Shut up and Dance by Paula Abdul

I usually like dance mixes of pop songs. They usually add a little bit of extra flavor to the music by twisting the song into a new shape. I sort of figured that the dance mixes of Forever Your Girl would be especially flavorful, considering that Paula Abdul is primarily a dance choreographer. That wasn't the case. The flavor of the dance mixes of the more popular tracks from Forever Your Girl is about the same as that of the actual album. Why was a whole CD devoted to dance mixes when the dance mixes weren't that different from the originals?

If you were one of those people who actually thought that the tracks on Forever Your Girl were phenomenal, you might love this album, except for the fact that it's not much different, certainly not different enough to justify buying another album. You get pretty much the same thing on Forever Your Girl, so why shell out another $15 for another CD of the same music? The way I see it, Abdul fans could save themselves that amount of money by choosing one or the other (ironic twist, as "One or the Other" is actually a song title that appears on both CDs), depending on whether they prefer a more danceable mix or a more radio-friendly mix (and, honestly, there isn't enough difference between the two mixes to know which one you chose). I have to say that I enjoyed grooving to this one just as much as I did to Forever Your Girl, but really, I wasted $15 when I bought this one. I should have known that the songs sound alike regardless of the mix, and they aren't that much deeper than what's on Forever Your Girl (see my opinion on Forever Your Girl entitled "Empty-Calorie Eye Candy").