An exclusive video of the photoshoot for Jordin Sparks was posted on Sparks' YouTube channel in October, where snippets of 'Permanent Monday', 'Overcome' and 'One Step at a Time' could be heard. Jordin confirmed on her MySpace that the official track listing as well as the release would carry bonus tracks at Wal-Mart, Sony, and the iTunes Store. She said the album would be 'Top 40, radio-friendly, uplifting stuff' hopefully mixing 'the pop rock sound of inaugural Idol Kelly Clarkson with the R&B edge of Beyoncé'. Sparks has stated that she recorded some songs for the album but the bulk of the recording was done in Los Angeles after the tour was over.
All past Idol winners and runners-up are or were signed with the RCA Label Group’s J ( Fantasia, Ruben Studdard), Arista ( Justin Guarini, Taylor Hicks, Blake Lewis) or RCA ( Kelly Clarkson, Bo Bice, Clay Aiken, Katharine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, Diana DeGarmo and idol successor David Cook) labels, with the exception of Carrie Underwood signed to Arista Nashville. On August 17, 2007, it was announced Sparks had signed to 19 Recordings/ Jive Records/ Zomba Label Group, becoming the first Idol to join the label group, the second being David Archuleta the following year. Sparks won the sixth season of American Idol.
