Versatile comedy vocalist Brown offers five hysterical slices of modern culturecide on Goddess in Progess. The titles say it all — “I Like ‘Em Big and Stupid,” “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun,” “Will I Make It Through the Eighties,” “Cause I’m a Blonde” and “Earth Girls Are Easy.” Bouncy, entertaining new wave music, Brown’s wacky, astute lyrics and her theatrical delivery make this more fun than a long trip to the mall.
An attempt to turn the singer-actress into a Madonna/Cyndi Lauper-styled star (1950s version) by downplaying the jokes and wrapping her voice in witless synthesizer dance-pop fails miserably on Trapped in the Body of a White Girl. Except for the title track and inferior remakes of “Big and Stupid” and “Homecoming Queen,” the humorlessness of this turgid booboo buries Brown’s talent.