According to the geniuses @ hollywoodgossip.com, 76% of the respondents in an online poll thought that Katharine McPhee looked better with "brown and flowing" hair as opposed to "blonde and pulled up", an important fact that certainly gets at the soft and squishy core of forever having the "American Idol" tag attached to your name. We've, however, been speculating that McPhee's second album, the oft delayed Unbroken (January 5) may have some solid musical value...and there are some indications that it has. A classy appearance on Chris Botti's Live In Boston PBS special (singing the standard "I've Got You Under My Skin"), a brief collaboration with star producer David Foster (Josh Groban, Michael Buble) and eventually, a high-profile signing with the adult pop/jazz label Verve led some us to surmise that McPhee may have opted for a high-end, sophisticated turn -- more Melody Gardot than, say, Kelly Clarkson. Plus, word that John Alagia (John Mayer, Dave Matthews) was at the production helm -- always a good sign.

 But with three tracks now out, we'll admit that we really don't have a sense of what this album is really going to deliver. First single "Had It All" is a dime-a-dozen, by-the-numbers mainstream country-pop anthem minus the twang and sass. The newest, "Lifetime", almost works as a breathy piece of sugary fluff. But then we also get the gorgeous, admittedly grandiose weepie ballad "Say Goodbye", a song that presents McPhee's voice in just the right cinematic-style setting.

So? One worry, of course, is that McPhee has decided to pursue not only her singing (which got her to where she is) but also her "creative" side, co-writing most of the songs on Unbroken with the likes of Rachael Yamagata, Ingrid Michaelson and Paula Cole -- all of whom bring both talent and credibility to the project, but are certainly in the "pay-for-play" category. Not to mention A-list producer John Alagia (John Mayer). Bottom line? Lots of cooks...but the proof is, as they say, in the pudding. We're hoping for bittersweet.

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Pop/Rock/Retro - Laid up after a taxi backed over his foot, Brit singer/songwriter Findlay Brown took the time on his hands to dig into classic 60's pop and the roots of rock and roll. "I was laying in the hospital thinking to myself, 'I should be quite depressed,'" he says. "But, actually, I was in a state of joy, because it really brought me into the moment." From Phil Spector production classics to Elvis to Roy Orbison to The Beatles to Dion to doo-wop and more, Brown found inspiration -- and his "sound." And who better to help tap that retro style than producer Bernard Butler, who had worked wonders with Duffy and her wonderful Rockferry?

New album Love Will Find You (Verve) delves deep into the sonic time capsule, dredging up all the various aural embellishments that graced the records of that era. Fortunately the quality of Brown's own songs makes this new project more than just an exercise in vanity -- or worse, the dreaded "marketing niche" -- and songs such as "Holding Back The Night" not only ring true from a production standard, they stand as solid works on their own. Check out the amusing "flashback" video of the album's title track after the jump...

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Findlay Brown - "Holding Back The Night" (from the album Love Will Find You)

Findlay Brown - "Everybody Needs Love" (from the album Love Will Find You)

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Ashley Brown - Speak Low (Pop/Adult/Standards)

Emmanuelle Seigner - Dingue (French Pop)

Findlay Brown - Love Will Find You (Pop/Rock/Retro)

Kanye West - VH1 Storytellers (CD/DVD) (Hip Hop/R+B/Pop)

Katharine McPhee - Unbroken (Pop)

Ke$ha - Animal (Pop/R+B/Hip Hop)

Sugaree - The American Dream (R+B/Pop)

The Cranberries - Bualadh Bos: Live (Rock/Pop)