Paulina Rubio: Border Girl : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

If the odds are right, Mexican hottie Paulino Rubio looks set to do to the U.S. what she has already done in her homeland: sell some 2 million records and dominate the dual worlds of video and pop music. With her saucy good looks and rough-and-ready voice, Rubio comes on like a prefab imposter of Britney and Shakira, but her taste for combining techno, pop and Mexican flavors quickly asserts her unique potential. First single "Don't Say Goodbye" is a bouncy club anthem in waiting, the salsa-fried "Casanova" could be a Marc Anthony single, while the Richard Marx penned title track is insipid pop confection designed to melt teen hearts. Border Girl's biggest surprise is a version of Kiss's "I Was Made For Lovin' You," replacing that song's roller coaster vocal howls with Rubio's sensuous purr and a dumbed-down dance beat. Still, it shows that Paulino Rubio may be a little more than simply what meets the eye.

KEN MICALLEF
(June 25, 2002)