**1/2 Kristine W

STRONGER

(RCA)

House-music diva Kristine W, whose Land of the Living appeared six years ago on Britain's Champion label, finally has a 13-track follow-up. That a diva stylist should even get a second CD is news: most house divas (Sabrina Johnston and Beverly Tucker, for example) don't get to record anything longer than 12-inch singles. What's even more extraordinary is that her second session adheres to the house-music strengths of her first (no such luck for CeCe Peniston, Robin S, and Crystal Waters).

Still, the ferocity of that first session, which featured such red-hot outcries as "One More Try," "Feel What You Want," and "Sweet Mercy Me," is not recaptured here. Despite the CD's title, most of Ms. W's new songs (except the title number, a pulsing, Gloria Gaynor-like reach-out) feel looser, more laid back, and more retro-disco ("Clubland" and "Never Been Kissed") than the fireworks that made her -- briefly -- a Queen of Midnight. The change is recent. A pre-release publicity photo shows her in fishnets, black high heels, and a tight black dress -- totally anthemic. On the CD cover, however, she's a cutesy blonde dressed in yellow, a Christina Aguilera wanna-be. And Aguilera is pretty much how she sounds in "Pieces of Me and You," "Shower the People," and "If Only You Knew."

-- Michael Freedberg