Small Town Girl (2006)

Image credit: Kellie Pickler: Robert Ascroft

CARRIE ON? Pickler's debut seems to want to go where Underwood's already been

Kellie Pickler's bland Small Town Girl conjures no superlatives. In fact, it's awfully hard to take the project seriously because of the (presumably) crass commercial motives behind it: Blond, twangy American Idol winner Carrie Underwood sold 4 million albums, so blond, twangy Idol contestant Pickler should do the same. But while Underwood's voice is rich, round, and passionate, Pickler's is a wisp. The songs do nothing to advance her image: The single ''Red High Heels'' (''I'm about to show you just how missin' me feels — in my red high heels'') is meant to evoke Shania Twain. It barely summons Carrie Bradshaw. She even references her Idol calamari flub. Pickler's not without talent — she proved herself such a lively and even astute presence on The View this summer. Which, come to think of it, does conjure a superlative: She'd be the best singer on that show.

(Pickler's CD is part of a wave of Idol-related releases. See also EW's reviews of the new albums from Taylor Hicks, Fantasia, and Daughtry.)