More Idol Record News

More Idol Record News

Both Ruben Studdard and Ayla Brown have CDs dropping tomorrow.  While Ruben has been busy with TV appearances and interviews promoting his album, Ayla has not.  In fact, she CAN’T promote her own CD.  Here’s why. From the Boston Globe:

“Forward, ” the debut CD from Ayla Brown, who was the 13th finalist on the latest round of American Idol, is due in stores tomorrow. But don’t wait for Brown to tell you where you can buy it. Because the Wrentham native is on a basketball scholarship to Boston College, NCAA rules prohibit her from promoting her album in the traditional way. But that isn’t stopping her fans from doing so. The Brownie Street Team, made up mostly of young girls, was out in force over the weekend handing out fliers at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace and other spots around Boston. And the American Idol fans and their websites have been flooding the Internet about Brown’s 11-track release that features material written by Grammy Award-winners Diane Warren, Tommy Sims, and Jonatha Brooke. Others who are more than happy to promote the 18-year-old’s latest project are her parents, state Senator Scott P. Brown and Channel 5 reporter Gail Huff. “It’s incredible, the reaction already out there, ” said Brown. “We’re proud of her and her work, obviously . . . but Gail and I are most proud of how she’s handled it. That’s why we’re continuing to support it.”

So, to sum up: Since NCAA rules prohibit Ayla, who is attending Boston College on a basketball scholarship, from promoting her own record, she has to rely on her street team and her parents to promote the record for her. Although her parents have nearly unfettered access to the local Boston media,  Ayla is not going to sell many records if she can’t get out there and promote herself…   

An idol who can and does promote himself–and very well I might add–is Ace Young. Lately, he’s been making the radio station rounds promoting his new single “Scattered.”  He tells his fans in a recent MySpace message that “Scattered” has been “loaded into iTunes” and will be available for download sometime this week. 

And for those of you wondering about a record deal for Ace–his song-writing partner and producer,  Elvio Fernandes,  posted on the American Idol message boards today that, “Ace has major distribution through Sony…the album will be in stores when it’s released.”  This means that, while Ace may release his upcoming album independently (handling his own promotion and production),   Sony will be distributing the CD to major retailers like Amazon and Walmart. Much better than selling it out of the trunk of his car.  Hello Corey Clark

Kimberly Locke is releasing a holiday single this year.  “Jingle Bells” will be released on iTunes tomorrow, but you can hear a clip of it now on her MySpace.  Last year, her holiday single “Up On The Housetop” was #1 on the Billboard AC chart for 4 weeks in December.

And last but not least,  there’s more from Taylor Hicks, via Gray Charles about his upcoming album (due to be released December 5).  And Taylor wants us to know–so much that he mentions it several times–that THIS album is going to GROOVE:

This record definitely grooves, it’s a groovy ass record. The thread running through the whole thing is that it grooves. It’s pretty cool man, the more I hear the songs the more I think ‘It’s a Groove Thing’, but I’m conscious that I want to make it radio friendly at the same time. I’ve taken the whole idea of my sound, what made me “me” and pushed it towards the groove end of things while always thinking about being radio friendly.

Taylor describes the sound as, “like what a Booker T and the MGs [legendary Stax/Volt records house band. They had a hit, “Green Onions” in the 60’s] record would sound like if it were made in 2007.”  He mentions that he’s reworked a couple of his old songs and completely “grooved them out.” And, they are recording the drums, keyboards, guitar and bass live in the studio.

So what can we expect from Taylor in December?  Something soulful and funky with a nod to the past–but decidedly modern and radio friendly? Groovy! Heh sawry, I couldn’t resist…