Once upon a time in England, five young women were brought together to sing pop songs. All were excellent dancers, and each brought a particular passion to the group. One was known for her love of sports, another for her fashion, and a third for her red hair. Theirs was a pop of cover-all-your-bases, and it worked like a charm.

There must be differences between the Spice Girls and the Pussycat Dolls, though admittedly they can be tough to come up with off the top of your head. One that sticks is that the Dolls weren't initially a musical group at all. Prior to 2005 disc PCD, the group existed as stage performers, their style somewhere between Rat Pack-classic and Sunset Strip-modern. Then someone had the notion that the theme could be converted into music, and the membership was edited to reflect singing ability, and Dolls 2.0 were born. And here's where the resemblance to the Spice Girls becomes uncanny: Both groups -- genetically engineered for success, focus-grouped for fun -- ought to make terrible music, but neither one will give us that satisfaction.

On PCD, the surprise came in the form of weirdly good beats. A-listers like Timbaland and will.i.am had been brought on board, and even secondary singles like "Wait A Minute" and "Buttons" felt fresh. "Don't Cha," a mash of sassy lyrics and spaced-out synths, was a deserving mega-hit.

Like its predecessor, Doll Domination is top-heavy, leading off with its biggest cameos and snazziest beats. And also like PCD, the best of these are very good -- we just can no longer call that weird. "When I Grow Up" features vocals processed to robotic levels, run over a drum line so even and forceful it borders on house music. This is trademark Dolls: over-the-top but perfectly choreographed. "Bottle Pop" is gauzy and hypnotic, the Doll voices seeming to merge with keyboards as Snoop Dogg drops lines on top. And "Whatcha Think About That" is arguably the album's strongest cut. The unbeatable Missy Elliott twists flows alongside a bhangra-tinged beat -- a tasty contrast with the song's overall flighty, '80s pop sound.

These tracks are why you'll try Doll Domination, but another feature is worth noting. The Dolls do significantly more with the "filler" space here, using it to test out acoustic-guitar bedroom pop ("Happily Never After"), diva neo-soul ("Hush Hush") and more. (On PCD, they touch on '60s styles on the B-side, a nod to the early stylings of the group, but that has now largely been left behind.) Odds are, they won't do much more with those genres, but that's not really the point. The Pussycat Dolls are proving to be much more open-minded and creative than we could have guessed.

By Jake Blaine