Jennifer Hudson (2008)

BACK TO HER ROOTS The Oscar-winning American Idol debuts her self-titled album Jennifer Hudson

For her debut album Jennifer Hudson, the Oscar winner recorded 40-plus tracks over two years, finally whittling them down to these 13, which are helmed by 11 different production teams. Gee, you suppose anybody was overthinking this thing? The identity-defying ''something for everybody'' mentality yields a Robin Thicke ballad, a Timbaland stomper, some semi-acoustic soul from Stargate, and so on. None are exceptional, but they're all a sufficient delivery system for those spectacular vocal chops. The only complete stinker is ''What's Wrong (Go Away),'' a hookup with T-Pain. Was anyone panting to hear Hudson duet with an Auto-Tune program? B–
Download This: Listen to Pocketbook and other songs from the new album on the singer's MySpace page