POP MUSIC : ALBUM REVIEW : *** TEVIN CAMPBELL “T.E.V.I.N.” <i> Qwest</i>

At 15, Tevin Campbell may be young, but he’s savvy when it comes to lending attention-grabbing charisma to a good song--his spunk ‘n’ funk performance of “Round and Round” was a highlight of Prince’s “Graffiti Bridge” soundtrack album last year. In a record world crowded with good singers, Campbell has an extra little edge that makes him destined to be more than just a background attraction on somebody else’s record.

On his own album, Campbell wasn’t fortunate enough to be handed 12 tracks that are as commanding as he is--but here and there he gets lucky. He gets a chance to wail on “Tell Me What You Want Me to Do,” a slow-burning Narada Michael Walden ballad that is positively stunning. Elsewhere, on “Just Ask Me To” and “She’s All That,” he looks like the most talented kid to tackle a pop song since Michael Jackson fronted the Jackson 5.

Nothing here surpasses Junior Vasquez’s soul-spiked remix of “Round and Round,” a track so suited to Campbell’s nervy delivery that you wish Prince had been prevailed upon to come up with a few more tunes for this hit-bound teen.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (a classic).