouse herself (who rocks up on backing vocals on ‘B Boy Baby’ – the not-quite-funny re-working of The Ronettes classic of nearly the same name) can stop it being any less of a letdown.

Krissi Murison

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8.3

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