If the R&B/hip-hop world had a class system, Missy Elliott protégée Nicole would already be a member of the aristocracy. In June, her first single, the slinky "Make It Hot," premiered at Number Seven on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles chart; her debut boasts production by Elliott, Timbaland and SWV veterans Flavahood. Not bad for a seventeen-year-old ex-choir girl. Nicole has spunk to spare and a promising set of pipes that are equally at home with rich, velvety croons and sassy, attitudinal trills. But it's still a teenager's voice striving for sophistication, and when it delivers a provocative line like "You'll know when I'm ready/Trust me, you'll know" ("Pressure") with bubblegum sincerity, you can't blame the song's frustrated suitor for raising a skeptical brow.

The album's strongest tracks are those that feature Elliott playing worldly counterpoint to the young singer, creating a kind of all-ages dialogue in which one voice's naiveté plays off another's sensual smirk. Backed by easy, elastic funk and an elaborate wall of synthesized instruments, mentor and rookie transform catchy numbers such as "Seventeen" and "In da Street" into irresistible, sexy soul anthems. Nicole is at her most convincing when she plays a self-possessed teen who won't be pushed around, particularly by horndog boy-friends (the title track, "Curiosity," "Boy You Should Listen"). Give this girl a year or two, and the real soul royalty might well have reason to watch their backs. (RS 796)

NEVA CHONIN