Ashanti

World domination is nineteen year-old American artist Ashanti’s plan.

On her eponymous debut album, the self-styled ‘princess of hip-hop’ plumps for chilled R’n’B grooves that suit her light, sweet voice well. The best songs come near the start of the record. First single ‘Foolish’ is vibrant and catchy, while ‘Happy’ sounds much like the bizarrely good combination that was Jennifer Lopez remixed by Ja Rule.

Lyrically, Ashanti sticks firmly to the same narrow territory. Loving her man, watching him sleep around and finally learning to cope without him is pretty much the focus of this album. But while there are a few spoken word howlers, overall she doesn’t manage at all badly.

The problem is that, with 17 songs crammed together on an hour-long album, the formula behind the music first becomes obvious, then overwhelming.

After a while, it begins to seem like Ashanti is simply repeating melodies she has already sung. Come track fourteen, it transpires that she is. The only difference between ‘Unfoolish’ and ‘Foolish’ is that a male rapper has been added to the mix and Ashanti has changed one or two lines.

Still, given the radio-friendly quality to her songs, this eponymous album may be enough to push her to the top.