Aly & AJ

As blonde, teen spawn of the Disney media empire, it would be easy to write off sisters Alyson (16) and Amanda Joy (18) Michalka as just another way to sell product; after all, they've already amassed a catalogue of straight-to-DVD movies and TV parts—not to mention two albums of inoffensive guitar pop. Yet surprisingly, Insomniatic stands as a record in its own right: an enthusiastically ambitious pop project with appeal far beyond the tween Disney demographic, owing more to influences from Gwen Stefani or Girls Aloud than the High School Musical brigade.

Largely free of the Christian confessional angst-lite that cluttered their previous releases, Insomniatic embraces synth melodies, driving beats and gloriously structured songwriting. While purists will cringe at the obvious vocoding, lead single "Potential Breakup Song" is a deliciously meta reflection on a failing relationship: musing that "our album needs just one," over a frothy Spice Girls bridge, while "Bullseye" and "Like It or Leave It" bring jubilant guitar riffs and murmured accent lines. Such highs leave the slower, sincere numbers like "Flattery" feeling overwrought, but overall, the album is a refreshingly breezy offering.

—Abby McDonald
07.19.07

Trying to move from a tween audience to a teen one, sisters Aly and AJ Michalka eliminated the über-sweet pop covers and songs about kidnapping on their second full-length, Insomniatic, focusing solely on the very teenaged conundrums of crushes and breakups and doe-eyed love. They've also started making MTV movies, and not just Disney ones, appearing together in the network's straight-to-DVD My Super Sweet 16 (yes, a movie based on the "reality" show), for which they also perform "Potential Breakup Song," also found here. They're older now, their fans are older, and they're hoping they can break from the mouse-eared audience and prove themselves legitimate artists with some staying power. The thing is, the songs on Insomniatic, all of which are at least co-written by the sisters, still sound as if they've been written by two teenage girls -- teenage girls with some very adult production help, to be sure -- who are desperately trying to sound older while still not alienating their younger fans. The tracks on the album, excepting the aforementioned opener, "Potential Breakup Song," which is guiltily enjoyable, are that same kind of half-rock, half-dance soulless pop that has been played and consumed for years, and doesn't do much to separate Aly & AJ from the rest of what's out there. Perhaps, in a way, this is some measure of success on their part. They are no longer little girls who sing pop music, distinguished only for that, but instead just another pretty, faceless group in a bunch. Yes, it's a bonus that they seem to actually be able to sing (though it's often hard to tell, as numerous effects have been placed on their vocals, perhaps in an attempt to make them sound more adult), and they do have a hand in writing their own songs, even playing instruments on a few, but there's nothing about the sisters or Insomniatic that proves them to be anything more than just another couple of girls. ~ Marisa Brown, Rovi