Enamoradas

Album review

If Destiny's Child performed in Spanish instead of English and embraced Mexican pop instead of hip-hop-minded urban contemporary, what would they look and sound like? One possible answer would be Aroma, a Mexican female foursome that is every bit as visual and image-driven as the group that put Beyoncé Knowles and Kelly Rowland on the map. That isn't to say that Aroma actually sounds anything like Destiny's Child; stylistically, they are two worlds apart. Rather, the comparison comes into play because Aroma, like Destiny's Child, is an all-female group that has put considerable effort into projecting an image that is both sexy and carefully cultivated. But Enamoradas, the quartet's third album, isn't a case of all image and no substance. While Aroma's members certainly aren't shy about exploiting their obvious sex appeal, Enamoradas underscores the fact that they have talent and vocal power to go with their good looks and sexy attire; even if you haven't seen what they look like, Enamoradas offers an enjoyable dose of Mexican-style pop-cumbia. Like Amor de Tres (Aroma's second album), this 2003 release is more consistent than their debut album -- and stylistically, things haven't changed for the group. Aroma still combines sleek Latin pop with the Mexican version of the Colombian cumbia rhythm, and they still favor material that is sweetly girlish but not without some bite. Of course, Enamoradas doesn't cater to cumbia traditionalists; this 2003 release definitely isn't cumbia in the classic Leonor González/Alberto Pacheco/Lucho Bermúdez sense, but it is a decent example of Mexican artists using cumbia in a commercial (but tasteful) Latin pop fashion. Amor de Tres is arguably the best album that Aroma recorded for Fonovisa in the early 2000s, but Enamoradas isn't a bad addition to the group's catalog.

© Alex Henderson /TiVo