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Vanessa Hudgens, 'Identified'

The ‘High School Musical’ starlet sneaks out a dull sophomore disc

By Andy Hermann

Metromix
June 30, 2008

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Backstory: Poor Vanessa Hudgens. Between last fall’s nude photo scandal, the imminent release of “High School Musical 3” and tabloid obsession over her relationship with co-star Zac Efron, it seems like hardly anyone has noticed that her sophomore album, the oddly titled “Identified,” comes out this week.

Why you should care: Let’s give credit where credit is due: lead single “Sneakernight” is an irresistible summer anthem, cribbing its jazzy hip-hop vibe from the last Christina Aguilera album to great effect and giving Hudgens a rare chance to sing with some actual soul.

Verdict: Unfortunately, the rest of “Identified” is a colossal bore. Album opener “Last Night” has a nice groove and lyrics that kind of make you feel sorry for Zac (“I don’t wanna know what you did last night/I don’t wanna hear that you had a good time”) and the closing ballad “Gone With the Wind” is affecting in a doe-eyed, Alicia Keys sort of way. But except for “Sneakernight,” the album these tracks bookend may as well have been recorded by an Auto-Tuned robot. Only the Gwen Stefani–style dance-pop of “Hook It Up” stands out, but for all the wrong reasons; Hudgens sings about “hotty bodies” and “playas only” dance clubs so unconvincingly, it’s painful.

X-Factor: Is Hudgens paying the price for that embarrassing nudie pic? Officially, Disney accepted Hudgens’ apology for the scandal, but it’s hard not to notice that “Identified” is getting dumped into the marketplace right in the middle of several more high-profile Disney projects, including the new Miley Cyrus album, a big Jonas Brothers tour and the debut of “Camp Rock,” a “High School Musical”-style project featuring hot newcomer Demi Lovato.

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