Bif Naked: Purge : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

It was easy to dismiss Canadian singer Bif Naked as a big-mouthed beanpole after her 1999 album I Bificus, but Purge shows the dark-haired stick figure rejoicing in audacious songs that are as enjoyable as they are impossible to ignore. Alluding to some rough times and an ensuing rebirth, Bif proclaims her triumph in the AC/DC inspired "I Love Myself Today" and Eighties-tinged pogo rocker, "Choking on the Truth." She adopts various guises throughout Purge, aping Stevie Nicks in the emotional ballad "Stolen Sidewalk," Tori Amos in "October Song," and Joan Jett in the aforementioned "I Love Myself Today." While her performance sometimes borders on the cartoonish, Bif is nobody's fool, no A&R man's pet project. Her will is strong and overwhelming, even in dark, thoughtful tracks like the acoustic "Hold On" and new-metal pop anthem "Religion." In this era of manufactured stars, Bif Naked is a renegade, bold and beautiful to the core.

KEN MICALLEF
(September 3, 2002)