Everyone recognizes that high-tech studio trickery can turn even paltry Britney Spears vocals into a hit record. You'll be glad to know it can also work wonders on someone with actual vocal talent. Blake Lewis, the runner-up to syrupy sweet Jordin Sparks in the sixth season of American Idol, made a name for himself remixing songs on that show and throwing a beatbox into songs that could have done much better without it. Truth told, the cringe-inducing slobberfest from the Idol days actually works at times with a recording studio backing it, turning the one-trick pony beatbox into a load-bearing mule on Audio Day Dream (out now).

Rather than amass a group of hit-makers like Pharrell, Danja (Spears's "Gimme More"), or Tricky Stewart (Rihanna's "Umbrella"), Lewis sticks to a couple producers, primarily Ryan Tedder, who gained semi-recognition by proclaiming himself a "MySpace phenomenon" and churning out occasionally danceable tunes for musical B-listers Jennifer Lopez, Natasha Bedingfield, and Ashley Tisdale.

Tedder knows from pop tunes, but his rock-with-a-hip-hop influence doesn't deliver the Blake Lewis we were promised on singles like "Break Anotha," "Gots to Get Her," and "Hate 2 Love Her," songs with banging guitar chords and a lot of wailing. They sound generic, and while Lewis never broke the mold with his performances on American Idol, here he sounds especially waterlogged. Even "Know My Name," a hip-hop beat-heavy track featuring Lupe Fiasco, sounds bland when Lewis sings over it.

It's really on the non-Tedder-produced tracks that Lewis gets to shine. "How Many Words" and "Here's My Hello" utilize Lewis's layering and beatboxing and infuses them with electronica rhythms to create serviceable pop tracks. J.R. Rotem, Britney's almost baby daddy, stops by to lend a hand on "What'cha Got 2 Lose," but it's easily one of the weakest on the album, sounding as though they mean to bleed dry the Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke comparisons often applied to Lewis on Idol. Then again, who else are they gonna draw comparisons to for a beatboxing white boy? K-Fed?