Naked Truth

Turns out things are pretty dire. She's "the next big thing in your little freak show" on "Strange"; confounded by innuendo on "I Know" ("I can't hold on forever/I know that you know I know"); and, most tellingly, mad as hell at her parents (she lets them have it on the confessional, guitar-crashing meltdown that is "Little").

Still, it's hard not to like her, or at least find her fun. Hudson is cool in a Hollywood kind of way--she's the cousin of actress Kate Hudson, and her look puts a fresh if not as sunny spin on Cyndi Lauper's celebrate-the-freak-within style. Naked Truth carries the potential to sprinkle her nascent star power over two distinct camps: rebel kids not willing to lump themselves in with Avril Lavigne's skateboard punks, and teen girls too cool to be tagged with the Hilary Duff-goody-two-shoes rap. While the world decides, we can all enjoy a single slice of near-perfect pop buried seven tracks in. "I want to find peace like Mahatma Gandhi/Wanna drink champagne and be cool like Blondie," Hudson sings quickly and convincingly on "Gandhi," voicing a naked truth for all of us. --Tammy La Gorce