Phillip Phillips is recovering nicely from his kidney surgery, thank you very much. And finally, he’s hitting the interview circuit after disappearing post American Idol win to take care of his pressing health issues.
Phillip tells Billboard Magazine that he’s recording a bunch of songs that he wrote. The good news, is that he fully expects and is willing to co-write with others. However, he would like to have at least a co-write on every song. It sounds like there’s compromise going on, which bodes well for his relationship with the label. Considering how head-strong he presented on the show, I was a little worried about that!
He also name-checked a co-writer, a fellow Georgian. He hopes the song makes the album.
“We recorded a bunch of songs I wrote and I’d say we got some rough tracks coming along. We’re going through them just to see — some parts may need to be fixed or we may need to switch a few things and I’ll re-write. We’re just trying to make the songs come out a little more.”
Phillips says he’s not necessarily counting on being able to write the whole album himself, but he wants to work with any outside writers who are brought into the project. “I’m hoping I’m going to be able to at least write on every song for the album, ’cause it’s hard for me to connect with a song I had nothing to do with,” he explains. “Hopefully I’ll get to write half of a song with other writers.” Phillips has already worked on one song with fellow Georgian David Ryan Harris, coming up with a song he says “is really beautiful and I really hope makes the album. I really love the song.”
Phil is already working with an unnamed producer, whom he may or may not continue to work with. His album will contain “some rock and jazz and probably a couple of acoustic things.” I wonder if Phillip will end up with a single producer, or work with several? It may depend on his scchedule:
As for producers, Phillips says he’s been working with “a certain person” he declines to name, and he’s not sure if that will continue as the process continues. “We’re just going to be moving around so much with the (tour), so we’re going to see how it goes and figure out if I’ll still be recording with that person or doing it with somebody else,” Phillips says. He expects to continue working on the album during off-days of the Idols Live! tour for a November release. As he says, “It’s going to be a very busy summer and a very busy year.”
Phillip revealed to Yahoo.has said in previous interviews that he expects his debut album to drop in either November or December.
About the upcoming Idol tour, which begins on July 6 in Detroit Phillip says he’s expecting it will be a LONG SUMMER:
As for being on the road with the other “Idol” finalists, Phillips predicts that “It’s going to be a lot of fun at the beginning, and then probably a few weeks into the tour — I give it about six weeks — people are probably are probably going to want to cut each other’s throats and get mad at each other. I hope it doesn’t get that way, but I have a feeling it might be, because we’re gonna be tired from doing interviews and just wanting to sleep. Heejun (Han) is probably gonna be really messy; I might be a little messy, no lie, but I try not to be. It’s gonna be a long summer.”
