Britney Spears needed to figure out how to make the most of her limited-range voice and reputation for debauchery. And Jordin Sparks, winner of the sixth season of "American Idol," had the opposite problem: She needed to figure out how to make the most of her smooth, unquirky voice and her wholesome reputation.

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These opposite problems seem to have the same solution: adventurous electronic pop. Sparks' addictive self-titled debut includes three tracks produced (partly or wholly) by Bloodshy & Avant, the maximalist Swedish team behind some of Spears' best songs. While the bleeps and blurts on Spears' album often seemed like a musical expression of her tumultuous life, the weirdest songs on "Jordin Sparks" seem designed to tug against the smiling, God-fearing 17-year-old pictured in the CD booklet.

"I'm sick and tired of them bad boys," she sings, in a clean-cut club track called "Shy Boy." But even as she remains focused, the zooming, stuttering synthesizers hint at a sordid world of urges and impulses.

No "American Idol" viewer will be surprised to hear that Sparks knows her way around a lightweight love song. "Tattoo" is her absurdly catchy current single.

A couple of inspirational songs — "This Is My Now," her "American Idol" signature, and the heavy-handed "God Loves Ugly" — are hidden at the end, perhaps to remind listeners of the middling CD this could have been but isn't. If you're so inclined, you can pretend it ends two tracks earlier, with "See My Side," one of the year's prettiest pop songs.

— Kelefa Sanneh, New York Times