With Ananda, her third impressive all-new album in a row, it seems like Paulina Rubio has her career as one of Latin pop's biggest and brightest hitmakers on safe ground, following a frustrating decade with EMI in the '90s and an unsuccessful bid for English-language-translated crossover in 2002 (the stilted Border Girl, probably best forgotten). The former Mexican child star, aka La Chica Dorada, certainly has been through a lot, so it's reassuring to see her settle into such a smooth-running groove -- and it's especially reassuring for fans, who have had to wait several years between new albums. Rest assured, the two-and-a-half-year wait for Ananda was worthwhile, just as the four-year gap between her comeback album (and Universal Latino debut), Paulina (2000), and the kaleidoscopic Pau-Latina (2004) was indeed worthwhile. What makes Ananda so enjoyable, however, beyond the satisfaction of its impressiveness in the wake of its anticipation, is how different it is from her past work. Granted, the freneticism and electronic-tinged production prowess of Pau-Latina was a stretch from the relatively straightforward Latin pop of Paulina. But to then fully embrace restrained pop/rock, as Rubio does throughout Ananda, is surprising. If anything, one might have expected Rubio to urbanize her style with reggaeton flourishes, since she's such a huge pop star and since that seems to be the prevailing Latin musical trend of the moment. After all, even Shakira -- probably the most individual of Latin pop stars -- embraced reggaeton inflections with La Tortura, the runaway Latin pop hit of 2005.

1		Ni una Sola Palabra
2		Nada Puede Cambiarme
3		Ayúdame
4		N.O.
5		Que Me Voy a Quedar
6		Aunque No Sea Conmigo
7		No Te Cambio
8		Retrato
9		Miénteme una Vez Más
10		Hoy
11		Lo Que Pensamos
12		Tú y Yo
13		Sin Final