Artist : Ruben Studdard Album : Soulful (Sony Music)

Not all manufactured pop is bad. After all, as Rolling Stone magazine put it, some great pop music was made by pure studio creations.

And some great artists were groomed and packaged by managers, like The Beatles and the Supremes. Even much-maligned Britney Spears shows some quality on her latest album, ditto Justin Timberlake.

Studdard is the most recent in the line of manufactured pop stars, hailing from the American Idol competition and called "the singer who America voted for".

Boy, does he have a beautiful voice. It's just too bad it is completely wasted in his debut album.

The songs, mediocre pop/R&B/hip hop numbers, sound like they were given to Studdard by people who said, "here, you've won the award, now be grateful with the record deal. We know the formula for hit songs".

The formula is easily digested pop, highlighted by hip hop and R&B, supplemented with some ballads, and with a little beat to dance to. It still doesn't add up to much good.

Maurice Gibb will turn over in his grave hearing the sorry version of the Bee Gees' How Can You Mend A Broken Heart.

Even the song titles are corny. I mean, Sorry 2004? It sounds like the cheesy Indonesian dance song Happy 2000 that was played when the millennium arrived.

And No Ruben?? With this bad album, I worry that Ruben's career will be cut short. -- Hera Diani