Katharine McPhee Aims For Age Appropriate Debut

‘American Idol’ season five runner-up Katharine McPhee and RCA Music Group senior VP of A&R Steve Ferrera tell Billboard they’re thrilled with her self-titled debut album, which they both describe as a “rhythm pop album.” Ferrera said, “One of the first things I asked her was, ‘What’s on your iPod?’ She said, ‘I’m 22 years old. I want to make a record kids my own age will want to listen to, a la Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado and Fergie.’ We set out to make a record that had those components to it, and also a few really big ballads like she sang on the show.”