When one creates a personal mixtape, one has the liberty to include (and exclude) music based on one's preferences. Indeed, that is the very objective of a personalized mix. Commercial compilations are driven more by an effort to capture the currently cool, to define hipness, and to collate popular hits.

The Now series, in it's various incarnations, has done precisely that. Each instance provides an overview of cultural musical talent at the time, without venturing too far into the outre.

Now 18, as the release shall be known colloquially, is no exception. With tracks ranging from U2's Vertigo to Hoobastank's Disappear, it does not disappoint. A more intelligent selection, however, might have chosen "Love Or Peace Or Else" over "Vertigo", or Leonard Cohen over Snoop Dogg. Apparently Leonard's not hot, in some circles.

Working with what we have, the song list for Now 18 is:

1. "Vertigo (Radio Edit)" - U2: Not markedly different from the album version, there is little mystery left in this overplayed hymn to arena rock, dance clubs and love. I like the middle section, where Bono pleads "All of this can be yours/Just give me what I want/And no one gets hurt" - an appeal to trade places with the ordinary or an offer of temptation by an arch-devil in deserted places of the heart?

2. "What You Waiting For" - Gwen Stefani: Oozing with manufactured sexuality, Gwen provides a self-referential commentary on 'ars longa, vita brevis' - warning that time is running out, fame is fleeting and 'Your moment will run out/cause of your sex chromosome'. She yearns for more style a la 'Harajuku girls', from Tokyo's teenager district. The trouble is - it's all been done before - from Abba to Madonna, the commandments of sex for sale are a well-hewn line, good beats notwithstanding.

3. "Rumors" - Lindsey Lohan: Not a mash-up of Fleetwood Mac, the "Mean Girls" star does a pretty good piece, featuring another star apparently tired of 'rumors','bein' followed' and 'people lyin'. The best piece comes at the beginning, with the star 'stepping into the Club' and knowing that "I cant tell that your watchin me/And your probably gonna write what you didnt see/Well I just need a little Space to Breathe/Can you please Respect my Privacy"

4. "Drop It Like It's Hot" - Snoop Dogg: Talking about manufactured acts and music, the talented Snoop Dogg rhymes about his image as "a Bad Boy, wit a lot of ho's/Drive my own cars, and wear my own clothes/I hang out tough, I'm a real Boss". Despite the deliberately offensive lyrics and pseudo-gangster style, one feels the singer is mocking the over-the-top nature of his act. Much "-izzle" appears in the song, as is normal for Snoop - "So don't change the dizzle, turn it up a little/I got a living room full of fine dime brizzles/Waiting on the bizzle, the dizzle and the shizzle/G's to the bizzack, now ladies here we gizzo"