Mutya Buena - Real Girl [Bonus Tracks]

All Music Guide

Fresh from departing The Sugababes, Mutya Buena released her debut album, Real Girl in June 2007, just reaching the top 10 on the strength of the number two single title track which samples and uses the background music from Lenny Kravitz's It Aint Over Til It's Over in the same way that her previous hit with The Sugababes, Freak Like Me used the music from Are Friends Electric. There are a mixture of danceable RB songs, like the album opener Just A Little Bit, It's Not Easy and the collaboration with Groove Armada, Song For Mutya (Out Of Control) which was also included on their Soundboy Rock album, and also soulful ballads Suffer For Love and This Is Not (Real Love), a duet with George Michael as they sing alternate verses, a track that first appeared on his album Twenty Five. Breakdown Motel and My Song chug slowly along and she raps the verses on B Boy Baby before launching into a chorus which is a slowed down version of the Ronetts/Phil Spector 1960s masterpiece which even Amy Win...ehouse can't save from dreary boredom. The latter singer however would have been proud to record Strung Out, which opens with a solo piano appears to be building into a minor key melodramatic ballad, before breaking into a beat led RB number. [Universal issued a bonus track edition in 2007 as well.] - Sharon Mawer, All Music Guide Read more Less