Cassie's official new video

As I have explained at length in the past, Cassie is a criminally bland R&B singer whose sole selling point is that she is, like, totally hot (and so is her best friend, if this youtube video is anything to go by).

But despite her distinct lack of, er, distinction, Cassie's debut album took up near-permananent residence on my iPod's most-played list two years ago thanks to a couple of demonically catchy robo-pop hooks on songs like Me and You, Ditto and Long Way 2 Go.

Now, the 22-year-old has returned with a bigger budget and a pair of expensive sunglasses with a comeback single, Official Girl. It's 100% by-numbers slick, modern R&B, with a beatboxed percussion loop, a guest rap from bad boy du jour L'il Wayne and a zeitgeist-tickling title. I can't see it being an all-conquering transatlantic smash á la Umbrella, but the chorus is firmly lodged in my brain already.

Cassie - Official Girl


As this premiered in the US on Friday, it's already hit a lot of the Stateside blogs, who seem to be up in arms that Cassie isn't very good at the whole singing malarkey. Is this really an issue any more? Pop history is littered with terrible vocalists who triumphed over their better trained, less charismatic counterparts. Cassie could drone like a malfunctioning Dyson and still outsell Keri Hilson or Nicole Scherzingereeningeer, as long as the songs she's given don't stink of slurry. Is that so really hard to grasp? (Clue: it isn't).

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