Last year, she charted the highest-peaking single by a Nickelodeon star with her cover of Sugababe’s “About You Now” on Billboard’s Hot 100. This year, “iCarly” star Miranda Cosgrove is aiming for the upper tier of the albums chart with her debut record, Sparks Fly. Signaling a bid for a legitimate music career, this eight-track LP features the actress-gone-songstress recording electro-infused, pop-rock jams and bouncy dance tunes. Though it sports a more mature sound, it is still difficult to get past the teeny-bopper undertones on the new set that lingers from her “iCarly” soundtrack stint.

Onomatopoeia track “BAM” is a highlight of the album, with the risqué lyrics of “Boys would take me out / But bring me back where they found me” over grinding guitars, Euro-pop synths and Cosgrove’s coy vocal delivery. Another standout is the Ke$ha-penned “Disgusting,” with its slinky instrumentation similar to that of a sped-up, lighter version of Nelly Furtado’s “Say It Right.”

Cosgrove’s auto-tuned voice singing the cutesy-yet-ironic lyrics on the blatantly Ke$ha-influenced track, along with its colorful production, provides the singer with a radio-ready hit. Pop mastermind Max Martin (Britney Spears, “3”) supplies Cosgrove’s album with the dazzling, euphoric dance track, “Oh Oh.” Attempting to give Cosgrove some indie-pop cred, producer Dr. Luke (Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne) crafted the guitar-driven “Kissin’ U” in a vein similar to the leisurely opening chords of Madonna’s “Ray of Light,” yielding the singer’s most credible track on the album.

The dreary ballads (“Hey You,” “Daydream”), as well as a poor attempt at a Sixpence None the Richer-type track (“Shakespeare”), are the total WTFs of the album, weighing down the musical legitimacy of the album and reverting Cosgrove back into Radio Disney territory. If you can look past the dreadful, text-language song titles, Sparks Fly on the whole is a fun, eclectic record that melds well together the contemporary trends of electronic and pop-rock music. With “fetch” tracks, Cosgrove’s debut album will no doubt leave fans with a :-) and the haters going =/.