For those who watched the original “Real Housewives of Orange County,” it’s hard not to recognize the symmetry between cast member Jo De La Rosa’s song list on her debut album “Unscripted” and her semi-scripted relationship and drawn-out breakup with former fianc & #233; Slade Smiley.
With songs like “U Can’t Control Me,” “Rumors” and “Letting Go” the wannabe dance/pop princess is working her already stretched 15 minutes of fame by drawing her fans back into her televised relationship drama.
Her highly orchestrated album has the hallmarks of a well-planned pop album, drawing inspiration from the sounds of Britney Spears, Beyonc & #233;, Jennifer Lopez and even late ’80s Michael Jackson. While it’s difficult to determine the quality of her actual voice through the electronic manipulation, the whole album has a decent energy. Even the first of three ballads “Letting Go” takes a boy band, shuffle and snap kind of rhythm.
But since the record draws so heavily on proven music formulas, much of it sounds like something you’ve heard before.
Despite the correlation to her real life, the 20-something De La Rosa only cowrites one of the 12 tracks,”A Little Inspiration”,which actually is a standout on the album with engaging piano work and straight-from-a-diary lyrics: “Everything I know is falling away slow/visions of dreams are fading so fast.”
Those are a sharp diversion from the lyrics of her racier tracks: “You control me with your body/you’re so naughty but you feel so good/boy you please me when you tease me.”
The former University of California, Irvine, cheerleader harks back to her Peruvian roots with two of the 12 tracks recorded in Spanish. The songs merely are Spanish translations of two songs on the album, “Look but Don’t Touch” and “Rhythm of your Soul,” giving the last two tracks the same feel as the rest of the record, which is to say a bit redundant.
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Julie Leupold
