Wholesome Sparks keeps it clean

When teen music stars approach the age of consent, they often test the boundaries of what’s appropriate by taking on projects with adult content.

“American Idol” champ Jordin Sparks took the opposite approach as she sought out material for her debut CD.

“I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to sing about,” Sparks said, “but I knew what I didn’t want to sing about.”

“I wanted to stay away from the ‘Oh, put your hands all over me’-type thing, because I haven’t experienced that yet, so the fact that I would sing it would be really dumb – plus I don’t feel comfortable singing stuff like that,” Sparks, who turns 18 in December, said with a giggle.

It’s that kind of wholesome charm, along with her powerhouse voice and striking good looks, that endeared her to “American Idol” audiences this year, making her the youngest winner in the show’s six-season history.

And on her self-titled Jive Records debut, released Tuesday, record executives – and Sparks herself – wanted to make sure she retained that sweet-as-pie image.

“She’s one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met on this planet. … You immediately get a sense of who she is and her values,” says Jive A&R executive Jeff Fenster.

“I said to her from the beginning, a big part of my goal was to help her make a record that she was proud of and represented who she is, and I think she felt that way at the end of the day.”

Thanks to her “Idol” success, and her age, Sparks’ fan base has a large kid contingent, but also includes the parents and grandparents who, along with their children, watched as the Arizona teen went from a potential also-ran to odds-on favorite.

Sparks wanted to make sure that she didn’t alienate any age group with the material she chose.

“I do love the little girls who come up to me and they are just so excited, and I like meeting the older women who are like, ‘Oh my gosh we love you.’ … It’s really cool,” she says.

“I’m kind of just making good music, so hopefully there’s sort of a balance there to where adults will like it but it’s not so adult that little kids won’t be able to listen to it.”

“Jordin Sparks” is a thoroughly pop CD with a mix of romantic ballads, dance grooves and inspirational anthems. The first single, the guitar-infused “Tattoo,” got a slow start on radio but has been steadily rising on the Billboard pop chart and this week cracked the top 20.

The album was crafted with the help of pop’s top producers, including Stargate, the team behind Beyonce’s ubiquitous “Irreplaceable.”

But Sparks makes clear that her contribution was more than vocals, including a co-writing credit on one of the CD’s 13 tracks.

“I feel very, very lucky because I had a lot of say in what the album was like,” she says. “There’s a lot of stuff on the album I could relate to in some aspect.”

That’s especially true of one the more personal songs, “God Loves Ugly,” about overcoming insecurity about appearance.

It may seem like an odd choice for the young beauty, but the song resonated with Sparks, especially after she endured some criticism over her full figure after she won the “Idol” crown.

“There are days when I’m like, ‘I want to put a bag over my head,’ ” she says. “But most days I’m fine and I’m content and I like the way I look and I like my curves. It was just kind of weird, but I kind of let things roll off my back.”

It’s that same kind of levelheadedness that Sparks seems to apply to the whirlwind that has become her life since her “Idol” run.

She credits her close-knit family with keeping her grounded. Sparks (the daughter of former NFL player Phillippi Sparks) always has one of her parents or family members by her side, and relies on their guidance when things start to get unwieldy.

“I have my mom or my nana come with me anywhere I go,” she says. “It’s cool because I have them there if something is thrown at me.”

The next few months will be particularly grueling for Sparks as she promotes her new CD. It will also represent the biggest test of her young career: Will she follow the multiplatinum path of “Idol” winners Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson, or suffer a Taylor Hicks fate and fade from the pop spotlight?

Even Sparks admits that the whole thing “is a little bit scary.” But she thinks her youth has given her an advantage.

“That’s the point of this career for me,” she says. “I’m excited because of my age – I can grow.”