FORMULAIC, SAFE AND SAPPY, THIS ALBUM DELIVERS GUILTY PLEASURES

Even though a lot of my high school classmates were members of the theater guild, I don't remember high school being anywhere near as musical as the one in High School Musical. Nobody broke out into song in the cafeteria. There was no dancing in the halls. Heck, all we could probably manage for entertainment was a dirty joke and a half. Still, give a listen to the High School Musical OST and you just might be fooled.

This OST works best in the context of the movie it hails from, a Disney Channel Original Movie that you can't seem to escape from. I've seen it rerun ad infinitum on cable. I've seen desperate parents buy bootleg DVDs of High School Musical from the bowels of Makati Cinema Square to placate their kids. My two and a half year old nephew flatly refuses to eat his lunch without Troy and Gabriella's audition scene playing on the telly. A pretty colleague of mine even sings along to Breaking Free after banging her head to Rob Zombie (unbelievable, but true). To ape a thought from The Matrix, this OST is inevitable, like the drunken shenanigans of Disney doyen La Lohan AKA Firecrotch or the monthly waning of the moon.

Start of Something New, perhaps the most popular ditty in this collection, is the bane of many an LSS (Last Song Syndrome) sufferer. It's still ringing in my ears, and I last listened to the album a week ago. Stick to the Status Quo, another crowd favorite with interesting choreography to boot, talks about sticking to the things you know versus secretly trying out new things, an almost dialectical dialogue, but for kids. The songs are pleasant, smarter than Jessica Simpson, and hark back to innocent past that may belong in Pleasantville but is quite a welcome change.

By the end of the movie, all friendships are restored, rivalries extinguished, everybody gets along peachy, quite on par for a Disney movie. The soundtrack doesn't end with the closing credits, though. The 2-Disc Special Edition Soundtrack comes with bonus tracks, including the Asian version of Get Your Head in the Game, performed by Vince Chong, Alicia Pan and Nikki Gil. Disc 2 is the Karaoke CD+G monster disc, designed to drive your older brothers bonkers from repetitive stress. Like I said, High School Musical is inevitable, and the sooner you surrender to its bubblegum pop, the saner you will stay.

Also, shoot me in the head, but I think that Vanessa Anne Hudgens is going to be a bona fide hottie a few years down the road.