Liz Phair

Who knew that all Liz Phair ever wanted was to be a pop star? Surely, her debut, Exile in Guyville, with its cinematic lo-fi production and frankness, never suggested as much, nor did its cleaner sequel, Whip-Smart, but on her eponymous fourth album she makes a long-delayed stab at superstardom, glamming herself up like a Maxim MILF of the Month and pitching herself somewhere between Sheryl Crow and Avril Lavigne, on one side working with Michael Penn and adult alternative singer/songwriter Pete Yorn and on the other hooking up with 2003′s hitmakers du jour the Matrix. As “Extraordinary” starts the album with a heavy guitar downstroke, it’s clear that Liz Phair is now a pop star making music that not just fits comfortably with Lavigne’s, but follows her sounds and stance. This may be disarming to die-hard fans of Exile who could never have dreamed that, of all the directions she could have gone, she chose this, but in “Extraordinary” and “Why Can’t I?” Phair has a pair of catchy modern pop singles that offer a fascinating juxtaposition to the deeper tunes here. In fact, when pop tunes about a cougar on the prowl are combined with soul-searching ballads, it could be argued that Liz Phair might be the singer/songwriter’s most directly confessional album — nearly every song is in the first person, with many songs drawing parallels to her recent well-publicized divorce. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine