A Little More Personal (Raw)

Lindsay Lohan tries to leave her Disney image behind for good

Actress/teen pop star Lindsay Lohan entered the world of show business at the tender age of three as a Ford model, which led to television commercials for the Gap, Pizza Hut, and Wendy's. She did more television work as she grew up and had roles in The Bette Show and Get a Clue, a Disney Channel movie. Lohan's Disney connection, which included starring as the twins in a remake of The Parent Trap, continued into her teens and helped her expand her career into music. She released her debut album in December of 2004. It was entitled Speak because she felt that's what she needed to do, speak her mind. On her second full-length album, Lindsay Lohan tries to leave her Disney image behind for good. It goes for a much longer title, A Little More Personal, hinting that she's got even deeper issues to unfurl to her fans. Last time around she lamented about how tough it is to be a young starlet hounded by the paparazzi and trash papers. This time she's revealing the pain and anger that her less than perfect father has caused her. She wrote most of the songs and deals with Michael Lohan, who's currently behind bars for the next four years after being charged with multiple crimes — including driving while intoxicated and assault.

A Little More Personal rotates through the various styles

Lohan Sr. is the object of the stark Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father) and also the tortured My Innocence, which is about how the actress/singer's father stole her childhood by making her grow up too soon and how she had to become more independent because he was never around. But the whole album isn't about the 19-year-old being mad at dad. She's also angry at some ex-loves. Lohan sings about the ones she's lost, and those who gave her mixed messages, on A Little More Personal. If You Were Me focuses on those love interests who tossed her aside for another, while she re-reads old love letters and gets paper cuts from them in Black Hole. Sure, the kind of rousing mega-chorus used in this song has already been heard – to greater effect – in Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone, but it's still nifty. The tail end of the album pretty much rotates through the various styles Lohan and company have been dishing out: power ballads, straight ahead pop, club-styled bubblegum angst, and mock rock, with a few left turns (such as the quasi-Prince-meets Alanis influenced faux funk slink of If You Were Me) thrown in for good measure. Lindsay also does a credible cover of the Cheap Trick song I Want You To Want Me and the Stevie Nicks’ hit Edge of Seventeen.

Lohan surrounded herself with a team of pros

Lindsay has taken greater creative control on this project, giving the album a much more personal touch. For this album, she has surrounded herself with a team of pros – Kara DioGuardi (who's also written for Lohan rivals Ashlee Simpson and Hilary Duff, and coauthored 9 of the 12 songs here), power-popster Butch Walker from Marvelous 3, and former Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody. Moody particularly shines on Fastlane, a super-catchy number that's one of four for which Lohan gets a songwriting credit. Her voice is actually pretty decent, she is able to float and parry, drop from sultry whisper to heartfelt croon at the most opportune moments. In the long run, while still far from being an epic moment in current pop history, the bulk of A Little More Personal easily ranks a few shades higher than her 2004 debut. Most of this is due to Lohan's obvious focus on her voice and extending her range and styles. Has she grown up? Maybe not entirely yet, but Lohan is showing the promise of an honorable mainstream career.