Lindsay Lohan
A Little More Personal (Raw)
Casablanca (2005)

Now that Lindsay Lohan has joined Paris Hilton on the roster of famous Hollywood party girls, tales of her wild lifestyle and family drama have seemed to overshadow the news about her actual singing and acting careers. Releasing an album titled "A Little More Personal (Raw)," then, perhaps suggests her desire to provide a view of her life that goes beyond the tabloids. And while Lohan still sounds like a teenager, "Personal" sounds surprisingly honest for someone so often portrayed as shallow.

Lohan kicks off the album with "Confessions of a Broken Heart," a mournful plea to her absent father. Even with lyrics that are a bit heavy on the teen melodrama ("I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders"), Lohan's choice to convey disappointment in the first man in her life (rather than a boyfriend) is refreshing. Her paternal frustrations continue on the raging "My Innocence" before she moves on to bemoan her inadequate relationships with the younger set as well. "If You Were Me" laments a failed love, but her glossy voice never truly captures the anger and intensity in the lyrics.

Where Lohan fails worst, though, is in her choice of covers. Her version of "Edge of Seventeen" sounds thin without the maturity of Stevie Nicks's voice, while Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" isn't a terribly textured song no matter who sings it.

-- Catherine P. Lewis

.: Originally published: The Washington Post: 7 December 2005, Page C05
.: A Little More Personal (Raw) on Amazon.com

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