Young Foolish Happy

Pixie Lott must break out into a cold sweat every time she ponders the fate of Duffy.

Having seen her debut album, Rockferry, be the bestselling album in Britain in 2008, Duffy's follow-up Endlessly stiffed so badly that the Welsh siren is now taking a break from music. And what has that got to do with Pixie?

Well, like Duffy, Ms Lott is following up a successful first offering – 2009's Turn It Up – with a record that skips nervily across a variety of genres – pop-soul, R&B, show tunes – while never quite sounding sure-footed enough to avoid a fall.

Pixie will avoid Duffy's fate: throbbing house-pop lead single All About Tonight has already been to number one, and isn't the only choice cut on Young Foolish Happy. What Do You Take Me For? is a neat dark-hued Motown pastiche, while Kiss The Stars apes Katy Perry down to its nudge-nudge lyrics: "When you get it up, I can go for hours".

It's adequate, but never special: lacking Perry's raunch, Gaga's glitz, Adele's larynx or Jessie J's sass, it looks like Pixie Lott is set to remain a decidedly B-list pop star.

Album Review by Ian Gittins