Carrie Underwood, “Play On” (19 Recordings/Arista Nashville)

As caramel-coated prime-time TV candy, American Idol is no more harmful than Diet Coke or Chewy Sweet Tarts.

As a means of whipping up an artificial frenzy and manipulating the public into actually making one of these amateur singers a celebrity, however, I find the show (and Simon Cowell) a sham.

For that reason Carrie Underwood has been a tough sell for me over the last four years. But with new album, “Play On,” it's time I swallow my past prejudice and recognize her for what she is: The brightest young starlet in country music.

Underwood’s Season Four American Idol win, combined with chart-topping country single, “Jesus, Take the Wheel” in 2005, provided the singer a different kind of momentum. Rather than riding the wave of new-found stardom and hoping it ended in full-fledged celebrity, Underwood took control and immediately started putting a brand to her songs. After two albums – 2005’s multi-platinum “Some Hearts and “Carnival Ride” two years later – and seven No. 1 songs, when a Carrie Underwood song came on the radio you immediately recognized it as “her sound.”

After not drinking her Kool-Aid for those releases, I now see signs that point to further longevity for Underwood on “Play On.” Instead of continuing to write in the same hit-making formula while paying more attention to her country-pop princess ascent, she has stripped down her songs and concentrated on becoming a better songwriter.

And it shows.

The first single, “Cowboy Casanova,” packages a little bit of Shania Twain rock radio crossover with the “Don’t mess with this country girl,” ‘tude that is usually Gretchen Wilson’s sacred ground.

“Undo It” is also a relationship-gone-bad anthem which finds Underwood nearly spitting her resentment.

Her softer side is still thick with sentiment as she steps-up to fight for those without basic necessities in heartbreaking pop ballads “Change” and “Temporary Home.” She even gets nostalgic with the waltzing “Mama’s Song,” and “Look At Me” a track Alan Jackson released last year, but that Underwood steals from him with a softer touch and Vince Gill on supporting vocals.

It’s her evolving ability to be all-things to all-listeners – country charmer, pop balladeer, down-home girl or magazine cover girl – as both a singer and celebrity that makes “Play On” a winner and her -launched fame the most genuine of all.