Artist: Ciara

Title: Basic Instinct

Label: LaFace

While Ciara's new beats are perfect for the dance floor, her lyrics feel nothing but hollow.

Truth be told, listening to Ciara has always been a bit of an exercise in patience. It's not because she's not talented (she is) or that her songs aren't catchy (they are), but it's her proclivity toward excessive braggadocio in her light-as-a-feather lyrics that can't help but get under your skin after a while.

Now of course, there's nothing wrong with counting your blessings; we all could probably stand to be a little more thankful, after all. But Ciara's excessive shout-outs to her success that often lead to her spending copious amounts of money on high-end shopping and engaging in plenty of bedroom shenanigans simply gets old. And in these economically challenged times for so many, celebrating all that excess is particularly fool hearty and doesn't make Ciara—the artist or the person—very relatable.

Perhaps, anticipating that very thing, Ciara even seems to have a rare moment of self awareness on "U Got Me," Basic Instinct's opening track. While admitting that she's let success go to head in lyrics like "U got me/See I was out buying Chanel bags/While I was doing that u turned up your swag/U got me," she acknowledges that the pursuit of vanity is ultimately a waste of time.

As it turns out, however, old habits do die hard, and Ciara is back to her old self for the rest of the album, even loudly declaring "Girls, get your money!" in one of the disc's shallowest tracks by the same name.

Ultimately, gluttony, both sexually and materialistically, rule the proverbial roost on tracks like "Gimmie Dat," "Yeah I Know," "You Can Get it" and "Wants for Dinner." And while the music itself is definitely inventive from a programming standpoint and practically begging for airplay on the dance floor, it's still not easy loving songs this vapid.

And therein ultimately lies the quandary with listening to Ciara. You can't help but applaud her artistry, but are equally repulsed by it at the same time. One can only hope on future efforts that she finally gets clued in to what really matters because without anything resembling perspective in her lyrics, you can't help but naturally gravitate toward far better artists who are making music with substance and style.

*This Review First Published 12/20/2010