Jordin Sparks - Debut Album

So far so good. That's what I have to say as I'm listening to Jordin Sparks' debut self-titled album on Britney Spears' label Zomba. Well for the most part anyway. Currently playing is an atrocious, over the top cheese-fest ballad called God Loves Ugly. I mean seriously Jordin...WTF? Save the depth for a book of poetry (a la Jewel) or something. But the other tracks...not bad. Am I still thinking that Blake Lewis' album is going to be better? Yes. Most definitely. But it's a good effort. It's a (mostly) solid, pop/R&B album. Slick production by StarGate and Bloodshy & Avant (Britney Spears) and Jordin's vocal talent make this a safe and kind of fun album. It's definitely heads above last year's American Idol runner up Katharine McPhee (the last Idol CD I was genuinely excited about). McPhee's album was a big mish mash of crap. McPhee's debut album had so much potential.

In my opinion, McPhee is far more talented that Sparks (vocally speaking...keep in mind that Sparks is quite a big young and holds infinite potential for growth) but her CD failed in the production department. It was just all over the place. Danja Handz produced much of it, with Babyface producing a track as well. I think a lot of people were expecting McPhee to come out with a Norah Jones inspired album...and that it wasn't. I mean I guess part of that was McPhee's decision...she wanted to appeal to a younger market. Fine. OK. But Jesus...there wasn't a single song on that album that was remotely close to having the hit potential of Miss Independent. Love Story was a pretty good single, and a good single...it just didn't take off.

Do I think Sparks' debut features any HUGE hit-worthy singles? Not particularly. No Air, Sparks' collaboration with R&B sensation Chris Brown is pretty hot but not hot enough. If this song does well it might be because of Brown. We shall see. I DEFINITELY thing a smart second single would be No Air. Hopefully Jordin can go on to be another American Idol alum to make a top-charting album. If this album doesn't chart, she has a good number of years ahead to hone her craft and find the right niche for her.

As a side note...the ONE song on the album where she shares songwriting credit, Freeze is kind of hot.

Always on the Sunny Side...(in the U.S. anyway)

So I was getting ready for work this morning and I heard that Natasha Bedingfield was going to be performing. I knew I didn't have time to wait around so I set my TIVO to record it. I got home this evening and watched it.

When Matt Lauer introduced Ms. Bedingfield, he said that her album, POCKET FULL OF SUNSHINE would be released soon. I did a double take. Pocket full of what? Really Natasha? Why? When the album was released at the end of April in the UK, it was called NB (obviously her initials). What's with the change? And why such a cheesy title? Everything has to change for the U.S. doesn't it? How ridiculous. Granted, I Wanna Have Your Babies isn't a genius name for a first single (that was her first UK single from her latest album), and a different single might be a wiser choice for the U.S. radio market, did her label really have to rename the whole album? The single wound up peaking at number 7 on the UK charts. Not halfway bad. Second single, a ballad called Soulmate also peaked at number 7 on the UK charts. Her duet with Adam Levine from Maroon 5, Say It Again was her third UK single.

In the U.S. a new song was released as the first single. Love Like This featuring label mate--reggae teen sensation Sean Kingston. I definitely prefer the song to I Wanna Have Your Babies and it's slowly growing on me. Forthcoming remixes by Johnny Vicious should seal the deal for me (Johnny Vicious tore it up on his remixes of her number 1 single in the U.S., Unwritten).

Now back to the fact that Natasha is calling her album Pocket Full Of Sunshine for it's U.S. market debut. I just don't get it. According to Wikipedia.com which we all know isn't really reliable...the U.S. version will feature two new tracks...Love Like This and a title track, Pocket Full Of Sunshine. I guess this means new album art will be forthcoming as well. All enough for me to buy the U.S. version, despite owning the UK version already (I purchased both the U.S. and UK versions of her debut album). Stupid record label politics. Like they did for the U.S. release of 28 Days Later (re-shot the ending because the original was deemed to macabre by U.S. audiences--that was the rumour anyway), the U.S. version of Bedingfield's new album has a happy new title and (at least) two new songs. *sigh.

Let Me Be FRANK With You...

So let's discuss the dilemma I was facing earlier with the U.S. release of Amy Winehouse's debut album, FRANK. Allmusic.com was correct with the tracklisting provided. Amazon.com was wrong. So I purchased the U.S. version. Tuesday morning on iTunes I checked out FRANK and found a bunch of bonus tracks.

Only later did I realize that the bonus tracks were on the copy of the CD I purchased--just tagged on as hidden tracks after the Outro. Call me obsessed...but I'd rather have those bonus tracks as individual tracks so that I don't have to fast forward through the Outro.

Turns out that the new US release is the same as the ORIGINAL UK release back in 2003. There was a North American release in 2004, and that was the version that I purchased at Virgin Megastore a couple of years ago.

Anyway, long story short, I'm happy I got the new version of FRANK. I enjoy the bonus tracks, especially the Salaam Remi produced Mr. Magic (Through The Smoke) and Know You Now. Also included as a bonus track is Brother, a scrap from the FRANK recording sessions. The album artwork is virtually the same, aside from some hot pink detailing on the front and back of the album cover. If anyone hasn't listened to FRANK yet, now's your chance. It's in stores now.