April 9, 2007.
Photograph by Miranda Penn Turin
iTunes can be a treasure trove, but I wonder if it’s supposed to be a scavenger hunt?
A week or so ago, a music lover found the prize when, on a casual search of iTunes content, she came across podcasts of interviews with four singers who are former American Idol contestants, including at least five interviews done by Clay Aiken. (Five are available, but each of Clay’s interviews is labeled as one of six.)
The other podcasts feature Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino and Chris Daughtry.
Clay’s podcasts, each described as an “Exclusive Interview with Clay Aiken,” are free and can be downloaded HERE.
[Or click on “Podcasts” at the iTunes STORE, then use the Quick Link for Power Search in the right hand column. Search for “Your Idols,” then click on the icon with the CD covers. It is not necessary to subscribe to the podcast series in order to download these interviews.]
Credits for the podcasts are as follows: “Interviewed, recorded, and produced by Jared Covington for Sony BMG/RCA.”
Three of the five available podcasts deal with the concept, creation, arrangement and production of songs from Clay's latest album, A Thousand Different Ways. (Buy the iTunes exclusive version, featuring "Lover All Alone," songwriter Clay Aiken's magnificent collaboration with his friend, Grammy-winning producer and composer David Foster.)
With a Release Date of 12/11/06, it’s interesting to speculate about when these interviews were recorded --- or why they were not publicized. In any event, with no filter and in his own words, they offer valuable insight into Clay Aiken, artist and activist. Clay talks about the album making process, the steps it took to reinvent a popular song, his input into the concept and creation of an innovative new arrangement, what he feels about the four original songs on the CD and, in the last two parts, his background as a teacher, his dedication to the inclusion of children with special needs into all aspects of everyday life, and his trip to Indonesia as an ambassador for UNICEF.
First, the music.
There is a perception and, sometimes, a criticism, that Clay doesn’t talk much about music. It’s true that no one has published a long and detailed discussion about Clay's process of producing an album since he spoke to Billboard’s Fred Bronson about each of the songs on his debut, Measure of a Man, but Clay has been quoted a number of times about his influences, his work as an interpreter of songs (or a “song stylist,” as he has called himself) and about what music means to his life.
Clay is a bit of a fast talker (the Raleigh, NC native puts a lie to the stereotype of the slow Southern drawl), so here is a transcript of Part One:
(Excerpt: Clay Aiken,“Here You Come Again” from A Thousand Different Ways)
Well, a lot of people attach these songs to, uh, memories of a prom or first kiss and since I didn’t get kissed for the first time ’til I was like 26, I think, I um (laughs)... I’m just joking.
Some of the songs on the album are favorites of mine just because we changed them up so much. I remember when I was a kid growing up, my mom was a huge Dolly Parton fan. And so one of the songs that obviously I heard a lot of was "Here You Come Again" and it had that whole (sings a bit) the whole bouncy thing to it.
I remember being on “American Idol” and we did a week --- a theme week the [year] that I was on. It was country week and we had to pick country songs. I actually picked “Here You Come Again” ‘cause I just remembered it so much. The musical director at the time, the person who was working with me, Debra Byrd and Michael Orland, both said 'You know, I think you’ll sing that song wonderfully but, it’s just… You’ve already got Simon thinking you belong on Broadway and if you sing that song you need to go out and wear a top hat and carry a cane, because its just so (sings peppy, upbeat version) --- “Here ya come again”--- and so we actually went away from that song.
I always kind of regretted that I didn’t sing it --- not because I expected that Simon wouldn’t have said something bad to me, because that’s what he liked to do most --- but I regretted that I didn’t sing it just because I’ve always liked it. So when we were putting this album together of cover songs, I was talking to [Executive Producer for “A Thousand Different Ways”] Jaymes Foster, and she said, "Why don’t we do… What’s one of the songs that you wanted to do on ‘Idol’ that you never got to do?" and I said… “Here You Come Again” first came to my mind, but I said I don’t want to do that because of the whole bouncy tempo and that’s not going to fit with the album and it’s gonna be hard to modernize it.
She said, “What if you did it as a ballad?" and I said, “Well, I don’t think it’s possible, because no matter what happens it’s gonna have that (sings slower version, emphasizing the beat at the end of the phrase) --- 'Here ya come again' --- it’s not going to be able to be turned into a ballad."
So she actually asked her brother David Foster, who had played the piano, actually, on the Dolly Parton version, if he thought it was possible, and he said "Well, maybe, but it’s kind of got that clip." So she sent it off to a producer, Adam Anders , just for curiosity’s sake, to see if he could do anything to it. And he sent it back to us and I remember we were sitting in her car and we almost ran off the road, because his track for that song was just absolutely amazing. He changed it so much and just made it so different that it’s easily become my favorite song because it’s so chill and laid back.
And it’s just kind of funny to me to think that, ya know, here I am 28 years old and I’ve had the opportunity to sing a song that I remember growing up with that was one of my mother’s favorites, and a song that apparently must have been one of mine, because it stuck with me for so many years.
And I not only got a chance to record it, but now I’m friends with the person who played piano on the original album and I got to do it in a way that kind of makes the song different and makes there be a Clay Aiken version, so I attach those memories to that song.
(Ends with another excerpt of “Here You Come Again”)
Part Two: Creating a New Sound for “Broken Wings”
4/10/07
Recording "Broken Wings"
The final track on the CD-version of Clay Aiken’s “A Thousand Different Ways” is an update of “Broken Wings,” originally recorded by Mr. Mister for their 1985 album, Welcome to the Real World.
In this interview, the second of five podcasts available on iTunes, Clay talks about his history with the song in an amusing anecdote from his childhood. Moving forward to his latest album, he discusses how he conceived the unique sound for the track, which was produced by Emanuel Kiriakou, also known as Eman.
Credits also include Morgan Grace on the “ethereal high parts” and Erin Taylor, who wrote and recorded the poem for the spoken word section of the song.
A Thousand Different Ways is available at Amazon.com but for the complete CD, buy the iTunes exclusive version, featuring "Lover All Alone," songwriter Clay Aiken's magnificent collaboration with his friend, Grammy-winning producer and composer David Foster.
(Excerpt: Clay Aiken, “Broken Wings” from A Thousand Different Ways)
Some of the other songs… actually, “Broken Wings” has a little bit of a similar memory to it, because when I was a kid there was this show called “Star Search,” and I’m sure everyone remembers “Star Search” with Ed McMahon and (booming voice) '4 1/2 stars'. When people got to go on, it was kind of the original “American Idol.”
My mother had this dream that, as a child, when I was 10 or 11 --- now I don’t know if I necessarily sang well at 10 or 11, but I would sing, and most kids wouldn’t just jump up and sing at 10 or 11.
I remember my mom got me a tape with karaoke tracks on it, and I don’t remember all of the songs, but one was “Footloose” and one was “Broken Wings,” and it was our plan that we would at some point record “Broken Wings” with me singing it and send it in to “Star Search” and see if I could get on “Star Search” singing “Broken Wings.” We never did, we never turned it in. I don’t know what happened, I probably just --- I've never been that type of ambitious person who wanted to be a singer so badly that I would risk rejection… I never did ‘Broken Wings,’ but that’s the song that was gonna make me a star 17 years ago and so… (laughs) It’s kind of neat that now we got to do it again and, again, that song is really special to me because we did change it up so much.
I was listening to the radio and heard, I guess, an Evanescence song and just that ethereal, whole different vibe to it, and I called Jaymes [Foster, the CD’s Executive Producer] up, I said “You think there’s a song on the album that we can do this with, and maybe have something whispered in the background?” and she said, “I think ‘Broken Wings’ could work like that.”
We sent it to Emanuel Kiriakou, the producer, and said "This is kind of what we want to do, make it eerie, make it haunting,” and he came back with what he came back with.
We went into the studio and I recorded my part, and we hired a young girl to sing the ethereal high parts, and we were sitting in the studio, and --- I’m going to make fun of myself a little bit. My voice probably never changed from elementary school, I don’t think, I was an alto when I was in middle school. Still am. (laughs) We were sitting in the studio and she was trying to find her (sings high note) 'Ahhhh' and all that stuff, and I was singing the high notes for her, saying "okay, do this, do this".
We found that there were gaps again for a place, maybe to put in a poem. We called a friend of mine who kinda had written stuff before, and initially thought we'll have her just say the lyrics to the song in the background. And instead she wrote a poem that kind of went along with the song’s title and the song’s message and put it in and she read it and got completely finished with it and at the very end, I said "You know what, say your last line again ‘we are broken, but we are moving still’ after I’m finished singing and let that be the last line of the song, ‘we are broken, but we are moving still’.
She did it, and we all just got these chills, and I went (really excited) “Now say ‘a thousand different ways’ the same way!”
‘A thousand different ways’ was not in her poem initially, but I just thought, “Well, this is gonna be the last song on the album, so we’re gonna have the last words on the entire album to be ‘A Thousand Different Ways.’
(End with excerpt from “Broken Wings”)
Part Three: Selecting the Original Songs for “A Thousand Different Ways”
4/11/07
BREAKING NEWS:
UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken Visits Afghanistan. Details from today's press conference HERE.
Performing "A Thousand Days" on "Jimmy Kimmel Live", September 26, 2006.
Today's blog features Clay Aiken talking about the process of selecting the four original songs for his album “A Thousand Different Ways”, which also includes ten classic songs as reinterpreted by Clay for this project. This interview is the third of five podcasts available for free download on iTunes.
If you are interested in hearing Clay’s work as a songwriter and perhaps gaining a glimpse into his future direction, I recommend buying the iTunes exclusive version of "A Thousand Different Ways" featuring "Lover All Alone", Clay’s fantastic collaboration with his friend, Grammy-winning producer and composer David Foster. The CD, minus that track, is also available at Amazon.com.
Songwriters for “A Thousand Days” are Christian Leuzzi, Aldo Nova and Emanuel Olsson. It was produced by John Fields.
Jon Bon Jovi and Desmond Child wrote “These Open Arms”, which was also produced by John Fields.
“Lonely No More” was written by Andreas Carlsson (also producer), Samuel Waermo (also producer), Mimmi Waermo and Clay Aiken.
Jeremy Bose and Paul Robert Evans were songwriters for “Everything I Have”, which was produced by Humberto Gatica. This was the song Clay performed live for the characters of Steve and Kayla (actors Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans) when he appeared as a guest star on “Days of Our Lives" in December 2006.
A final note before the transcript: there are five podcast interviews with Clay available on iTunes, but each of them is labeled “one of six”. That could be nothing more than a clerical error, but if not… I wonder if there is an interview out there somewhere where Clay discusses the writing of “Lover All Alone”? This is what Clay said about the song in a November 2006 press pool interview:
We chose not to include that song on the album because it didn't fit the concept of the album. We wanted to maintain the ‘love’ theme, and so a song about being lonely and alone wouldn't really fit. I am not sure what any future plans for the song might be. It is an exclusive for iTunes now. I'm not sure how long that lasts, or if anything can be done with it afterwards.
David Foster wrote the music for the song in early May and gave it to me with the instruction that I should write some lyrics for it. I had never really written before, and Jaymes [Foster, Executive Producer for A Thousand Different Ways] had been trying for a while to get me to write. I sat on the music for three months before I had any idea about what to write about. Then when it came it came. I finished the lyrics to the whole song in about three hours. Eman [Kiriakou] made some significant changes in the music when he produced it, so David and I both felt that he should get credit for writing on the song. I'm not sure what my songwriting future holds. Again, I like to be open to what comes my way, and not force anything.
Since the beginning of the singer/songwriter era, there has been significant debate about what it takes to be called an artist. At this point, Clay is mainly known as an interpreter of songs, and I think he has one of the finest voices of his generation. The tradition of great pop vocalists goes back to Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand, and it could be that Clay will become a modern master of that art.
But with “Lover All Alone”, Clay created a significant, profound and beautiful lyric, far ahead of his known experience as a lyricist. It is a work of great promise. I hope it will be first of many “Clay Aiken songs.”
(Excerpt: Clay Aiken,“A Thousand Days” from "A Thousand Different Ways")
We came along “A Thousand Days” last year when we were considering doing an album of all new songs. We recorded it and finished it and I sang it on tour, and when we changed the concept we decided to just shelve it and not come back to it, and find other new songs that we thought really stood up to these covers, and stood up the potential greatness of these covers, and that one kind of fell in the background.
And we found “These Open Arms”, which was to me is one of my --- is probably my favorite original song on the album. I love that song, so I signed up for it right away.
“Lonely No More” I actually helped to write on and so Jaymes [Foster, the album’s Executive Producer] was pretty adamant that we put that on the album, (laughs) and it’s some of my friends’ favorite song because it’s really got a modern kind of vibe to it and it’s kind of a pop radio friendly, I guess.
“Everything I Have” was a song that Jaymes found and Jaymes loved and really just pushed for it and pushed for it and pushed for it. I always liked it but I wasn’t 100% sure that I wanted to make it one of our four, we only got four, to make it one of the four I wasn’t completely sure. But every time I played three or four songs for friends, every single time a girl was sitting in the room, if she didn’t cry during the demo --- just to the demo of the song --- she would say "I want that song at my wedding" or "That’s the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard" or "That’s the best song ever, I want that song, you’ve got to do that one.”
It got to the point every single female in my life, or not in my life, has said this is the song to sing, and I said, “Well, so we will put it on.” I’ve always needed help with the ladies so might as well just put it on, too. (laughs) So “Everything I Have” got on in that way.
“A Thousand Days”, after we got those three songs chosen, we probably actually had a fourth that was potentially going to be on the album. We were trying to go through some of these blank CD's that were sitting in the car or sitting around and figure out what was on them so we’d know what to throw away or whatnot --- and “A Thousand Days” popped in. We listened to it, and we listened to it again, and we listened to it again, and we could not get away from the fact that no matter what, no matter how long it had been, that song had really, really stuck with us… a song that we remembered back then, and we just still loved and it was just, in our opinion, great. So we put it on, and it actually turned out to be a favorite at the label, so it’s going to be the next single, I believe, and we’re hoping to have that heard at the beginning of next year.
(End with excerpt from “A Thousand Days”)
Part Four: On Teaching, Inclusion and The Bubel/Aiken Foundation
4/12/07
Accepting the winning auction bid of $55,000 for the original manuscript of "Lover All Alone" written by Clay Aiken and David Foster, Bubel/Aiken Foundation Champions of Change Gala, Raleigh, NC March 31, 2007.
Photo by cablegirl
Clay Aiken has sold nearly four and a half million CDs and about one and a half million CD singles and EPs since 2003, as well as selling $28 million in concert tickets during his seven tours. His first career --- and his continuing passion --- is teaching, especially of children with special needs.
This passion for inclusion is not new. In this interview, Clay talks about why he originally decided to choose teaching over singing, what meeting the Bubel family meant to his appreciation for the abilities of children with special needs, and his fight for the inclusion of kids with special needs into the YMCA programs when he was a counselor a decade ago. He explains why gaining life experience before he became famous has made him a better singer --- and a better teacher in the larger classroom that God has afforded him. Finally, he talks about the mission and goals of The Bubel/Aiken Foundation, which works to include children with disabilities into the same environments as their typical peers.
This is the fourth of five podcasts available for free download on iTunes.
(Excerpt: Clay Aiken,“Every Time You Go Away” from "A Thousand Different Ways")
I think one of the things that I like most about singing and being able to do this, and something Idol has afforded me the opportunity to do, is to kind of meld my life now as a singer with my life before Idol where I was a teacher and something that I was really passionate about doing.
I can kind of trace each thing that I’ve done in my life --- whether it be singing in high school or working with the YMCA, going to school for special education, working with the Bubel family --- I can kind of see why God put me in each one of those situations. I never thought I was going to sing --- I’m sorry, I never thought I was going to be a teacher, I always thought I’d be a singer, and then changed my mind and thought that would not be a good idea, it would be too risky.
So I decided to become a teacher, and I feel like the reason that I took time off from school and didn’t go straight to college was so that I would have that opportunity to know that I was not going to be a singer right away, and God wanted me to learn about other things first, wanted me to become passionate about something else. ‘Cause I honestly believe that if I left high school and gone straight into singing, come to New York, gone to L.A., Nashville, wherever to sing before I had some world experience, I would have done this all for me.
I’m really happy and I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to learn about other things, to learn about individuals with special needs and their needs and have a passion for that. I got to meet the Bubel family and, with them, started the foundation that we have now, The Bubel/Aiken Foundation. People, since they’re on their computers anyway right now, can go to bubelaiken.org and find out about what we do.
We include kids with disabilities into programs with kids without disabilities, kids at summer camps, and… I worked at summer camps at the YMCA and saw kids with disabilities excluded from programs and it always upset me to the point that I threatened to quit a few times if they didn’t include a kid with a disability, {laughs} and it kind of became a contention at the Y. I was an activist even before I did this. (laughs)
I have the opportunity now to have a different platform, and you know I could have talked about it at the Y about it, and fought them and told them I was going to quit, but it would’ve only helped one kid get into camp one summer. I think the reason that God let me do that, let me meet the Bubel family, let me get passionate about that was so that because He knew He was going to put me on this stage and He knew that I was going to have the chance to talk about all of this stuff, and that’s something that I’m really passionate about.
We include kids in summer camps, we have summer camps that we’ve started throughout the country, we work with Youth Service America, we have service learning projects for kids so that they can work with individuals with disabilities instead of for individuals with disabilities.
We’re writing a curriculum right now with the help of State Farm and the Department of Education to teach teachers how to include kids with disabilities in service projects in their classrooms. Also, we’re working on a curriculum to teach YMCA or extracurricular directors how to include kids into their programs, so that it’s not bringing it down to the kids’ level with disabilities but it’s not making it unattainable for the kids with disabilities, but making it accessible and fun for every child.
(End with excerpt from “Every Time You Go Away”)
Tomorrow: Part Five: Clay Travels for UNICEF
"Lover All Alone", written by Clay Aiken and David Foster, is available exclusively on the iTunes version of "A Thousand Different Ways". The CD, minus that track, is also available at Amazon.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment