After the American Idol TCA panel in Pasadena a few weeks ago, in which several alums participated in, winner Nick Fradiani talked at length with a Hartford Courant reporter about his debut album.
“We’re putting the last little finishing touches on the record,” he said. “It’s totally Top 40 pop music. I’ve been into a lot of Nick Jonas and Maroon 5, stuff like that, so it has that vein, but I kind of put my own vibe to it that I feel happy about.”
“It took me a minute” he confessed about finding his groove, “You know, it’s hard when you come off the show to find your sound. We messed around with a lot of different songs.”
Nick would show Big Machine records, Scott Borchetta songs, and he’d reject many of them. “It’s close, it’s getting there, it’s getting there.” he’d say to Nick. Scott is returning to American Idol this year as mentor to the contestants.
“We wanted to make sure that when we came with that proper first single that it could compete,” said Scott, who is executive producing the album, “And absolutely he can compete. I’m so excited about the first single.”
That song, “Get You Home,” was written by Nick along with Nolan Sipe (Honey I’m Good) and Jaden Michaels (Carly Rae Jepsen, Lea Michele).
“Get You Home,” which Fradiani is hoping to debut on an episode of American Idol this season, is currently being mixed by Grammy winner Serban Ghenea, who has worked hit tracks from artists like Adele and Taylor Swift. “We’re really pumped about it,” Nick said.
“We want to make sure we get traction with the single and then go on with the album,” Scott said about the timetable for releasing Nick’s music.
A slew of songwriters contributed to the album, including, Jason Mraz, Kevin Kadish (All About that Bass), and David Hodges, who has written for a slew of Idol alums, including David Archuleta, David Cook, Chris Daughtry, Carrie Underwood and famously Kelly Clarkson. Her 2007 My December album was basically an extended diss track about their failed relationship.
Nick also wrote with “a guy from Sweden that’s up and coming” and because he recently moved to Nashville, “a ton of great Nashville writers.”
“I’ve been doing a lot of writing in Nashville,” he said. “But I’ve been here [in L.A.] a bunch too. I’ve been back, between New York, here and Nashville, pretty much.”
“I was lucky enough to have Scott let me be a major part,” he said regarding the creation of his debut. “He could have just thrown 12 songs at me and said this is what you’re doing. And he didn’t do that to me. He gave me the opportunity to be really creatively involved, which to me means everything. And I think in the long run, that was the right move.”
His former hometown band, Beach Avenue are still in the mix. “They still play live with me. They weren’t able to do the record but they still played a lot of the radio shows I’ve had and stuff they were able to be part of it. I see them all the time.”
“One of the songs I wrote with Jason Mraz, my guitar player wrote on as well, so he was able to be a part of something, which is pretty cool.”
You will see Nick mentor/perform with American Idol contestants next week, Wednesday February 11 and Thursday February 12 on FOX.
