About two or three weeks ago, I got an advance of Toronto-based pop singer Anjulie’s new self-titled album. I’d heard about her almost a year earlier and have been looking forward to listening to the finished product. Anjulie, born to Guyanese parents and raised in the greater Toronto area, is the first Indian/Caribbean/Canadian pop performer that I can think of and there’s definitely a sizable buzz attached to her right now. She’s signed to Hear Music — a subsidiary of Starbucks so her album (which is officially in stores today) should get good exposure throughout the U.S. Lyrically, she reminds me of Estelle in the way that she sings tunes that flirt with and diss men almost simultaneously while sticking up for women in all the ways that she should. And she has some unique vocal textures that remind you of ’60s era Diana Ross meets Nancy Sinatra. One thing that stood out to me though is the tune “Some Dumb Girl.” That’s what it’s listed as on the album, but the lyrics clearly say “some dumb whore.” And there’s an original version out there titled “Some Dumb Whore.” It seems like Starbucks censored her on this one. And in the “Some Dumb Girl” version for the album, they make her pronounce whore like she’s from Boston or something so it’s hard to tell what she’s really saying. Take a listen below.

03 Some Dumb Girl by Anjulie

Do you think its right for Starbucks to change the album title like that? I can understand why they don’t want the word “whore” on any of their products. Probably rings a little too close to home (ba dump bum cha) but still, censorship is censorship. And while this is a minor detail, Anjulie’s romantic getaway song “Colombia” comes up as “Columbia” on iTunes. I don’t know if that’s coincidence or not, but something smells a little fishy to me.