Ke$ha
Animal

She may be the latest pop princess on the block to light up the charts with a smash debut single, but Ke$ha's album is lacking the characteristics to be a great record - originality being one of them.

It's hard to figure out what that dollar sign in Ke$ha's name suggests. Is it that the newest pop star on the block is slightly cheap and tacky? Or is she adding an excess of bling to the charts with her indistinct electropop musings? One thing's for sure, in any case: her debut single 'Tik Tok' has paved her onward path with gold in several territories, ensuring that 'Animal', the album from which it's lifted, will probably enjoy similar levels of success.

Having already co-written and sang on hits for a number of nu-pop luminaries (Miley Cyrus, Paris Hilton, et al), Kesha Sebert knows her way 'round a commercial-sounding tune, if nothing else; such displays of cheesy pop sit oddly with her professed love of Beck and Beastie Boys. Yet 'Animal', for all its quasi-catchy melodies, simply comes across as little more than a pastiche of several pop princesses, past and present. There's Katy Perry ('Kiss 'n' Tell'), Avril Lavigne (the admittedly likeable and harmony-rich 'Stephen'), Lady Gaga (the jittery, effects-laden 'Your Love is My Drug') and even hints of Black Eyed Peas' clubbier numbers on display here, albeit filtered through an episode of 'The Hills', thanks to the singer's thick Californian accent.

The most brazen rip-off, however, has to be aforementioned single 'Tik Tok', a song so obviously in thrall to Kylie Minogue's 'Love at First Sight' that we'd be surprised if the Aussie popster hasn't already sent her lawyers 'round. Yet denouncing the minutiae is rather pointless; the fact remains that 'Animal' is a pleasant enough listen in parts, but is ultimately a triumph of style over substance. Perhaps that dollar sign is more telling than you'd think.

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