Girls Aloud Jump For Someone’s Love

ARTIST: Girls Aloud ALBUM: Out of Control RELEASE DATE: Nov. 3, 2008 WEB DEBUT: Oct. 26, 2008

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: The tragedy of loving pop is that your favorite artists have to follow trends, by their very nature, or die. (Or become not-pop.) And apparently it’s working for Girls Aloud, since the first single from Out Of Control, “The Promise,” is this week’s No. 1 single in the UK. That doesn’t change the fact that it sounds like Amy Winehouse backed by a wedding band. The Girls covered “Jump (For My Love)” once upon a time and found new energy and meaning in the song, but now they actually sound like the Pointer Sisters, at least in the first half of Control. If you always thought their penchant for intense, hyperbolic arrangements was annoying, and you just wanted some ’80s-sounding noises that would complement their voices nicely, Out of Control is for you.

THE BEST TRACK: Closing track “We Wanna Party,” despite not being by Andrew WK, is good and energetic, but the winner here is probably “Fix Me Up.” It’s something of a departure for them since it swings rather than bangs, but it works for them, and there are a lot of good noises. There’s also “Miss You Bow Wow,” but lord, that title.