With his melodious voice, distinct blue eyes and that endearing innocent charm that oozes out of him, it’s easy for Jason Castro to tug at your heartstrings and make you want to bring him home.

Despite not winning the 7th season of American Idol, Jason Castro, 23, still goes down in history as the first idol contestant that played an instrument on stage; guitar in his case.

“I have a simple goal and that is to create songs that grab you by the soul and make you feel,” he said, on his homepage. True enough, he has lived up to his expectation.

For someone who thought that he would never start singing, he only discovered that he had the ability to sing close to 2 years ago when he joined American Idol. Jason Castro certainly surprised us all with his self-titled debut album, which hit stores on Apr 13 and debuted at number 18 on the billboard charts, according to USA Today.

His new album features many well-known songwriters, which has helped him greatly in the production process. Although he alone has the ability to produce an album on his own, the work of other songwriters is an added bonus to the album, thus, making it a delight to listen to.

The songs included in the album generally have a very cheerful personality to them, which makes you feel like falling in love because you want to experience the warm, fuzzy feeling that love brings. This album basically sets the mood for any and every date that you were to go on.

His sweet-sounding vocals, whimsical whistling and the quirky, laidback melogy made the first track of his album, “Let’s Just Fall In Love Again” the perfect opening song for either people in a relationship or singletons. It has the power to make people who are currently single have the desire to fall in love, while couples can re-affirm their relationship. It’s the recipe for a perfect summer love song.

Another must-listen on this album is “This Heart Of Mine”. Featuring Castro’s superb guitar skills and euphonious humming, the melody and honeyed lyrics make this song another perfect love song that you can’t help but sing along to.

“That’s What I’m Here For” begins with a captivating guitar solo from Castro, which blends in well with his rich, tenor voice. These two factors come together to form a lethal combination, which makes this one of the best songs in the album.
“You Can Always Come Home” features fellow singer-songwriter Serena Ryder. Maybe it’s the fact that Castro’s voice and her voice blends so well together, you almost cannot hear her voice at all. However, that aside, this track is perhaps one of the best original songs that Castro has written which clearly shows how talented he is in that area.

However, for people that are not fans of his, this album may not be the perfect ear-candy for you. In fact, Jason Castro may come across as a Jason Mraz wannabe.

The UrbanWire gives Jason Castro 2/5 stars because while this album sticks to his original image as the laidback heartthrob in American Idol and is pleasant to the ear, it may come across as boring and repetitive, which is quite a pity since he is so talented.

Title: Jason Castro
Artist: Jason Castro
Language: English
Record Label: Atlantic
Release Date: 13 April 2010
Track list:
1. Let’s Just Fall in Love Again
2. This Heart of Mine
3. That’s What I’m Here For
4. Heart of Stone
5. If I Were You
6. You Can Always Come Home (Featuring Serena Ryder)
7. Love Uncompromised
8. Closer
9. All Wrapped Up
10. It Matters to Me
11. Hallelujah
12. Let’s Just Fall in Love Again (Acoustic Version)
13. Sweet Medicine
14. Over the Rainbow