After releasing a flop of an album in 2003, Solange Knowles is back with a vengeance with her latest R&B album, “Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams.”

Her velvety-sweet voice has some serious potential, but Knowles seems to lack the pipes to help her stand out from the crowd. In a day and age when “up and coming” music stars are a dime a dozen, Knowles fails at making a lasting impression that stands out from the rest.

Most of the album’s love and anti-love ballads take a while to warm up to. A few of the tracks immediately get the “next” button because they sound exactly the same as the rest. Knowles quickly loses the attention of her audience during the first couple of soul tracks but still manages to draw them back in with some of her catchier and more fast-paced tracks.

She manages to crank the vibe back up with catchy beats like “Sandcastle Disco” and “I Told You So.” Plus, with Pharell Williams helping out on her hit single “I Decided,” it’s hard not to sing out loud to their creative collaboration.

Despite the seemingly run of the R&B album, Knowles’ placement on Billboard’s charts indication exactly the opposite, Knowles is on her way to the top and the fans are eating her music up.

Since the album’s Aug. 26 release, it is still going strong at the number nine spot on the “Billboard 200” chart and held its position on the top 20 of Billboard’s “Hot Dance Club Play” for “I Decided.”

Compared to the likes of Gnarls Barkley (whose own Cee-Lo helped write “Sandcastle Disco”) and The Supremes in various reviews of her music Knowles is determined to prove to the world that she has her own style and is insistent that she not be identified by her famous sister, Beyoncé.

The younger Knowles sibling is fighting a constant battle to let fans know that she does not want to be compared to her famous sister. She even sings about her objection to this in her first track, “God Given Name.” Still, she’s going to have to fight a lot harder. Rarely an interview fails to compare the two not only personally but vocally as well. Beyoncé obviously takes the lead in both.

Determined to hold her own in the music realm, Knowles took the reins of her album, writing and producing most of her own tracks and injecting her own sass into the lyrics. Some were inspired by her own rocky personal life, after a recent failed marriage with the father of her son. However, someone else might have better delivered the feisty lines with stronger vocal chords and a presence to back up the sass.

If Knowles wants to hold her place in the industry, she’s going to have to step up her game a few notches. She gets an “A” for effort, but failed to impress.

Casey Kirk can be reached at [email protected]