Jocelyn
Enriquez comes late in the freestyle game, but her album and singles point to directions the music might head for survival. (One sure strategy is the proliferation of the ballads included here.) The original freestyle beats have been altered, and the gap between these dance cuts and the dance-pop, hip-hop, and R&B; recordings they are played next to on the radio is getting narrower all the time. "Do You Miss Me" is a jukebox revelation as well as a dance floor hit; such a perfect mix of traditional pop songwriting and floor-filling beats is sadly rare. A jeepy cover ofYaz's "Only You" gives more mileage to a song that won't die, but Enriquez really pushes the envelope on the ballad "Kailanman," which is performed in her native language, Tagalog.--John Sanchez