Scream On

In the urban music market's equivalent of a monster truck radio voice, the ad for the Scream Tour 5 blares: "We Wanna Make You Screeeeeeeeeam!" Well, duh. With a roster like this, it kind of goes without saying that there's going to be some screaming in the house — lots of it, actually. Meticulously groomed performers like Omarion, 2 Much, Jibbs, Sammie, Ne-Yo, Yung Joc, Mario, One Chance, and Pretty Ricky have that certain... je ne sais quoi that just goes right to the scream button that sits in a teenaged girl's brain (until, hopefully, she discovers real music). Compared to the teeny-bop sensations that came before them — from New Edition all the way back to the Beatles — the masterminds behind this fresh crop of smooth-faced, high-pitched crooners seem to be going in for more of a blatant kill. Songs like "First Time" (Yung Joc) and "Sexy Love" (Ne-Yo) up the ante on sex without bringing it out into the light from behind its giggly, misinformed, puritanical veil.

The Scream Tour 5 stops by Friday, December 15, at American Airlines Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd., Miami. The show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $25 to $45. Call 786-777-1250, or visit www.ticketmaster.com.