Jennifer Love Hewitt gets BARENAKED, but keeps her shirt on.

God, it sure is a strange time for Jennifer Love Hewitt to release an album.

But never mind that, because her ambitions as stated in many interviews was to be a singer when she grew up, but then acting ended up becoming her new career option. She tried to excel as a singer, but at the time, she hardly had any luck keeping a TV series. That all changed with “Party Of Five” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” because then her profile started to grow. Now she has at least ten major feature films to her credit, including a new movie with Jackie Chan called THE TUXEDO. Now that she’s an official actress/celebrity, can she finally cut it as a singer?

Judging upon past evidence, this new album better be good. Hewitt’s very first album, the Japan-only LOVE SONGS, was a simple collection of harmless kiddie pop fit for Disney consumption. Her first album released in America, LET’S GO BANG, was a wonderfully contemporary array of pop and jazz sounds that allowed Hewitt to sound far more seductive but failed to go anywhere. The self-titled third album was less ambitious, more laid-back pop without the passion. All the while, she was being guided by various producers and songwriters (including Robert Palmer and Debbie Gibson) and only had one co-writing credit with a song from LET’S GO BANG. Her singing career showed promise with “How Do I Deal?” from the soundtrack to the 1998 sequel to I KNOW WHAT YOU DID…, and she started to grow more famous as a curved girl-next-door twenty something instead of an actual singer. Meanwhile, other ex-Disney starlets like Britney and some members of ’N Sync were on the rise to cash in on the new pop sound. But unlike Jennifer Love, they succeeded, with the right songs and image.

But now Jennifer wants another shot at recognition as a singer, and perhaps a songwriter. She co-wrote eight of the twelve songs on her fourth long-player, BARENAKED, and in attempt to gain some clout, has teamed with one-hit “B*tch” and producer Meredith Brooks to at least gain some appeal. The first song on the album proves it, and it’s appealing. Another notable change is the label: whereas Atlantic released her other U.S. releases, she goes to Jive/Zomba, the Britney label. Spears probably need not worry though...this looks as if its gonna remain semi-successful, but the problem is basically in the identities Jennifer is forced to portray in the recording studio. She seems to be channeling hosts of other modern female artists, like Michelle Branch and Gwen Stefani. I’m sure this is part of the plan, but I’ll detail them later.

Here, Meredith Brooks plays her pet instrument, the guitar, and there’s also session work/songwriting credits by bassist/keyboardist Livingstone Brown, bassist/programmer Paul Goldo, and guitarist Emerson Swinford. Also on the album is drummer/programmer Russ Miller, bassist Glen Holmen, DJ Andrew Boston, drummer Abraham Laboriel, Jr., pianist Paul Lindemeuler and a long array of back-up vocalists.

The first single is also the first cut on the album. Barenaked, as I said, is appealing and at least shows some promise. It rides a coffeehouse acoustic melody punctuated by keyboards and drum machine beats in the verses, and kicks into a chorus that swells with syncopated brass bits and a instantly toe-tapping rhythm. And as lyrically gifted by Love Hewitt herself, she at least tries to keep it all true to life, pointing out those embarrassing moments in life with her well-handled vocals and often playful delivery. “Did you ever have that dream/Where you’re walking naked down the street/And everyone just stares,” she sings in the opening, before realizing in the chorus she’s “barenaked” (emotionally vulnerable) and not the only one.

And oddly enough, the second track on the album is also said to be the second single of the album, which loses Jennifer as a co-writer. Good for her, because Can I Go Now is amazingly reminiscent of No Doubt’s newest hit, “Underneath It All,” from its reggae kicks in the verses complete to its hyped-up chorus. All this song is an actual rap part, and we would have a successful knock-off. And Jennifer sounds dangerously close to Gwen Stefani many times in the song, as she sings another popular modern lyrical topic: the nowhere-going relationship. “What’s the point in trying to reach a compromise/When you’re the judge and jury/What’s the story,” goes one moment in the song.

Track three picks up the ballad territory with the Brooks/Hewitt-penned You, which sadly sounds like it would be good for a Jerry Bruckheimer film. Jennifer doesn’t try to conjure up any specific spirits with her lyrics and voice, but the music swells just as obviously. The next song is the wonderful, accessible R&B groove of Hey Everybody, which is a wonderful diversion from the formulas, allowing Jennifer Love to wail out her best soul voice so far, and it comes complete with a “Na, Na, Na Na Na” chant that is often good to have stuck in your brain. And she also puts a nice lyrical twist in the chorus (“We can get it dirty while we’re keeping it clean”) that avoids any unnecessary fake steam.

Where You Gonna Run To follows the Barenaked formula of melodic acoustic guitar and funked-up programming, with hints of Avril-type background vocals and Branch’s pop thrown in for any kind of musical sleight-of-hand. It’s not bad, but it’s an unfortunate reminder of just how good it would be to put on their albums instead. Jennifer’s voice swoons gamely (“Words come so easy/From a thousand miles away/ And on the telephone line”) and at least once again keeps an identity.

I Know You Will is another well-done funky pop number punctuated by some good rhythmic musicianship between bassist Livingstone Brown and drummer Russ Miller, but its obviously Love Hewitt who wraps the song up in high-pitched shouts and crooning vocals. Rock The Roll features Paul Goldo doing rap vocals, and should stay perhaps behind the boards next time (that part deserves a real special guest). The twangy electric guitars do offer some relief, and the chorus is pretty good, but it’s Jennifer’s vocals that stick out the most and such lyrics as “Yeah, you’re cute and sexy but that won’t take us very far/Everybody’s pushing me to date a big rock star.”

Stand In Your Way takes it easy, and is the second song so far that has no input from Hewitt other than her vocals. This means that the music, the vocals and lyrics (“So you‘re gonna say goodbye/You know that’s gonna make me cry”) sound as if they could have been leftovers from her third album, but not like it’s a really bad thing. The music is punctuated by beautiful string programming and Jennifer’s vocals embody that sensuality that made LET’S GO BANG such a pleasant distraction.

First Time is where that Michelle Branch comparison becomes the most apparent, and even kicks in some of that Bon Jovi-ish voice box banter for added measure. Thankfully, the next song is a pretty good number, a surprisingly a lovely paean to getting past to bad love called Stronger. Credited entirely to Jennifer surprisingly, this is the number that at once proves that Hewitt has at least some musical skill in her. Although I find it hard to believe she did this herself, this soulful number is one of the album’s stand-out tracks.

The album could perhaps close with Avenue Of The Stars. The song is basically about Hollywood dreams broken and yearning to be achieved, and Jennifer even sounds as ridiculous as she ever could when she plays her opening “Map to the Stars” voice. Jennifer sings of “a world full of dreamers that will never go home” and the one girl who “didn’t make it.” That could’ve ended the album, but instead it’s a percussion-only rendition of the Janis Joplin hit Me And Bobby McGee, wherein she does a great solo rendition of the classic even if I doubt Jennifer Love Hewitt could ever scream and yowl as convincingly as Joplin did. As the track ends, we hear the applause of Meredith Brooks and others behind her, and Jennifer retreating with a final “Word!”

Clearly, artistic growth should pay Jennifer Love Hewitt a visit soon, but BARENAKED at least offers just a sample of her skills as a singer. But still, it’s no LET’S GO BANG.