Cherish's Unappreciated: The Girl Group Crown Hasn't Been Taken Just yet

With Destiny's Child "retired" and TLC on their last leg and every other R&B girl group from SWV to Xscape to En Vogue - hell, almost every other girl group period - out of commission (or struggling to get back in it), the industry has been left with a serious void to fill (and no, the Pussycat Dolls do not count). But 2006 has seen an uprising of "singing collectives of the female persuasion" all vying for the crown and title as the next duo, trio, quartet, or quintet of history-makers.

And first out of the recording booth and on to store shelves are Georgia natives Cherish.

Hailing from ATL, Cherish (comprised of sisters Fallon, Felisha, Farrah, and Neosha King) may seem a bit familiar to some people. And those people probably remember the girls back in ? when they released their single "Miss P" on Warner Bros. But after the single stalled and the public lost interest, so did their label and they were subsequently dropped. Flavor-of-the-year producer Jazze Pha, however, did not and quickly snatched the girls up for his own flourishing Sho' Nuff Records. After experiencing major success with his first prot?g?, Ciara, Jazze took a risk by taking her template and multiplying it times 4 to help Cherish create their debut project, Unappreciated.

Now what's supposed to separate Cherish from being Ciara cloned to the 4th power is one very pertinent word: "snap". Jazze had managed to take R&B and fuse it with hip-hop's then latest trend - crunk music - to help rocket Ciara to the top of the charts. But now that 'crunk' has taken a backseat to hip-hop latest "innovative advancement in sound", (read: banal and mundane) "snap music", Jazze and his cohorts (producers Jasper, Adonis, and Don Vito) have decided the sound two fingers make when rubbed together merged with the latest hi-tech drumkits and synthesizers are Cherish's meal ticket to the top spot.

And there calculations aren't that far off-base. While "snap music" might have reduced hip-hop to the lowest common denominator possible, when mingled with R&B melodies and arrangements, there is some entertainment value to be found.

Lead single, Do It To It, may be nothing more than a 3:46 "how-to-*insert-snap-music-appropriate-dance move*" tutorial, but it's a fun, playful and damn catchy one that kept people moving and grooving all summer long. And who would've thought that "snappin" would actually work with a down-tempo the way it does on Unappreciated? It emphasizes the melody but allows the girls' vocals to be at the forefront this time, which is necessary to help dispel the belief that the girls are nothing but another R&B gimmick.

Too bad the girls don't work harder at dispelling it. They do receive kudos for being very hands-on with their material; writing and arranging all the songs on the album themselves. But while neither sister is a vocal powerhouse, they all have clear, strong, and well-defined voices that would be more evident if they were more often the focal point rather than the beats and hooks their placed behind.

The slinky groove of Oooh is just sparse enough for Fallon's husky alto and Farrah's breezy alto to glide over while Moment In Time spotlights each sister's individual vocal along with their strong sense of harmony and Fool 4 You shows they can carry a p!ssed-off heartbreak ballad with the best of their contemporaries (even if the production template is a straight rip off of Alicia Keys' "Fallin'", which to be fair is a straight rip off of James Brown's "It's A Man's Man's Man's World"). And Whenever is a mid-tempo groove that highlights DC as one of their biggest inspirations from the vocal arrangement down to Fallon's ad-libs and vocal runs towards the end.

But mostly, they sound content to rehashing grooves and concepts pimped out by girl groups of the past or turning their sound into a derivative version of itself. But the catchiness of it all is undeniable. That Boi may sound like a Ciara leftover but it has an irresistible thump that just may implant itself in your head for days on end. Taken may sound like "Do It To It" with extra snapping and synth bubbles but its sassiness is its charm.

Stop Calling Me may be nothing more than "Bug A Boo 2006" over a watered down T-Pain beat but the melody and hookline make it one of the album's most memorable. And Show and Tell could be nothing more than "Cater 2 U" mixed with a dash of 702's "I Still Love You" but there's no denying this slinky and seductive bedroom romp (no matter how self-conflicting it may be) as the strongest number on the album.

Cherish may not be the 2nd coming of any infamous girl group from the past but this actually works in their favor. The lack of pressure from comparisons will give them ample room to breathe and time to live up to the potential exhibited on this debut. They already know how to write a good lyric and construct a good melody.

And once they learn the art of arranging a good vocal is to make it the heart of the song rather than just simply a element in it, I'm pretty sure they'll find themselves appreciated on a much larger scale.