Jordin Sparks

There was good reason to believe that Jordin Sparks would disappear right around now-ish. Her first album sold 2 million copies, but Battlefield, despite being a significant improvement over its predecessor, hasn't even made it to a tenth of the sales. Then, her tour of midsize theaters was postponed. The shows were eventually back on, but it was announced that after the tour wrapped up, Sparks would step into a role in some Broadway production. Sure, Sparks could always ride her talent toward another run at the pop charts, but moving to the stage generally means a career more like Deborah Gibson's than Beyoncé's. If Sparks fades into reality show obscurity with the other non-Carrie/Kelly Idol winners, that would be predictable, but a little bit of a shame. Sparks has a solid voice, but who knows what to do with her? She's pursuing a mainstream pop career, but she's likely to always lack the edge of those who left Christianity far, far behind, like Katy Perry, and frankly, antiseptic tracks written by the dude from OneRepublic are only going to go so far. Eventually, you have to suspect she'll drift over into full on Christian Contemporary, a realm more fitting for her skill set, but then Dr. Luke deletes your number from his iPhone. In the meantime, before she starts singing showtunes for a living, she'll put on a decent show full of sincerity, but lacking a little bit of soul.