Michael Johns tells Access Hollywood more about his upcoming album. (You can watch him perform his new Christmas song HERE and download his single HERE)
Michael elaborates on his plans for his new album, due out early next year:
As for the New Year, Michael will finally get around to releasing his first post-…Idol album, and the rocker said it a rootsy record.…A lot of soul, definitely, Michael said. …That the main thing. It rock soul, but there elements of Van Morrison in there, there elements of Otis Redding, and there elements of INXS.
One of the few contenders on …Idol who was both a songwriter and performer, Michael said his album will have a mixture of his own tunes and those penned by others.
…Ive written songs on it solely myself, Ive co-written songs on it and there a couple of songs that have come in from other writers, he explained. …Im just kind of at that stage in my career where if it a good song, I dont care where it comes from. I love writing songs, I love collaborating, but Diane Warren, for instance, wrote a song and she said, ‹I think youd be perfect for this song. And I was like, ‹Wow! The lyrics really spoke to me, and the melody, and Im probably going to add it to my record.
And yes, there will be a rock ballad or two on the as-yet-untitled release.
…There one we were cutting the other night that very much like that, more on the blues kind of side, but it definitely one of those kind boss ballads, Michael said. …It called ‹This Is Goodbye. It pretty exciting.
Glad the album is going to have a soul vibe, he performed those songs really well on Idol. Having said that, the rock stuff he recorded prior to Idol proves he can actually handle rock music as well–even if we didn’t see that so much on the Idol stage. I’m looking forward to the album, ’cause I’m big fan of Michael’s growly vocals…
