VA - What A Girl Wants - Music From & Inspired By The Motion Picture (2003)

The original soundtrack to the teen culture-clash comedy What a Girl Wants features an appropriately mixed bag of music that ranges from the reflective, Travis-like Brit-pop of Gavin Thorpe's "Out of Place" to the classic punk of the Clash's "London Calling" to the Donnas' "Who Invited You." Urban and dance-pop also make a showing on the soundtrack, both for the better (Holly Valance's "Kiss Kiss," which is more than a kissing cousin to No Doubt's "Hey Baby," and Craig David's electro-inspired "What's Your Flava?") and for the worse (Willa Ford's "I Wanna Be Bad" and Erica Rivera's "Somebody Stop Me," both of which sound so generically rebellious that they could be the same song). This trend is countered by a preponderance of tracks from sensitive-guy singer/songwriters, including John Gregory's "Ride of Your Life," Duncan Sheik's "Half-Life," and two songs from Oliver James, "Greatest Story Ever Told" and "Long Time Coming." None of these songs are especially awful, but they don't really come together in any cohesive way. Still, fans of the movie will probably enjoy What a Girl Wants as a musical souvenir.~ Review by Heather Phares