This week marks a major celebration for a certain POP star! Former doll and sex-kitten Nicole Scherzinger FINALLY releases her debut solo album Killer Love (in the UK)!

After her 2006-2008 (yes I know, can you believe this has been 5 years in the making) project Her Name Is Nicole was shelved followed by a string of more huge hit singles worldwide with the Pussycat Dolls, many thought she was destined to play out the rest of her POP music career with the girls. A couple rumors and an announced “much needed break” later and suddenly the permanent dismemberment of the Pussycat Dolls came to light in early 2010. From this point on, it was obvious her solo project would be kicked back into full gear and it would only be a matter of time before she unleashed her music upon the world.

Over a year later and 2 singles into her solo career, Nicole Scherzinger has truly surprised me – both in good and bad ways. “Poison” was the instant dance stomper I was hoping for but failed to stick around or mimic the success of Pussycat material in my book. Thankfully her follow-up single “Don’t Hold Your Breath” came with a prettier set of legs and has grown on me much more than “Poison” ever did, its been in my playlist for months in original and remix form!

After listening to the album sampler for Killer Love a couple weeks ago I was left to believe that all these years of waiting would pay off – sadly, I was mistaken. Basically the album has 3 zones for it’s songs:

• Pretty Good  (Don’t Hold Your Breath, Poison, Heartbeat, Killer Love)
• Good But Still Forgettable (Casualty, Wet, Club Banger Nation)
• Just Forgettable (everything else on the CD)

A majority of the time it feels like the tracks WANT to take you there but they don’t. They travel in the right direction but I think they’re being driven by the wrong diva. Perhaps Leona Lewis would have been better tailored to get behind the wheel of this project – for the ballads that is.

“Casualty” is her best attempt at a ballad with a great hook yet it’s still not strong enough to carry the tune into the “Pretty Good” zone. In the end it appears we were given a handful of fillers that would have been hits in the 90’s. So many POP ballads and nothing truly special, tis a shame as I’m a HUGE ballad guy – such a sucker for a good ballad!

The upbeat numbers like “Club Banger Nation”, “Say Yes”, and “Wet” all please the ear for the few minutes they play out but nothing I will remember in the morning.

To be honest I could have waited another year or two for some stronger material from Scherzinger. I understand she didn’t want to do an entire dance/POP album but that still doesn’t excuse the lackluster downtempo cuts here. Mature and sexy can still be fun and catchy.

Pick up Killer Love if you want a second rate POP album, a couple hits and some tunes to get you through the day but will certainly be forgotten in the coming months.

Listen to “Casualty” and check out a great LIVE acoustic performance of “Poison” below.

Nicole Scherzinger – Casualty

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