Sparks: Latest tour is worth screaming about

Screaming at boy bands is nothing new to R&B-pop singer Jordin Sparks.

As a youngster growing up in Arizona, the “American Idol” season-six winner said she used to get into a frenzy as a fan of *NSYNC and Hanson. Now, the 19-year-old artist finds herself on tour with this year’s zeitgeist boy band, The Jonas Brothers. The bill comes to Cleveland for a show tonight at Quicken Loans Arena.

However, one must ask how the pop-rock tween-appealing sounds of The Jonas Brothers meshes with the R&B and dance-based Sparks?

“It’s only odd to people looking in,” Sparks said in a recent e-mail interview. “To us, it made perfect sense. I agreed because they are my friends and the tour is amazing. I’ve seen them perform before and I wanted to be a part of it, not to mention the tons of screaming fans. That is so fun. It gives me an opportunity to perform live for those who might not have seen me before.

“And it works because we [The Jonas Brothers and myself] have pretty much the same reach with our music, and we have the role- model status.”

So with that said, are the kids screaming just as loud for Sparks as they do for Joe, Kevin and Nick?

Sparks said, “They most definitely are screaming the entire time, but you can definitely feel the arena shake when the boys come out.”

After releasing her platinum 2007 self-titled debut, which included hit singles “Tattoo,” “No Air [with Chris Brown]” and “One Step at a Time,” Sparks is hoping her career continues to shake with success on her recently released sophomore effort, “Battlefield.”

Considering the cutthroat music-industry business, the impetus behind the album title seems obvious.

Still, does Sparks feel as though two years removed from winning “American Idol” and two records later her career has become a struggle?

“It really does feel like a battle, but I feel like I am winning,” Sparks said. “It’s a crazy world, and I am so excited to be able to sing for my job, travel and meet so many new faces. I named it ‘Battlefield’ because I’m all about perseverance and not giving up. Plus, it was a good one-word title that hopefully would stick in people’s minds. I think a second album either makes or breaks an artist, so there was pressure to fill my own shoes. Imagine that. And the pressure of my fans wondering how I was going to evolve musically as well as the substance of my songs.”

No matter what kind of success the future holds for Sparks, her r sum will always – for good or bad – have front and center her affiliation with “American Idol.”

Despite the fact season-one winner Kelly Clarkson and season four’s Carrie Underwood are still going strong, there are plenty of winners (Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino and Taylor Hicks come to mind) that have fallen relatively quickly into obscurity.

Perhaps the latter group of 15-minutes-of-fame winners explains the motivation for Sparks to take not only The Jonas Brothers’ opening gig but another tour later this fall supporting Britney Spears.

This also begs the question, whether or not the “American Idol” tag is a career godsend or hindrance?

“It definitely prepared me,” Sparks said. “We did a lot of interviews, photo shoots, meeting people, pressures of nailing the song right then and there on live TV, etc. You name it. Being in the industry now only makes me realize that it is a completely different type of pressure. I don’t really think there is a downside. I know there are people who would think so, but no, it will always be attached to my name. And I’m proud of it. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. It got me where I am.”