Jordin Sparks: 'Battlefield'

Two years of life experience since her self-titled debut album and a more relaxed studio schedule this time around have served Glendale's Jordin Sparks well on her second CD.

While her first effort showed her starting to move to a more mature sound than she displayed in winning the sixth season of "American Idol," Sparks has added power, edge and soul to her delivery on "Battlefield."

Part of it is no doubt due to Sparks' ability to stretch out and try multiple studio takes on songs for this new CD, as opposed to the rushed recording of her debut.

The "Idol" machine requires swift recording of a winner's debut, with a shrewd eye toward cashing in on that newfound stardom.

This time out, Sparks also had more time to spend on songwriting, earning four co-writing credits. She succeeds on three of those four songs.

As her 20th birthday approaches in December, Sparks is touching upon more mature subject matter in such songs as the synthesizer-heavy R&B workout "Watch You Go."

"I'm seeing daylight, and I'm still alone in my bed," she sings in the song, which turns out to be an ode to codependency.

Her solid cover of Fefe Dobson's "Don't Let It Go to Your Head" finds the singer wanting to "kiss from your toes up to your lips."

It's quite a contrast to the message of the pop-tinged "One Step at a Time" in 2007.

Underlying those lyrics is a voice that has become fuller as well as more capable of emotional shadings.

Sparks takes command of the power-ballad title track, which has been released as the CD's debut single, with soulful vocals that alternate between bittersweet resignation and aggressive indignation.

She mixes rich vocals and gentle falsetto on another power ballad, "No Parade," and she sells the vulnerability at the heart of the midtempo rocker "Let It Rain."

Sparks goes into finger-snapping Norah Jones mode on one of the songs she co-wrote, the heartwarming "Faith," pushing her fragile vocals ever higher over piano and strings.

She follows a similar vocal tack on another ballad with a co-writing credit, "The Cure."

That song contains one of the better phrases coming off Sparks' pen: "So consider this a moment that's defining who you are / And I can fix what's broken, and here's how I'll start."

She also shows a nice touch with lyrics on "Faith," singing, "You don't have to be so hard on yourself / I know the world can be a brutal place / Please don't let it steal your smile away."

In other spots, the material shows there is still room for growth.

While "Watch You Go" is dramatic and hummable, its chorus contains the cliché "I hate to see you leave, but I love to watch you go."

And as she and her producers did two years ago, Sparks insists on taking a few pages out of the Britney Spears dance-club book on the CD's weakest tracks, "Emergency (911)" and "S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)."

Sparks is a much stronger singer than Spears could ever hope to be.

She should keep exploring where her maturing voice can take her and leave the disposable dance tracks to Spears.

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