Eden's Crush: Popstars : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Eden's Crush ain't gonna take no mess from no man no more! This less-than-subtle notion fuels most every tune on the debut endeavor from the reality-show-originated female fivesome. And although self-empowerment is an exemplary message to be broadcasting to their fans, that omnipresent girls-rule/ guys-drool attitude often rings hollow, particularly when it's written, produced, arranged, coiffeured and coutured, and has its nails filed to razor-sharpness by the species' male members. Like salmon swimming upstream to lay eggs moments before they expire, audition winners Ana Maria, Maile, Nicole, Ivette and Rosanna heroically struggle to make those manmade values their own before the series fades to its inevitable end. It's a testimony to their Lycra-clad determination to succeed that amid all the prefab beats, bleeps and plastic Latin horn blasts, Eden's Crush actually generate their own excitement on corporate-created hits like "Get Over Yourself." But if it's individual identity you're listening for, you've gotta tune in to the series. It ain't here.

BARRY WALTERS
(RS 872 - July 5, 2001)