“Timor” chastises a nation built on justice that worries more about conspicuous consumption than the world’s problems. Cuts imply that life should be an adventure (“Dreams for Plans”) and that vain superficiality is a dead end (“Animal City”). A jilted lover confidently moves forward (“Don’t Bother”). On “The Day and the Time” a woman tells her partner that they should put a mistake in the past and start fresh. However …
… It’s a request to develop amnesia, not work through the offense. “Something” cherishes a physical relationship “even if we never marry.” Suggestive lines (“I’d like to be the owner of the zipper on your jeans”) and mild profanities (“d–n,” “b–ch”) mar several tunes. “Costume Makes the Clown” finds a cheater rationalizing her infidelity. “How Do You Do” irreverently questions God’s justice and holiness (“Are you some kind of freak who lives to raise the ones who fall? … You’ve made mistakes, well that’s OK, ’cause we all have”). Also, a very immodest CD photo.
This Latin Artist of the Year sounds less like Selena and more like Alanis Morissette on her second English-language crossover disc. Oral Fixation Vol. 2 has lyrical problems. Her racy, sexualized image (photo shoots, music videos) only makes matters worse.
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