If Nicole brings her band, chances are she's going to blow Cristian off the stage. If she plays an acoustic set, like she did in her two-song showcase at the Latin Alternative Music Conference in New York last August, things could be even worse for Castro. See, when Nicole is stripped of all the flash, all the unavoidable Madonna-splash that permeates much of her albums, she's even more lethal. As a guitarist, she has one of the best right hands in the business and her voice, more conventional than Shakira's but just as powerful, makes her one of the most well-rounded new figures in Latin pop. Nicole is wholesome entertainment for the whole family, but with a spoonful of neurons.