Katy Perry: Sugar and spice and bubble gum and frosting and...(publicity photo)

Today, people who still buy music can choose from a candy-coated pop album from Katy Perry, some good old-fashioned Peter Pan syndrome R&B from Usher, and a new disc from the troubled American Idol Fantasia. But based on reviews of all three, you may just want to keep bumping the new Cee-Lo Green single.

Katy Perry, Teenage Dream

New York Daily News calls it a "sugar rush of sprightly pop tunes."

The Washington Post says that "where [single] 'California Gurls' is an Everlasting Gobstopper of a tune, the rest of Perry's bubble gum loses its flavor fast."

The Chicago Sun Times says Perry "she-bops through a dozen confections as light and fleeting as the cotton candy used as a theme throughout the CD's graphic art."

The Houston Chronicle finds that the album has "sweet and fluffy charm."

Verdict: Perry in serious danger of morphing into Princess Frostine from Candy Land.

Usher, Versus

The Washington Post says Usher makes a failed attempt to recapture his youth and wonders why much of the disc sounds "like it was recorded in an arcade?"

USA Today finds that Usher "has clearly pushed an emotional reset button to get back to his prenuptial attitudes."

The Canadian Press calls Versus "another uneven effort from an artist talented enough to do better."

Verdict: Why listen to the divorced father of two struggle to recapture his youth, when you can just listen to this?

Fantasia, Back to Me

Washington Post Express says that Fantasia Barrino "either has a very inventive publicity team or really bad timing, what with the sex tape controversy, 'homewrecker' accusations in a divorce case and a possible drug overdose."

The Boston Globe finds it strange that "[o]nly two weeks after she tried to kill herself with pills, Fantasia Barrino is doing the circuit to promote her new album, which is out today."

The Los Angeles Times thinks that everything going on in Barrino's life makes it "hard to listen to 'Back to Me' without resorting to pat conclusions about Barrino’s state of mind."

Verdict: WHY IS THIS WOMAN PROMOTING AN ALBUM instead of taking to her bed?