Big Time Rush: BTR – review

Should one Justin Bieber not be enough, Big Time Rush offer the chance to quadruple your pleasure. The quartet – put together by the Nickelodeon channel to star in a Monkees-inspired series about a boy band – rival Bieber in both the lush-tresses department and their complete lack of edge, abundantly displayed across 17 tracks (six of them added for the British release, including a version of Boyfriend that features a wholesome-sounding Snoop Dogg lending pizzazz to an otherwise anodyne dance-pop tune). Their subjects are young love and self-empowerment, gently seasoned with references to "haters" and being tempted by "a million pretty girls" while on tour, all of which is fine. What isn't fine is how horribly generic the music is. All the usual devices are employed, from female guest vocalists to mildly priapic strutting on the "urban" City is Ours, but originality is manifestly lacking.