Megan Hilty, who is generally thought of as the breakout star of Season 1 of Smash, stopped by Late Night With Jimmy Fallon to promote the upcoming season of Smash (which returns with a 2 hour premiere on Tuesday, February 5 at 9 PM Eastern) and to promote her upcoming album, due out March 12, 2013 via Portrait (a Sony Masterworks imprint) and Columbia Records. She confirmed the album, which was originally going to be an all covers album, evolved into an album of covers and original music, including a song cowritten by Carrie Underwood, Ne Yo, and country hitmaker Luke Laird called “Walk Away”!
Check out Megan’s interview, which starts around the 32:00 mark, where she also talks about the upcoming season of Smash:
This is not the first time Megan Hilty has sung a Carrie song. During Smash’s 1st season she served up a torchy, melancholy cover of “Crazy Dreams,” a Carnival Ride album track that Carrie wrote with Barry Dean and Troy Verges.
In the press release for the album, Megan says:
“I want to show a different side of me because it’s the first thing I’ve ever done that’s just me and not attached to any character or story line. Coming from a musical theater background, everyone expects that I’d do a Broadway album or pop standards. Smash changed all that. We did a completely different arrangement of ‘Crazy Dreams,’ and it resonated with a lot of people.”
Check out the tracklist for It Happens All The Time (Megan tweeted that it’s a “50-50 mix” of covers and originals):
1. “It Happens All The Time” (original song)
2. “Be A Man” (original song)
3. “No Cure” (original song)
4. “Walk Away” (original song)
5. “Safe And Sound”
6. “Blower’s Daughter” (Damien Rice cover)
7. “Hopin”
8. “Wise Up” (Aimee Mann cover)
9. “Dare You To Move”
10. “It Will Rain” (Bruno Mars cover)
11. “The Heart Of The Matter”
12. “Gravity” (Sara Bareilles cover)
You can PRE-ORDER Megan Hilty’s debut album HERE through Amazon.
Carrie, Ne Yo, and Luke Laird wrote together back in 2009, a couple of months before Carrie released her 3rd album, Play On. She told USA Today:
“We came out with an awesome song,” Carrie says. “I’m not sure if it fits within the context of the rest of the album, but there is no doubt in my mind that somebody somewhere is going to record this song.”
Looks like she was right!
This will be the 4th Carrie cowrite to turn up on another artist’s album. Kristy Lee Cook included “Not Tonight” (Carrie/Brett James/Chris Lindsey) on her Arista Nashville debut, Jessica Harp included “Good Enough For Me” (Carrie/Hillary Lindsey/Luke Laird) on her solo debut, and Lauren Alaina’s 3rd single from her debut album was “Eighteen Inches” (Carrie/Ashley Gorley/Kelley Lovelace). Luke Laird has become one of Nashville’s most reliable hitmakers (and one of Carrie’s go-to collaborators), cowriting #1 hits like Eric Church’s “Drink In My Hand” and Little Big Town’s “Pontoon” among many others, and is now on the charts with Lady Antebellum’s new single “Downtown.” Ne Yo is probably at least as well known for hits he has co-written/produced (like Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” and Jennifer Hudson’s “Spotlight” with a collaboration with Jessica Sanchez on deck) as his own hits as a solo act.
Check out Megan Hilty covering “Gravity” (and “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”) live:
Also check out a picture Megan just tweeted from her very first music video shoot.
I’m shooting my first music video y’all! #ThingsINeverThoughtI’dSay
