[4] All past Idol winners and runners-up are or were signed with the RCA Label Group's J (Fantasia, Ruben Studdard), Arista (Justin Guarini, Taylor Hicks, Blake Lewis) or RCA (Kelly Clarkson, Bo Bice, Clay Aiken, Katharine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, Diana DeGarmo and idol successor David Cook) labels, with the exception of Carrie Underwood signed to Arista Nashville.

[5] She said the album would be "Top 40, radio-friendly, uplifting stuff" hopefully mixing "the pop rock sound of inaugural Idol Kelly Clarkson with the R&B edge of Beyoncé".

She found that "on her self-titled debut, Sparks and a cast of au courant pop producers combine that sense of sparkle, striving, and her powerful pipes for an age-appropriate, uniformly pleasant release that shouldn't disappoint those voters.

"[18] Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+ rating, saying her debut "is as much effervescent fun as any post-Idol bow" and added "Idol has crowned winners with even bigger voices, but it hasn't given us one who's any easier on the ears.

"[1] Washington Post journalist Kevin O'Donnell called Jordin Sparks "a fairly consistent disc of polished pop" that includes "more misses than hits.

"[19] Kelefa Sanneh from The New York Times felt that Jordin Sparks "sounds like a mirror-image version" Britney Spears's Blackout (2007), with both projects reyling on "adventurous electronic pop".

Norway's Stargate crew produces a quarter of the album, and their synths bury the natural charisma that made Sparks a weekly Idol favorite.