You're probably just as amazed as I am that Diddy's "band" Danity Kane are still together. I guess the third time's a charm. When they dropped their first self-titled album in 2006, I gave it an unbiased shot and managed to enjoy half of it. While I may not listen to it as much as I do a few other old tracks, I stand by my opinion of it and endeavor to give its sophomore album, Welcome to the Dollhouse, the same treatment.
Once again, the girls--with the assistance of several producer heavyweights--managed to issue a B+ album. My favorites were "Damaged," their first single, and "Bad Girl," featuring Missy Elliott. "Damaged" is a nice ballad cleverly disguised by a club beat. "Bad Girl" had a great choir harmony, but I hate the part in the chorus when they say, "when/the/red/light/comes on/I transform."
There were also a few interesting tracks that weren't a part of their earlier repertoire. Both "Pretty Boy" and "2 of You" have 90s rap beats, and the latter uses old school slang like "juicy humps," "fly as hell," and "if you feel me." The song is very much an arena song, because of the chorus where they beckon the listener to clap a certain amount of times. It will be perfect for their tour. The only flaws for "Pretty Boy" is the line where one of them says, "come and wipe me down." Gross! The most surprising part of the song "Strip Tease" isn't the seductive lyrics, but the fact that the lead singer sounds like Nicole from the Pussycat Dolls. Despite the title of the song, they managed to keep it relatively PG. It could make for a cool concept video if done tastefully. The somewhat enjoyable "Lights Out" is the real seduction song.
The album also has several interlude songs and my favorite was "Flashback." I have pretty high standards when it comes to slow songs/ballads. I listened to half of Mariah Carey's collection this weekend and she was the queen of ballads in the 90s. That's a hard act to follow, so whenever I hear slow songs I usually give it a couple of seconds before I turn them off from disappointment. "Flashback," however, is a beautiful snippet of a song about regret.
They should've built on that instead of including a few duds. Speaking of which, the tracks you should just ignore include their duet with Diddy's other band Day 26 called "Aint Going." Day 26 sounded more like background singers. I don't picture myself even reviewing their album.
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