Quick Spin: Review of Ashley Tisdale's Pop Album 'Guilty Pleasure'

GUILTY PLEASURE

Ashley Tisdale

The stars of "High School Musical" haven't had much luck in their non-"HSM"-related musical endeavors. Vanessa Hudgens and Corbin Bleu released albums that didn't sell; Zac Efron wisely avoided a musical career entirely.

Ashley Tisdale, who played grasping bling hound Sharpay in the films, had the worst luck on-screen, where she was usually saddled with thankless numbers about wanting to be fabulous, and the best luck off-screen: Her '07 debut, "Headstrong," which timed the "HSM" media wave just right, remains one of the few non-franchise discs to go gold.

Tisdale's follow-up, "Guilty Pleasure," is a transitional piece, meant to signal the 24-year-old singer's delayed departure from the world of tweeny pop (characterized by songs of self-affirmation and dance-floor angst that recall Hilary Duff) and, simultaneously, her arrival in the world of almost-adult pop (characterized by songs of self-affirmation, dance-floor angst and mild sexual innuendo that recall Pink).

"Guilty Pleasure" is as faux-hard-edged and feisty as "Headstrong" was fizzy and awkward. Like most discs in these waning days of girl pop, it feels anxious and uncertain, its mix of Hot Topic rock, club tracks and declarative ballads less a matter of choice than a desperate attempt to find something, anything, that sticks.

Tisdale is a malleable, likable presence, less remote than Hudgens and certainly less capable of embarrassment: She makes it through "How Do You Love Someone," a percussive, gonzo ballad about divorcing parents ("Mama never told me how to touch/Daddy never showed me how to heal") with what sounds like a straight face. She also makes brisk work of the hiccupy "Hot Mess," a frantic ode to bad boys that has a tag line ("I'm leaving every piece of my conscience behind") that pretty much sums up the whole endeavor.

-- Allison Stewart

DOWNLOAD THESE: "Hot Mess," "How Do You Love Someone"