The Real Housewives: Which Ones Can Sing?

BRAVO, Bravo TV. BRAVO. You've managed to create a Reality TV model that works, not only in terms of RATINGS but in terms of BRANDING as well. Sure - the majority of your programs take on the format of your former ratings Juggernaut Project Runway, but let's take a moment to look at your Real Housewives franchise - a separate brand in and of itself.

The Real Housewives of Orange County, New York, Atlanta and New Jersey DELIVER the ratings week/over/week, and with the soon-to-air Washington D.C. and Beverly Hills installments, your RICH BITCH reality TV domination doesn't show any signs of stopping. Of course, Bravo owes the majority of it's success with this popular franchise to the stars themselves (and of course editing), the 'housewives.' Each season has it's own drama and THAT'S what viewers come to expect, but what do the ladies get out of it? Have you looked at the New York Times Best Seller List or Amazon.com WHENEVER one of the housewives releases a book? These ladies are DEFINITELY working their new-found fame for their own betterment...AND for the betterment of others. Virtually all of the housewives are active with various charities, throwing benefits and attending balls. I'm just saying that, with all of that drama, the ladies DESERVE to get something out of it.

Who could have guessed at just HOW MANY of the housewives have harbored secret desires to sing professionally? More than I might have expected and likely more to come. Watch me break down each of the housewives' singles released to date. I'll be evaluating them based on four factors: MUSIC & LYRICS, VOCAL ABILITY, ALBUM ARTWORK and the overall FUN FACTOR of the song. We'll be covering Jo De La Rosa and Gretchen Rossi from the OC, LuAnn de Lesseps from New York City, Atlanta's Kim Zolciak and Kandi Burruss and New Jersey's own Danielle Staub. From OLDEST to NEWEST...here we go!

Jo De La Rosa appeared on the first two seasons of the ORIGINAL Real Housewives series, the Real Housewives of Orange County. De La Rosa released her debut album, Unscripted August 19th 2008 on Immergent Records. I was late jumping on board the Housewives bandwagon so I missed the first few seasons so I'm not sure if De La Rosa's singing career played any part early on but her first single "U Can't Control Me" was released 2 years AFTER De La Rosa had left the program to record her debut album. De La Rosa has cameoed in both season 3 and season 4, the latter asking current cast member Gretchen Rossi to make an appearance in her first music video. What about the song? Thankfully Jo has a whole album to redeem herself the song is a bit of a dud. While the chorus is FULL of attitude the song just falls flat. I don't know if it's the production or the songwriting that fails here but it just sounds like another sub-par angry-girl anthem. In listening to some of her album tracks, you can tell that De La Rosa can sing, although she doesn't exhibit much range. She definitely does better with the up-tempo pop/dance numbers. Check out the Jason Nevins remixes of her debut single if you haven't heard them yet. They are definitely a vast improvement upon the original. According to her MySpace, she parted ways with her label and is working on new material. I'd recommend something dancey and club-friendly.

Music & Lyrics

Vocal Ability

Album Artwork

Fun Factor

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