Catie Curtis: Catie Curtis

As anyone who's picked up a newspaper or magazine in the past six months knows, female singer/songwriters are all the rage right now. (For more on this cutting-edge phenomenon, please refer to this month's "Girl Issue" of Spin magazine.) From mopey angst divas (cover girl Fiona Apple) to elegantly swooning pop stars (Sarah McLachlan) to earnestly heartbroken enigmas (Jewel) to politically assertive tours de force (Ani DiFranco), there's a megahyped female singer of every stripe. The next star to emerge may just be Catie Curtis, a folk-leaning pop singer with a winning voice and a knack for smooth, easy, crowd-pleasing melodies. Her self-titled second album, with the right promotional push and tour support, should find a massive audience among fans of anyone from Jewel and Paula Cole to less-publicized coffeehouse folkies. From catchy pop singles ("Soulfully") to pretty, piano-enhanced acoustic ballads ("The Truth Is"), the record feels smooth, consistent, poppy and heartfelt. It doesn't quite hit the emotional high points its less polished predecessor does, and a bit too often, Curtis falls back on dopey lyrics like, "What if the stars forgot to shine / What if they all just fell asleep reading People magazine" But there's no doubt that she's a promising talent, and if nothing else, she's got loads of commercial potential.