As Kylie Minogue and Natalie Imbruglia have both shown, the road from Neighbours to pop stardom is a lot easier than it might appear at first sight. Now their fellow Ramsay St resident Holly Valance is attempting to follow in their footsteps - and already the 19-year-old former lingerie model is well on her way, having reached No. 1 with her Bollywood-influenced single Kiss Kiss. Cynics might suggest that this has as much to do with her stunning appearance as her musical talent, and they probably have a point - although, to do her justice, her album is no worse than most contemporary pop debuts. The slick, dancefloor-friendly tunes are neatly adorned with beats that could have been borrowed from Missy Elliott, while Valance's vocals are technically no worse than, say, Shakira or Britney Spears. What she really lacks is a distinctive personality - her music may be high on energy but its overwhelming sense of blandness will surely be enough to grind down most listeners before long. Not so much the next Aussie sensation, you feel, as a shooting star who'll come crashing back down to earth in the not too distant future.
