WE CHOOSE BLAKE NOISE.
If all goes according to plan, Blake will be doing a satellite media tour to promote Audio Day Dream today. Watch for him on your local news programs! Post here if you see him.
A couple of other random notes…if anyone had problems streaming the album on AOL yesterday, it’s now available on most ClearChannel radio station websites. And check out Ryan Tedder’s latest myspace blog. He has a lot of nice things to say about Blake!
We thought it was time to dedicate a post to a man who’s spent a lot of time with Blake in the recording studio over the last several months…Ryan Tedder! Dreaming Out Loud, the debut album from Ryan’s band OneRepublic, is in stores today! This record has been a long time coming for 1R. It all started when Ryan participated in a talent search contest Lance Bass (seriously!!!) conducted on MTV’s TRL in 2000…Ryan ended up winning the viewer voted-on competition, but more importantly managed to catch the attention of uberproducer Timbaland in the process. “He sounded like John Mayer, but better,” Timbaland recently told Rolling Stone magazine. Check out Ryan’s breakthrough performance here!
Read more after the jump!
As promised by Pure Tone Music, here’s the press release with more details about Blake’s Audio Daydream! Check out this high praise from Clive Davis:
Blake knows music, is deeply involved and connected with the process and we all had a ball making this album. The results are so gratifying. Blake comes to the fore as a totally fresh, creative, edgy and bold new artist, poised to break through right out of the gate.
And 19E’s Simon Fuller:
Blake is an extraordinary artist; talented, distinctive and unique. He has made a fantastic debut album, and I am so looking forward to all his fans hearing it — they will love it.
Even more impressive is Blake’s numerous songwriting credits, and yes - OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder is all over the album too!
Tedder and Lewis co-wrote and Tedder produced numerous other tracks on the debut including “Gots To Get Her” (Inspired by “Puttin’ On The Ritz”), “Hate 2 Love Her,” “Know My Name” featuring Lupe Fiasco (co-written by Tedder, Josh Hoge and Lewis), “Surrender” (co-written by Tedder and E. Kidd Bogart), and “I Got U.” In addition, Jonathan “JR” Rotem, (who worked with Rihanna on her No. 1 single “SOS”) produced and co-wrote the track “What’cha Got 2 Lose?” along with Lewis and his Idol co-finalist Chris Richardson.
Says Blake of his debut effort:
This album is exactly how I wanted it to come out. It’s like an ’80s mix tape, with some hip-hop and electronic influences. I wanted to make a record where every song sounds like it could be on the radio, but my radio. 2000-’80s Blake radio is what I call it.
Can’t wait to tune in to Blake Radio on 12/4!
thank you Donna! ♥
Can you even believe it?! Things seem to be off to a good start for Blake with “Break Anotha” already being spun by 37 radio stations well ahead of its official 11/20 add date! The critics seem to be digging it too…Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Slezak writes:
After several listens, “Break Anotha,” with its opening blast of sirens and its hiccup-y beats, sounds like it could easily hold its own on Billboard’s Hot 100. In other words, it’s not just a “good for an Idol graduate” kind of single, but instead the kind of track I’d spend money to download. Oddly, Blake’s falsetto and the flurry of strings on the bridge is slightly reminiscent of J.Lo’s “Do It Well,” but his voice sounds nonetheless confident and radio-ready throughout. And Blake’s lyrical word of caution (”So desperate/Be your best friend/Sign you up just to cross you off his checklist”) about a chronic womanizer — complete with a breakdown that suggests that he might, in fact, be the cad in question — is a refreshing change of pace from “moment like this” goo.
And even those notorious music snobs over at Blender appreciate what “Break Anotha” has to offer…
As we’d hoped, the song is semi-ridiculous, hyperactive and totally different from your typical Idol fare. Maroon 5, watch your back.
Check out a couple of other random items of interest after the jump!
Okay, not really, but I did get some scoopage from him at the Elliott Yamin concert at the Orlando House of Blues tonight. For those who don’t know… Josh is currently touring with Elliott Yamin. He is one of two opening acts, and he’s very available to the fans afterward, so I got a chance to talk with him and ask him about the song(s) we’d heard that he’d written that Blake had recorded.
So, I heart Josh Hoge, and he deserves major props for talking to me about Blake at the concert. He totally didn’t have to, so that was really nice, I thought. So, in return, check out his myspace and add him as a friend. I did!
Between The Last Goodnight’s set and Elliott’s set, my roommate and I decided to get our last drink for the night. Well, we get to the bar, and there’s Josh Hoge standing right there. Nice! No work at all on our parts. So, we approach him, and I ask him as we’re taking a pic if I can ask him a question and he says sure. So… I lead in with “so I’ve heard that you’ve written some songs that Blake Lewis has recorded…” And off he goes… The gist of what he said, after the break!
The lack of buzz about season 6 since the finale aired has been astounding - in case you can’t tell by our meager June archives. However, now that the tour has started and recaps are starting to come in from just about every city, we’re finally starting to gear back up with some AI news regarding the tour - and a little info about the albums.
Why management and recording deals haven’t been announced yet for Blake OR Jordin is anyone’s guess. Right now, all we can do is speculate, since the people who DO know aren’t talking (as well they shouldn’t be, since there has been no official announcement). Hopefully, we’ll get some news soon, because I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m really anxious to know what’s going on with the albums.
However, in the meantime, here’s a little mini interview with Blake that a reporter from the Houston Chronicle was lucky enough to snag before the PopTarts show in Houston on Sunday (the link will also give you snippets of his interviews with Lakisha, Gina, Phil, and Haley). Here are the highlights about Blake’s album from the link:
Lewis describes his upcoming disc as “2000-’80s.” He was listening to rough mixes of new tunes on his IPod and graciously offered to–gasp!–let me hear a few.
“I haven’t let anybody hear this yet,” he said. My hopes were high.
It was an expectedly eclectic, electro-pop mix, ranging from Kylie Minogue-esque club grooves to a quick sample of ’80s hit Owner of a Lonely Heart. Killer stuff.
“I try not to be put in a box,” he says. “I’m inspired by everything. I’ve got six tracks done. I’ve got a track that’s very Erasure-sounding, a track that’s Sting-meets-Neverending Story and a track that’s very electro-poppy Depeche Mode. It’s all over the map.”
Sound awesome (ding!) to you? It does to me! I definitely can’t wait to hear this album!
It’s also been discovered that not only is Blake working on his album with a producer he’s said that he’s always wanted to work with, BT, he’s also been in the studio with Ryan Tedder of One Republic. Check out his myspace for more info on the artists he’s previously worked with and is currently working with. Also, check out the song “Apologize” on One Republic’s myspace. I heard it for the first time last week (yeah I know, I’m always behind) and it’s a hot song, fo sho.
Also, Blake got a mention in an article about 311 in the Palm Beach Post. Check out the full article - it’s really great. Here’s part of the bit that mentions Blake:
This past spring, a whole new group of people got an education in 311 - American Idol fans, via the relatively adventurous musical tastes of Seattle’s Blake Lewis. The band was contacted by the show’s producers for permission to let Lewis sing its All Mixed Up. Mahoney says they agreed but didn’t realize how much mileage they’d get.
“We didn’t know (Lewis) was such a big 311 fan. He really kicked a— on All Mixed Up,” he says. “After he sang the judges said they didn’t know who we were, and he said ‘They’re my favorite band. They’re great.’ It was the best publicity ever.”
And after that, 311, in turn, became big Blake Lewis fans - “Nick went a couple of times to the tapings of the show and hung out with (Lewis) and made friends with him,” Mahoney reports, adding that the diminutive beat-boxer also covered their version of Love Song.
Last but not least, for star, because she’s awesome (ding!) and got us some killer video from Nashville last week.
