Coco Lee: Just No Other Way : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Coco Lee is known as the Mariah Carey of Taiwan. An American-raised pop-R&B diva, she has scored huge hits across the Chinese-speaking world with a sound and a look that owe, well, a lot to Mariah. Her U.S. debut, Just No Other Way, is the kind of album that has one song called "Do You Want My Love" and another called "Don't You Want My Love." But superslick bubblegum always needs an original flavor, and Lee doesn't have Carey's pyrotechnical reserves or the high-octane pheromones of Britney and Christina or the serpentine soul of Kelly Price (her duet partner on "Can't Get Over"). She also doesn't have the bracing grooves that could make her flexible, pretty voice stand out, or even a great hook or catchphrase. All she has are a hundred borrowed vocal mannerisms and a bunch of tunes made with cookie cutters that are blunt from overuse. (RS 837)

DOUGLAS WOLK