Katharine McPhee

The debut from American Idol's fifth season runner-up is McPheever-inducing. It finds Katherine McPhee transformed from a giggly Broadway baby into a sizzling R&B songstress. Here she introduces urban club anthems like "Love Story," "Open Toes" and "Neglected," as well as contemporary power ballads like "Ordinary World" and "Home." Following in the footsteps of Idol vet Kelly Clarkson, McPhee delivers a strong, soulful debut.

If American Idol were a right-wing agenda, cornballs like Clay Aiken and Taylor Hicks
would be Bush and Cheney, and Katharine McPhee would be an affable centrist: a little
more square than you'd like, but not hopeless. You could imagine McPhee following Kelly
Clarkson's lead and doing big-ass pop that makes both Middle America and big-city types
happy. But McPhee's debut doesn't render her halfway interesting. The album's... More >