Bo Bice - "Inside Your Heaven" (Single)(RCA, 2005) * * *Carrie Underwood - "Inside Your Heaven" (Single)(RCA, 2005) * *

As far as slight little American Idol singles go, "Inside Your Heaven" fits the mold. It's a lame track that was meant to fit the format of the two hour finale; some hollywood hack songwriters cobbled it together from a list of rock cliches, and hoped that either Carrie Underwood or Bo Bice might make it a winner. Carrie's results involved selling a ton of singles in her first week, but the song doesn't fit her country style as well as it does Bo's Creed-ish rocker voice best. Carrie sings the steaming heap of a song better than I would have expected, but it sounds like she's still imitating the likes of Faith Hill rather than instilling at least a small sense of her charm in the song. Yet Bo seems to do the opposite, applying his easygoing sense of "I'm here because I should be" bravado to make the song into something more than it should be.

Niether version of the single should be used to judge whether Underwood or Bice deserve to be played in your stereo. Many of you non Idol junkies may go to your graves saying all Idol winners deserve to die slow deaths. But I think both of these artists could succeed in their genres, if the label has the good sense to let Carrie write a true country album and to let Bo play to his strengths (hell, he's been performing for a decade without RCA interferring). Bo wins round one -- he proves that even a horrible song can sound good with the right voice and production. But Carrie still stands a chance once she gets back to her Oklahoma roots.