by Andy KellmanDespite being an early favorite who made it to the final round of 12 contestants, Mario Vazquez bailed from American Idol's fourth season, citing personal issues as the reason for his exit. Allusions and speculations led to the belief that Vazquez had cold feet about a potentially paralyzing management contract with AI's co-producers, 19 Entertainment, which would've been unavoidable if he had remained in the competition. He hired the lawyer who removed Clay Aiken from 19's grip and, prior to competing, recorded vocals for Worlds of Change, an album by a guitarist named Cesar -- a big AI no-no, even though it was like placing one grain of dirt in the path of a tank. Somewhat ironically, a freed Vazquez wound up signing with Arista, the same label that released the multi-platinum debut from Carrie Underwood, AI's fourth-season winner. Vazquez's own first album seems no more or less autonomous than Kelly Clarkson's Thankful, Ruben Studdard's Soulful, Fantasia's Free Yourself, Justin Guarini's ill-fated debut, or even American Juniors' Kids in America. With the involvement of heavy hitters like Ne-Yo, Stargate, Scott Storch, Sean Garrett, and Johnta Austin, it's clear that Arista controller Clive Davis sees Vazquez as someone who can go far beyond AI. The singer's voice is smooth and attractive, and it's boyish while knowing as well -- as he demonstrated during his time on AI, he's a natural entertainer. While there are a few standouts on this album, Vazquez sounds tentative and too conscious about making the right moves, and the variety of material must be an experiment to find out where he fits best, including soppy adult contemporary ("4 the 1," "One Shot"), harmless ska-inflected pop ("Don't Lie"), and marvelously horrible club-oriented garbage ("Cohiba"). To absolutely no surprise, all the highlights fall within the realm of breezy pop-R&B, like "I Bet" and "How We Do It," both of which deserved to be summertime radio staples. The results next time should be significantly improved if Vazquez can work with a smaller team that can give him a more personalized and focused set of songs.