#OfficialMBMusic

Chronique

Mindless Behavior's third album is the pop-R&B group's first one with new members Mike River and EJ, who replaced Roc Royal and Prodigy and join original member Princeton. The difference in approach here is similar to that of first- and third-album Chris Brown. The suggestive, womanizing material is, perhaps, more suited to the group name than the comparatively innocent pop-R&B fare that made up the Top Ten albums #1 Girl and All Around the World. Pre-album singles "#SongCry," a ballad, and "#iWantDat," a party anthem -- yes, all of the track titles have hash tags -- are about as far away from "My Girl" and "Mrs. Right" as one can imagine. They leave nothing to the imagination, and that also goes for the remainder of the album. It's a monotonous batch of boastful, pitch-corrected slow jams broken up only by the hyperactive pop of "DanceTherapy" and the relatively charming, almost Shalamar-like '80s throwback #1UCall. (Then again, Jody Watley probably wouldn't have let Howard Hewett get away with singing "When he don't hit that sh-- right.") The curse words are concealed, but lines like "Let me see you do it for the whole crew" and "Pull over/Legs up/Girl, I got somethin' to show ya" make it plain that Mindless Behavior have bolted from the kiddie circuit.

© Andy Kellman /TiVo