Jordin Sparks (album)

Sparks won the sixth season of American Idol. On August 17, 2007, it was announced Sparks had signed to 19 Recordings/Jive Records/Zomba Label Group, becoming the first Idol to join the label group, the second being David Archuleta the following year.[3] 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. Sparks has stated that she recorded some songs for the album but the bulk of the recording was done in Los Angeles after the tour was over.[4] 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".[5][6]

Jordin confirmed on her MySpace that the official track listing as well as the release would carry bonus tracks at Wal-Mart, Sony, and the iTunes Store. An exclusive video of the photoshoot for Jordin Sparks was posted on Sparks' YouTube channel in October, where snippets of "Permanent Monday", "Overcome" and "One Step at a Time" could be heard. There are two available covers of the album, one for the US and Canada, and one for the UK and Australia, although the US and Canada cover was available in the UK and Australia (in stores and on iTunes) until "No Air" came out in those countries, in which the new cover was released. The song "Permanent Monday" was featured in the Salt Lake City audition episode on the 8th season of American Idol. The song "Young and In Love" & "This Is My Now" were featured in spirit episodes of MTV's The Hills.

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	67/100[11]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[12]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[13]
Rolling Stone	[14]
Slant Magazine	[15]
USA Today	[16]

Critical response to Jordin Sparks has been generally positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a rated mean out of 100 from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 67, which indicates "generally favorable reviews."[11] In his review for Billboard, Gary Graff stated that Sparks brought "a first effort that's all over the map—and works" while sounding "like exactly what she should be singing at this age and juncture in her career."[17] USA Today found that her debut played to Sparks' "strengths. Her clear, appealing vocals and bubbly enthusiasm are wedded to clean-cut pop songs, more mature than Disneypop but thoroughly wholesome and ultra-catchy. The usual raft of international producers combine to deliver a consistently captivating sequence of songs."[16]

Boston Globe critic Sarah Rodman called the album a "satisfying debut." 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."[13] Sal Cinquemani, writing for Slant Magazine, described the album as "a savvy mix of the latest pop and R&B trend [that] truly soars."[15]

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."[20] Rolling Stone critic Rob Sheffield was critical with Sparks' vocal performance on the album, writing that her "ballad voice is nowhere near as strong as it was on the show." He also noted that the "album shrewdly positions her in hip-hop-flavored R&B; which is interesting because it's one style she never touched on [Idol] (unless No Doubt counts)."[14] Jason King from Vibe found that Jordin Sparks honors her "Wal-Martsafe image – and it reeks of generic blandness. Norway's Stargate crew produces a quarter of the album, and their synths bury the natural charisma that made Sparks a weekly Idol favorite."[21]

The album debuted and peaked at number ten on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first weeks sales of more than 119,000 copies.[22] It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 12, 2008.[23][2] By May 2011, the album had sold more than 1.0 million units domestically.[24][25] In the United Kingdom, Jordin Sparks was released on April 14, 2008, but did not enter the UK Albums Chart until July 2008, where it peaked at number 17.[26]

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies co-producer(s)
• ^{^[b]} signifies additional vocal producer(s)

• Official Jordin Sparks website
• Jordin Sparks MTV page