Vertigo

Few musical experiences are as exhilarating as watching a pop artist escape the innate limitations of her genre by moving into unexpected stylistic territory and delivering an album that surpasses all previous expectations. Such is the case with Fey, the Mexican starlet who has spent most of her career cultivating a crowd-pleasing persona as the ultimate princess of bubblegum pop. Rather than place her path on automatic pilot, the precocious singer has given herself the space to mature and experiment with new formats. Vertigo finds her surrounded by the kind of sophisticated soundscapes that define most electronica-oriented European pop. But nothing is over the top here. On songs such as the anthemic title track and the effervescent "Se Lo Que Vendra," the drum machines and bubbly synth effects are used as subtle accompaniment, leaving Fey's rich vocals to tell the main story. Some of the material makes her sound a bit too close to other Latin pop divas--think Thalia or Paulina Rubio--but for the most part, the new Fey is a true original. --Ernesto Lechner