Does anybody else find the title of this album ironic? Although I pride myself on having never caught a single episode of that over-hyped TV karaoke fest known as American Idol -- in which this skinny white boy with the alarmingly big voice lost out to the beautiful, black and bountiful Ruben Studdard as the second season's winner -- Aiken's never struck me as an actual man in interviews. A man-boy, or even a girly-man.

But I digress.

Aiken's debut, in stores now, is astonishing in its sugary-sweet, inspirational pop blandness. Welcome to America and all that's wrong with music today. I'm not saying Aiken doesn't have a good set of pipes on him. But this is a guy who should be doing Broadway musicals, not being touted as the next big recording artist.

Naturally, helping him in that quest is producer Clive Davis and various hitmakers, including Desmond Child, Enrique Iglesias, Darren Hayes, Rick Nowels, Aldo Nova and Cathy Dennis, who helped write ballads like I Will Carry You, When You Say You Love Me, Run To Me, etc.

The album's lone bright spot is one the few uptempo tunes, Invisible, a rock ballad that you could imagine a diva like Cher belting out.

Aiken broke records by selling 875,000 copies of his debut single, This Is The Night, which is included as a bonus track here.

Meanwhile, Ruben's debut, Soulful, is due in stores Nov. 11 and hopefully will live up to that title with help from such hip-hop/R&B artists as R. Kelly, Missy Elliott and Fat Joe.

Track Listing