Jordin Sparks

Where’s her head at? Thankfully, not in the clouds! In fact, for 19 year old Jordin Sparks, life is all about being as close to the ground as possible, despite joining the league of successful American Idol winners and having recorded a killer duet of the year with a certain young man who has the ladies coming from wall to wall. “Idol really helped me because it was kind of like training for what I’m doing now, but at the same time it was very humbling thinking that you could be kicked off any second so I kind of think of it the same way like yeah, I have a great song out right now but at the same time, it could be gone just like that.”

Working with the best
With that in mind, it appears that Miss Sparks is determined to make her mark on the industry just like many of her female competitors and it seems like some of her musical peers are recognising her efforts. “I would love to do something with Timbaland, I heard, I even read the rumour that he wanted to work with me so I would like for that to happen so hopefully if he has the right song and stuff it’ll turn out really well.”

Given her collaboration history so far, a hit single is no further than an arms reach away, which is why Tattoo had to be put on hold to make way for the monster single featuring Chris Brown. “Tattoo was actually the first song that I was pitched, ever, for my album and the moment I heard it I knew I had to have it, I loved it and it touched me in a way to where I was like if it’s going to touch me like this, then hopefully other people will think the same thing and be able to relate to it like I did and so we put the song out and over in the States it did really well and so we released it over here, I think at the same time, but nobody knew who I was at the time so they were kind of like ‘who the heck is this person coming out!’ So we thought that No Air would be a great first single because we had heard the buzz and everything so we were like ‘ok we’ll put this out over here.”

A great first single would be a slight understatement. Having reached the top five of the UK charts Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown, ironically breathed new life into male/female duets leaving us with an anthem to remember for 2008. “It was awesome to work with Chris Brown, I had been such a fan of him and his music for a while and then like I’m standing there on the video set and all of a sudden it hits me, I’m like, ‘he’s standing there in front of me doing this, right now’. I was so excited and he’s really cool, bouncing off the walls, he has so much energy he danced every chance he could.”

This American Idol is rapidly growing to be a familiar face worldwide. With a self titled debut album, an up and coming untitled project with Tyra Banks and being an opening act for Alicia Keys, there certainly is no stopping her!

Words by Lindie Makwananzi

Jordin Sparks LP Sony BMG out now

Tattoo Sony BMG out now