Me ves llegar en mi lamborghini

With cover art like that and promotional pictures like this, you might be surprised to learn that Spanish-born Mexican singer Belinda appeared in the Disney Channel movie Cheetah Girls 2 and is on the soundtrack for it. There are teen pop elements to her music, though, and Belinda is fairly young--about 17. She was really young when she released her self-titled debut album, though--not even thirteen! That album, which went double platinum in Mexico and launched a bunch of #1 singles, featured covers of Kim-Lian's "Teenage Superstar" and K-otic's "I Don't Understand You." Her second album, Utopia, branches out a bit more (not always successfully) and is probably an attempt to sound more "mature."

Ni Freud Ni Tu Mama--Utopia's lead single. It's guitar-heavy pop, primarily in Spanish, though the one part of it you're most likely to remember is the random line in English, "You're hot...I forgot," which she tosses off cutely but without commitment, in contrast to the strong, dismissive, maybe even angry attitude her voice shows in the rest of the song as she sings to the boy she's getting rid of. The music video features quick appearances by Disney Channel star and singer Raven and the boy (well, man, I suppose) who did most of the singing for Zac Efron's character in High School Musical, Drew Seeley. Does that beginning sound familiar to anyone else, though?

Quien Es Feliz--the first few seconds are a little off-putting, but the catchiness and quality starts to pick up soon into the song, and you realize this might not be another song with angry, girl-power Belinda telling off a boy, but instead...a love song? Yup--"Quien Es Feliz" even has some rock-ballad elements, though it's mainly not a slow song. The guitars are still important here, but it's not quite as rock-out sounding. The really exciting part of this song is the chorus, which has Belinda's voice soaring and high, really lifting the song above a lot of the others on the album. The middle, where Belinda switches to a sweet delivery, is great, too.

Noche Cool--a strong guitar opening gives way to Belinda rapping, which I'm sure some people won't like, but I think it works, even if it is sort of funny. Once again, it's less rocky than "Ni Freud Ni Tu Mama;" though it's still rocky, it adds in a little glitz, too. There's a great contrast between the rapid fire verses and the chorus, where the words flow more and are often dragged out. There are some DJ-like sound effects, heavy breathing, and kiss-off sound effects (supposedly kisses, but there's far too much attitude in them for them to come off as sweet); really, a music video for this would have to have a lot of dancing in a dark club.

To buy Belinda's second album, Utopia, go here (physical) or here (digital).

Next up: possibly that Swedish singer.