First of all, I don;t think you’re a Clay hater. You were being honest, but were a little misinformed.
I appreciate you owning up to your inaccurate information about Clay Aiken’s cd. Usually, I wouldn’t bother responding, but I can tell based on your comments about the state of the music industry, you seem to be a very reasonable person.

You comments about “why would RCA have him do covers” is also something that remains a mystery to his fans.

Most cover cd’s usually don’t come close to the quality of the originals, however, many of the songs on Clay’s cd are superior.
At least he made an effort to change them up, and not do a Karaoke version.

The new song he performed on Kimmel was A Thousand Days.

As an aside, Clay Aiken made an apperance on Jimmy Kimmel Live a few weeks ago and I remember waking up and groggily thinking that whatever song Clay was belting out on the show was actually pretty good. What did he perform that night?

See, I am not an Aiken hater…

The problem in part is that these old farts that make these decisions are going for the quick money instead of nurturing the artists. They are looking for disposable pap to catch the fickle teen market and the real talent can’t get a song on the bloody radio.

Then we see articles that blame the artist for the label’s stupid decisions.

Now, if you actually looked at the cd, let alone listened to it, you would have also known that it was NOT ALL COVERS. The tracks A Thousand Days, Lonely No More (Co-written by Aiken), Everything I Have, and These Open Arms are not covers. Another thing to note is that some of the covers have totally new arrangements – most notably Broken Wings & Here You Come again.
They are very different than the originals. Given the situtation, Clay did an amazing job on this cd.
His vocals are exquisite & the arrangements are top notch.

Lastly, there was a bonus song (probably the best song of them all) called “Lover All Alone” – Lyrics by Aiken & music by David Foster. It is a hauntingly beautiful song, that is only available when you download the full album from Itunes. There are already a few Youtube videos that are using this song. There’s one for Grey’s Anatomy & one for Gilmore Girls.

I do understand where you were coming from as far as the covers go.
Most of Clay’s fans feel that it was not his choice to do a covers heavy album. We beleive this because at concerts we heard previews of the some of the songs he said would be on the next album, and he also had said that he had recorded enough new material for 4 albums. He sang one of the songs – “Back For More” on GMA in the summer of 2005. It was very catchy & radio friendly. Then a few months later, we heard he was back in the studio recording covers.
So, before you go & pass judgement on someone or something, you should have your facts straight.

Maybe you may want to check out the video to get a sample of what Clay Aiken is capable of when he’s not being controlled by RCA.

Links (copy & paste) to Youtube videos.

Gilmore Girls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejRAd0KKfls

Grey’s Anatomy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rWNYNEVjDI

I agree with you about the crap that passes for music on the pop scene these days. I can barely stomach the homogenized, brainless shite that’s being played on most radio stations. I blame the American public for not demanding more from their music.When someone comes out and does something different or original, he or she risks alienating some portion of the listening (and potentially, purchasing) public. So this sets up a system where no risks equals higher record sales and more air time. It’s sad, really.

That said, there are still some people/bands doing things that are worthy praise. There are people out there who are writing their own music – music that’s good and interesting and intelligent. However, these people rarely make it onto the popular music scene. They are relegated to the “singer-songwriter” label, or fall under the indie or alternative category. Some examples that come to mind are Bright Eyes, The Arcade Fire, The White Stripes (though I know that Jack White rubs some people the wrong way), Imogen Heap, Aimee Mann, and others that I need to look at my i-Pod to list. And to tell you the truth, I’d rather they stay a little on the fringe. It seems that once something becomes popular, it gets more generic…either through pressure from record labels to maintain sales, through over playing on the radio, or through other less talented artists and bands pickking up and imitating the style. Think Green Day.

And there are a few who have made the transition to popularity while still maintaining some element of originality, like Outkast, and more marginally, The Killers. This gives me hope that while the American musical pallete may be accustomed to the bland, perhaps it can be trained to appreciate more.

-jes