With songs that could fit equally on radio as they could (though there is little difference between the two by this point), young singer does his best -meets- (hardly a stretch) impression on his debut self-titled full-length. The results aren't wholly imaginative or unique, but has a good enough voice, and a good enough production staff and group of writers behind him, to sound competent, even fun. As part of ' -- home of genre-benders -- is clearly being marketed as the next big star, able to win the hearts of fans of all races and ages, and he may very well succeed. If this occurs, however, it will only be because of his ability to sound so much like his predecessors, and not because of anything new he's created. Which means, of course, based on the deserved success of both the Purple One and the King of (and , to a lesser extent), there's some pretty fun stuff on . The leadoff track and first single, which features a decent verse from crossover rapper , is great, catchy and fun, mixing bluesy acoustic guitar with keys and soulful vocals. "All my gangsta friends, and all my skater friends/They all want the same thing," sings, the cadence in his voice making it easy to believe that in fact he is familiar with both groups, that he's singing these lines from direct experience. a pretty obvious nod to , is smooth and upbeat, club-remix-ready without sounding forced, and the sparse, sexual, cut, comes across as somehow appropriate, unlike some of the other "love" songs, which were clearly created by older, more mature writers. But because isn't quite able to carve out his own niche, despite his best attempts, the album also gets a bit repetitive and even corny at times, trying so hard to appeal to a diverse audience that it -- and by dint of that the artist -- loses a bit of its individuality. and are all generic tracks, indistinguishable from most of what else is out there, and the good bits can get lost between the production and falsettoed harmonies. Which is too bad, because has talent, a talent that definitely appears on the album, and perhaps enough of it to put him where he and his label want. But until his vision of himself is a little stronger, he won't quite be able to separate himself from the crowd, and won't be able to break out quite as he'd like to. ~ Marisa Brown