In a matter of months, this four-member boy group, assembled by producers
Vincent Herbert (
Lady Gaga) and Walter Millsap (
Alicia Keys), went from opening for
Janet Jackson to shutting down malls and headlining their own tour. “My Girl,” a peppy pop-R&B single released in February 2011, provided the group with all the momentum it needed, and it only helped that they were filling a void with clean content targeted at tween and teen girls. Like “My Girl,” much of
#1 Girl involves songwriting input from Millsap,
Candice Nelson (co-author of
Timbaland’s “The Way I Are”), and
Lakeisha Gamble; those three, along with several other writers, craft an album full of age-appropriate pop-R&B that doesn’t get much more suggestive than “We ‘bout to get acquainted now.” It’s all decent, high gloss material that, sonically, fits into mainstream R&B/rap radio playlists circa 2011 without making parents shudder. ~ Andy Kellman