Katy Perry's latest album reviewed

Katy Perry
One Of The Boys
Genre: Pop
Highlight: The video of I Kissed A Girl included as a bonus extra

WHENEVER the BBC get round to making I Love 2008, it's almost a cast-iron certainty this playful popstar will show up somewhere.

Katy Perry has been one of this summer's big sensations, seeing her single I Kissed A Girl storm the singles chart, largely on the back of that video. Red-blooded fans will be delighted to hear the three-minute Nuts-esque movie is included as an extra on this, her first album, but is that the only reason for buying it?

Perry has been pitched as more pin-up than pop talent, but One of the Boys sees an almost defiant album with a style bolder than Britney's, cuter than Kylie's and with an ounce of almost annoyingly trendy American attitude.

All the songs - and especially the title track - focus on entirely innocent girly dilemmas, but Katy's vocal kudos show that she's far more than just a pretty face and more than capable of holding her own in the hotly-contested pop industry.

Stylistically it takes after the overt sexuality of Tatu and Christina Aguilera, but peel away the promiscuity and you're left with an artist who sounds an awful lot like Avril Lavigne. That's no bad thing, but don't be expecting music that's as daring as her videos.

It's unashamedly a teenage girl's kind of album, but a surprisingly accomplished one at that. It gets four stars because it's a good listen and deserving of its success, but given that I'm not a teenage girl I think I'll watch that video on MTV instead.

CD provided by Tesco, Llandudno Junction