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Music Review (Michelle Branch)

When 17 year-old Michelle Branch broke onto the scene two years ago, her timing could not have been better. In a pop music world that was dominated by tarted-up Barbie dolls like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, here was one young woman who gave us some incredibly catchy hits that had a little bit more substance than all that other mass-produced dreck. Face it: you were humming along to the infectious, ebullient choruses in "Everywhere" like everyone else. Branch, who either wrote or co-wrote every song on her debut album The Spirit Room, came across as the acoustic guitar-toting, doe-eyed girl next door. Here was a pretty young woman who actually knew how to play a musical instrument, write some fun little songs, and be someone else for young girls to look up to, instead of all those bleached blonde bimbettes. It wasn't the greatest music in the world, and there's a huge number of artists that young kids should be appreciating more, but Branch was nice enough, a refreshing change. Plus, she knew a good pop hook when she heard it (case in point: "All You Wanted", penned solely by Branch), and aided by some super-slick production by John Shanks, including some lush, comfy vocal overdubs, drum machine, and that safe-but-edgy alt-rock guitar, The Spirit Room was a mildly pleasant distraction from what was a very depressing 2001.

So how do you follow up an album that was as huge a hit as The Spirit Room? Branch's bouncy, guitar-based pop is riddled with cliches, so it's no surprise that her sophomore effort, Hotel Paper follows the same cycle we've seen all too many times before: an artist puts out the album they've worked all their lives to put out, tours like crazy, and then faces the extreme pressure of writing and recording a new record while still on the road. So now, instead of bursting with wide-eyed, adolescent emotion, Branch is a slightly more worldly 19 years of age, and her new album tries to be a bit mature. As a result, the songs are more...