One Touch

British girl groups tend to offer fare that's a lot more pop and less R&B-based (as well as a lot less sexually aggressive) than their U.S. equivalents, and the Sugababes (16-year-olds Keisha Buchanan, Siobhan Donaghy, and Mutya Buena) follow that rule of thumb. The fast-paced opener "Overload" is fab but also deceiving, as most of the album then ambles along at a leisurely pace, alternating between ballads and lighthearted medium-paced tempos. The 'babes are least convincing on sub-Destiny's Child numbers like "Same Old Story," but overall the songs are easy-going and sweet natured. Still, the girls may want to speed things up a bit more in the future because when they do--as on "Overload" and "Real Thing," which recycles all manners of pop clichés in a deliciously breezy way--they rule the teen-pop roost. --Elisabeth Vincentelli