Dear Kelly Clarkson: We had a good time together, you singing hits in my car, me daydreaming about the two of us scampering across Caribbean sands. But alas, our time is through. I have a new Idol crush now. Her name is Fantasia, and her new album is like a suckerpunch to my senses -- but in a good way. She's everything Beyonce could be if Jay-Z let her. To KC, I bid you adieu. To 'Tasia I say: Call me, superstar.

Fantasia, Fantasia (J Records) With Tina Turner’s strength, Patti LaBelle’s holler and legit songwriting skills, the Season 3 champ from High Point, N.C., is everything an R&B diva should be: bold, brash and unafraid to take chances. Such wickedly thumping jams as Baby Makin’ Hips ("See that wobble-wobble? Shaped just like a cola bottle") and Not the Way That I Do are the best tunes Beyonce never had the guts or independence to make. Forget about being an American idol: Fantasia is the American dream, a hard-scrabble teen-mom turned star who is both accessibly real and deliciously fantastic. GRADE: A