My shameful past must come out now. I can’t stand the hiding any longer. I watched “American Idol.”

Sure, it wasn’t every week. I didn’t skip any funerals or weddings to watch it, and didn’t fail any classes because of it.

-That said, I was a bit disappointed with Clay Aiken’s debut album, “Measure of a Man.” Aiken, for the uninitiated, came in second place on the show, losing to the teddy bear-esque Ruben Studdard. Aiken was the nerdy twig with the incongruously powerful voice.

“Measure of a Man” contains 12 tracks, and while not bad, the album suffers from overproduction. Often, it just feels, well, bland. Aiken could do so much better. He wowed audiences when he performed on television, but even self-proclaimed “Claymaniacs” or “Claymates” may find his first release lacking.

The best two songs are “No More Sad Songs,” a lovely, uptempo piano ballad, and “Shine,” which contains a hint of soul. A large dose of soul is exactly what the album desperately needs. Aiken possesses the ability to belt out soulful notes with ease, but someone decided the world needs another boring, adult-contemporary pop album, and more’s the pity. I guess Barry Manilow was nowhere to be found.

Aiken’s excellent voice saves any of songs from being real clunkers, but elaborate voice layering makes tracks like “The Way” tedious. Other tracks work fine until they reach their choruses, which tend to be embellished with silly studio effects and routine chords.

The songs on “Measure of a Man” just don’t measure up to Aiken’s talent.