Country: Kellie Pickler

Kellie Pickler ***

Kellie Pickler bared her soul at the 2007 Country Music Awards show while singing "I Wonder," a probing song she wrote about the mother who abandoned her when she was a child. With tears streaming down her face on national TV, it was a revealing moment for the Albemarle native and "American Idol" finalist, who had yet to process years of sorrow and bitterness.

With her self-titled sophomore release (Sony/BMG), Pickler leaves no doubt that she has since matured and taken charge of her life and career. Throughout "Kellie Pickler," the 22-year-old small-town girl takes aim at past relationships and former boyfriends, most of whom have left her for other women. But instead of playing victim, Pickler sings "good riddance" with conviction and resolve.

In "Lucky Girl," Pickler announces her readiness to move on: "She got the diamond, but I got the world," she sings in a voice that's among the strongest of Nashville's new breed. In "Best Days of Your Life," she dresses down her unfaithful ex with a pointed forecast of what lay ahead: "I've been told that a cheater is always a cheater/So I've got my pride and she's got you." With "Rocks Instead of Rice," she crashes the party to toss a wedding day kiss-off from the front of the church.

But Pickler's not all spit and spite. The album's lead track and first single, "Don't You Know You're Beautiful," advises girls to avoid the trappings of peer pressure and fashion, and to accept themselves for who they are. It's an inspirational message she seems to contradict in the self-penned closer, "Going Out in Style." Here, the self-confessed shoe fetishist asks to have her ashes spread in Saks Fifth Avenue's shoe department.

But who ever said that 22-year-olds have to be consistent?