Although Stella Soleil's DIRTY LITTLE SECRET is ostensibly packaged as a Christina Aguilera-style affair complete with dance beats, suggestive lyrics, and percolating synths, there's a bit more at work here. The presence of producer Tony Swain as one of the album's masterminds is a clue. Swain was the man behind such commercial-but-classy '80s British pop artists as Alison Moyet, Bananarama, and Spandau Ballet, who all combined R&B, pop, and dance music with their own distinctive personalities. Swain manages to turn the same trick with Soleil on this album. The diva-in-training possesses a character-filled, soulful voice that's more Cyndi Lauper than Britney Spears. While DIRTY LITTLE SECRET positions Soleil as a breezy sex kitten in skimpy lingerie, her voice drips with emotion that precludes any notion of total vacuity. Granted, we're not exactly talking Laura Nyro here, but DIRTY LITTLE SECRET has more going for it than you might assume.
