If you can get past the wildly unflattering cover art, Jordin Sparks' Battlefield is packed with radio-friendly tunes. While her collaborators helped the American Idol alum churn out a handful of intended hits, they couldn't possibly inject Sparks with something the public so desperately craves–a little personality.
Some have criticized the young singer for refusing to choose a genre and stick with it. Others echo this sentiment by questioning why she isn't taking advantage of the "urban audience she started to cultivate with 'No Air'." These people are idiots.
Sparks would loose a large portion of her marketability if she were to pigeonhole herself exclusively as an R&B or rock artist. "No Air" successfully crossed over to hip-hop stations, but her reign is most evident in the adult contemporary format. If she could successfully pull off this A.D.D. genre-swap, she'd have a lot to gain (see Rihanna, Pink).
Now here comes the obvious question–does she successfully pull it off? The answer is vague at best, to the point that you shrug your shoulders and questionably say, "sort of". If she could sing Rihanna cast-offs like the Shannon-sampling "S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)" and the T-Pain assisted "Watch You Go" with as much conviction as she does on "No Parade", we'd be starting a campaign to send her to the new VH1's Divas special in place of Miley Cyrus.
In the grand scheme of things, the songs and genres aren't Jordin Sparks' biggest obstacle. She needs to overcome her anonymity, which leaves each composition sounding like it could be performed by any ol' female singer. By successfully owning her songs, she could become extremely victorious on this so-called battlefield. As it stands, it's just good enough that she doesn't have to wave her white flag.
– Dewitt
This album falls flat. Each song sounds like the B-side of another artist. Oh, this one sounds like Rihanna. Hmm…this one is kind of like Keri Hilson. I partially blame the production because her voice is morphed the same way as less talented artists, but she can actually sing. In doing so, any semblance of personality is trashed. The songs aren’t particularly catchy either.
We’ll see how it charts…