Someone once asked, “Do we need music by the Pussycat Dolls?” The answer is a resounding yes, but only to a certain extent.

The stylized, sexualized group returns this year with its second album, Doll Domination, available by itself or as a two-disc deluxe album.

The single contains 16 tracks. As surprising as it may be to hear from a guy, the album isn’t particularly bad, even without the aid of a visual of the Dolls themselves.

The first song is the group’s new single, “When I Grow Up.” This song and the other 15 tracks are reminiscent of the group’s last album. However, this is for the most part a good thing. Many of the songs, including “When I Grow Up” or “Whatchamacallit,” have catchy instrumentals behind the lyrics that enhance the song.

At some point you may play some tracks on the album that you were indifferent to before simply because you’ve heard them often enough that they’ve started to grow on you.

Most of the music is the kind one would expect to hear at a party. Doll Domination has its share of guest appearances. Missy Elliot, Snoop Dogg, R. Kelly and Polow Da Don all contribute in three songs. I stress this as a positive thing. By keeping guest appearances to such a low number suggests the Pussycat Dolls have more confidence in themselves to sell albums without the star power of other artists. This, in turn, makes for better music, given that we can be confident the Dolls place more emphasis on making the music that they want to make.

All in all, this album is pretty good, but it still could use some work. Chances are if you liked the last album, you should have no problem finding at least a couple songs on this one to enjoy. If you didn’t listen to the last album, then I’d suggest that you first listen to a couple of songs via Ruckus or iTunes to get a feel of where you stand with this type of music.