Trax: Out of the blue ...

You have probably never heard of Monrose, a trio who late last year released their debut album, Temptation.

However, although they are relatively unknown in the Middle East, this R&B girl band is taking the charts by storm in Western Europe.

The group, made up of Mandy Capristo, Senna Guemmour and Bahar Kizil, shot to fame on the back of the fifth series of the German version of the television show Popstars.

They were chosen to join Monrose in November after more than 5,000 girls originally auditioned from the programme.

Temptation was unleashed the following month and it has had about as much impact as the band could have hoped for. It has gone multi-platinum in the band's native Germany and is also doing good business in several other European countries.

And the debut single from the album, Shame, either went to number one in the charts or reached the top 10.

If your German is not as fluent as it might be, fear not – all of the dozen tracks on Temptation are in English.

This is not that different from the sort of R&B that countless girl bands from the US are releasing. That's not to say it is a bad album, far from it in fact.

Get a feel of the album

Shame, the first single, is an upbeat track with a soaring, anthemic feel to it - no surprise it was a bit hit.
The album's fourth track, No, has a hypnotic, insistence chorus and the vocals make you think of Christina Aguilera. On Work It, another upbeat ballad, there are slight touches of funk.

Slower, soppier songs include Love Don't Come Easy, while on Even Heaven Cries, the harmonied vocals are highlighted by the lack of musical accompaniment.

Although you would categorise Monrose as an R&B band, they fortunately do not fall into the trap of some of their contemporaries of getting so engrossed in the genre that they forget about the melody. This is R and B lite – and so much the better for it.

June 5 deadline for Paris

Last week, the hotel heiress was sentenced to 45 days in jail for driving without a valid driving licence in violation of her probation for a previous traffic offence.

Paris has been asked to turn herself in by June 5.

The singer, hotel heiress and socialite, in the news most of the time for all the wrong reasons, described the sentence as a "cruel and unwarranted", Reuters reported. And yes, her lawyer will appeal to get the sentence "modified".
There's plenty of advice pouring in for Paris.

Said Cheri Oteri, the voice of Sleeping Beauty in Shrek III, due out this month: "Stay home once in a while. Learn to cook. Read some books. Take a class."
Is Paris listening?

BEST arab singer 2006

Tunisian singer Saber Al Rebai is the best Arab singer for 2006. He was awarded the Murex d'Or award last week in Lebanon. The awards are Lebanon's and the Middle East's equivalent to the Oscars.