As any number of child performers will tell you, hitting it big before you’re out of high school isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Witness country prodigy LeAnn Rimes, currently working her way through a personality crisis. Does she want to be a pop diva? Wholesome country traditionalist? “This Woman” at least shows Rimes willing to back away from the mainstream material that sunk her previous album, “Twisted Angel,” returning her to her twangier roots. The question is, just what does Rimes have to offer without the novelty of youth to fall back on? The likes of “I Dare You,” the soulful “When This Woman Loves a Man” and the slinky “I Want to With You” are all strong, but they’re still hampered by a glossy anonymity. Yet “This Woman” is a step in the right direction, and hopefully as Rimes gets older, she’ll succeed in her search for more distinctive material that best suits her voice.
Best track: “I Want to With You,” whose big chorus may ape Shania Twain but whose subdued verses recall no less than prime Memphis soul.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Kris Karnopp ([email protected])