Barnes & Noble
We all know the theory about Hollywood: Actors want to be musicians, and musicians want to be actors. Well, the latest crop of teen stars take that rule to heart from the very beginning. Teen dream Lindsay Lohan, who first showcased her singing prowess in her Freaky Friday remake, makes her album debut with the dance popbased Speak. Lohan infuses her diatribes about the hassles of stardom with guitar-driven rampages and sassy club beats, as on the funky single "Rumors." Naturally, she finds time to weigh in on love and heartbreak - boys, she doesn't care if you love her or hate her in "Nobody 'Til You." But her emotions get the best of her as she "watches the walls around her crumble" in the ballad "Over." Lohan revels in her untamed teen angst and seems to make no apologies for it. But let's hope she doesn't burn out like another young, fair-haired pop-dance diva we know. Musically, Lohan is following in the rock-lite tradition of Hilary and Ashlee, staking her claim to musical fame with several songs - such as "Symptoms of You" and the title track, "Speak" -- that will find their true calling played at high school parties or used as motivation while dressing for said events. And Lohan's voice is distinctive enough that she could well stand the test of time and develop into a 20-something talent to be reckoned with. Amy Barkat
All Music Guide
Lindsay Lohan played a rock & roller in the 2003 remake of the classic Disney identity-change flick Freaky Friday, so perhaps it wasn't a huge stretch for her to leap from acting to singing for the teen idol, yet her 2004 debut, Speak, still feels like a byproduct of an overdriven, overamplified celebrity culture. After all, with just two hit films under her belt, Lindsay wasn't exactly a huge star -- particularly one with a proven track record, one who could regularly open movies or had a fan base ready to follow her to pop music. Nevertheless, it was impossible to read gossip columns, entertainment press, and blogs without reading about Ms. Lohan, whether it was details of her feud with Hilary Duff, debates over the authenticity of her breasts, praise for her role in Tina Fey's Mean Girls, reports of her breakup from That 70s Show actor Wilmer Valderrama, and tales of her partying. This relentless flow of stories made Lindsay Lohan a star even to people who never saw her films, the way that the constant coverage of Paris Hilton turned the heiress into a star. And like that creation of celeb culture, Lohan decided it was time to turn her into a multimedia, cross-platform star, instead of simply an actress, and so Speak was recorded quickly and rushed into the stores at the end of the year. It should come as no surprise that the record sounds like a record that was created in the moment and for the moment, to be the soundtrack to Lohan's wild year. So, there are songs that allude to her partying ways -- most explicitly on the lead single, "Rumors," where Lindsay bats her eyes for the camera as she pleads to be left alone -- and the music is a blend of old-fashioned, Britney-styled dance-pop and the anthemic, arena rock sound pioneered by fellow tween stars Hilary Duff and Ashlee Simpson. Lohan stands apart from the pack with her party-ready attitude and her husky voice, which may be mannered but is fuller than Britney's, and it's perfectly suited for the glitzy music on Speak. Stephen Thomas Erlewine