Most record companies have been trying to meet the marketplace by developing or signing groups of attractive young dancers with adequate singing voices to appeal to tween consumers but, with German pop singer
Sasha, Reprise looks forward to the day when the tweens will become teens and narrow their interests to slightly more mature solo singers.
Sasha broke through in his native country with a husky tenor and a
James Dean-style smoldering, leather-jacketed appeal that may translate well to American girls as they graduate from junior high school and leave the likes of
the Backstreet Boys behind. Unfortunately, marketing questions are just about the only ones worth asking about
Sasha. His music, created for him by writer-producers Grant Michael B. and Pomez di Lorenzo (di Lorenzo), fabricates the actual tracks with synthesizers, adding the occasional acoustic instrument, strings, and backing vocals). It is utterly contrived light dance pop. The lyrics, which
Sasha negotiates in English without an obvious accent, are typical generalized "I-you" romantic statements (the exception being the simpleminded philosophical reflection "Reach Inside"), and the music, though it borrows elements of rock, R&B, and reggae, is mostly just bland pop. In fact, the pedestrian nature of the musical tracks may trip
Sasha up in the American pop market, which in 2001 was tending toward harder beats and multi-rhythmic arrangements. Rest assured, though, it isn't the music that matters here. [The American version of
Dedicated To..., with the artist given the moniker Sasha Alexander, is actually a compilation of tracks from
Sasha's German releases
Dedicated To... and You. The album contains an alternate, softer version of the single "Let Me Be the One" as a hidden 13th track.] ~ William Ruhlmann