CD3: HINTS, RUMORS, SPECULATION

[Pamela]

Honestly, I'm a patient person who will be perfectly happy to wait.  After all, it's better to wait, right?  

But, I thought it would be fun, or torturous (your choice!) to keep a record of any hint, rumor and speculation about the upcoming CD3.

I'll start!

Darci Monet is "Big Audio" in Dynamite
August 31, 2004

Los Angeles, CA - Multi talented singer/songwriter Darci Monet takes center stage with her cover of Bette Midler's "The Rose" in the Fox Searchlight independent hit Napoleon Dynamite.  She is also a featured soundtrack vocalist for the critically acclaimed indie documentary When Boy's Fly and earlier this year won UPN's nationally syndicated talent competition Live in Hollywood with her show-stopping rendition of "Proud Mary".

Monet is in frequent demand as a backup singer and has worked with such notable recording artists and songwriters as Dolly Parton, Steve Winwood, Beth Nielson-Chapman (Faith Hill's "This Kiss") and John Hiatt ("Have A Little Faith In Me", most recently covered by Mandy Moore). Her highly praised independent CD entitled My Own Road made it to number one on several online music sites and continues to gain attention as word spreads.

Monet has performed live in front of thousands throughout her career, most recently singing backup for 80's teen icon Tiffany at the 2004 Long Beach Pride Festival, and is keeping busy as a songwriter. She is currently working with new Atlantic Records artist Levi Kreis for his debut album and has been pitching songs to artists like Kelly Clarkson, Justin Timberlake, Clay Aiken and Faith Hill.

CULVER CITY

ALDO NOVA
By A. Lee Graham
October 17, 2004
....
But his musical passion survived. Nova traded guitar necks for notation paper, penning material for Bon Jovi, Celine Dion and Clay Aiken. Clay Aiken?

"Yeah, it seems a stretch, but I've always been into all kinds of music." And the man who lived the fantasy life - albeit briefly - still leads a prolific career. In this ElectricBasement interview, he discusses that career, songwriting and his solo debut, recently re-released on Epic/Legacy.
....
Who are you writing for these days?

Celine Dion. Clay Aiken. I'm also writing for one of the Irish Tenors.
...
Do you vary your approach depending on the artist, or is your songwriting formula always the same?

I change my style every time. I have to. Celine Dion has a different voice than a Jon Bon Jovi or a Clay Aiken. It's totally changed my writing style.

ELECTRIC BASEMENT
Aldo Nova was one of the writers of This is The Night as well.

[hotwaxonclay]

Well I heard a rumor tha Clay will be doing a piece with a group called Claymaniacs...I have NO clue whatesoever who they are...I mean...Claymaniacs.? WEll yeah its speculated that he is going to sing with them...


HAHA

[Pamela]

Well I heard a rumor tha Clay will be doing a piece with a group called Claymaniacs...I have NO clue whatesoever who they are...I mean...Claymaniacs.? WEll yeah its speculated that he is going to sing with them...
HAHA

And when that happens Dani, learn to curtsey because I'll be the queen of England. Just sayin!

Good one though!

[Princess Dorkling]

Findingclayaiken.com has said that songs
           ~Back for more
           ~1000 days
May be featured on the new album, set for early next year! ( or late this year, we know how soon these albums come out!)

[Rayline]

I heard Back for More yesterday. I downloaded it. It sounded pretty good. I danced to it. In my bedroom. 

It was pretty rock 'n roll. Not as poppy as I thought it would be. But I listen to alternative usually, so I'm happy. 

Anyway, I haven't even got his first albums yet, so to say I can't wait for the third would be a bit silly. 

Man, I seem addicted to your smileys.  Evil me.

[Princess Dorkling]

I wonder if it's going to be A lot like the new BSB album.....not quite what we expected as far as the music goes...ITS BETTER. I love Back for more! *hopes for more rocky songs* And I can do with some more slow, love songs! :fire

[Pamela]

Spinning all that angst into pop gold

Beyond the Lohan-Simpson circuit, DioGuardi collaborates with a list of performers that reads like a Top 40 Who's Who: pop chanteuses Pink, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera and Gwen Stefani; rockers Carlos Santana and the indie group Rooney; Latin pop crooners Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony and Enrique Iglesias; and a scattering of former "American Idol" contestants, including Bo Bice, Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson. She's written or co-written more than 60 songs released this year.

Kara DioGuardi was a co-writer on "The Way." Read the rest at LA Times.com

Kara DioGuardi.com (Clay's there!)

Is she corroborating again on CD3?  Considering that her specialty is "angst," maybe not. 

[Pamela]

From an interview with Chris Campbell, president of Midtown Media in NY.

Q: Over the years, we’ve had the “British Invasion,” “Disco,” “New Wave,” “Rap & Hip Hop,” “Boy Bands,” and many other genres & sub genres of music take off. What will be the “next big thing?”

A. Ok that was the most difficult question by far. I think the next big format will be music that can inspire the human spirit to do things never imaginable by man. I don’t mean, “Christian Rock” I mean a song like TRAIN’S cover of “Calling All Angels,” which I find to be an excellent example how to believe in each other and come together as we did after, “THE DAY” a few years back. That will be the genre that could shape the industry soon.

This interview was from a year or so ago. I didn't post the link because it no longer works. However, this guy may have some real insight.  Several songs have been released since then with a positive, hope-filled message. 

One example would be "Better Days" by the Goo Goo Dolls, which is a great song IMO.   

And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Cuz I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

And it's someplace simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And thats faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child that saved this world
And there's 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

[tiff]

One example would be "Better Days" by the Goo Goo Dolls, which is a great song IMO.

This is one of my favourite songs. I won't tire of hearing it becuase the message behind this song won't 'expire' or go out of date. Around here, it's played mostly around Christmas time. I look forward to hearing it every year right along side with "Christmas Shoes" and "My Grown Up Christmas List" (I was ecstatic when Clay sang this!!!).

I think the next big format will be music that can inspire the human spirit to do things never imaginable by man

I sure hope so. That would be a nice turn in today's music. I'm getting pretty tired of hearing hit songs with lyrics that are pulled from one's behind. And I'm not talking about Clay here, I'm talking about the stuff we hear on Top 40 radio. I mean, there are so many artists out there who are honest and sincere about their music, and they have some really great stuff. Clay is just one of the many. Jack's Mannequin comes to mind as well.  I truely believe that great songs are the ones written and sung from the heart (that doesn't necessaritly mean the singer has to be the songwriter and vice versa). And I believe that the most respectable artists are the ones who are honest about their music. I am really hoping Chris Campbell is right (not that I'm doubting him or anything). I would absolutely LOVE to see this happen wiht music.

[claytonsmyccf]

In the words of Mr. Aiken himself -- "Perfection takes time honey"

*sigh* I love speculation

But Pamela didn't someone tell you they've decided to make you the next queen of England, and send the royal family to rule Antarctica

[cjrmax]

How about a rumor, albeit one that sounds as if there may be some legitimacy to it, to start the day?

This was posted at RHT:

I just got a letter from someone in another group I belong to and he said he had been to a Rob Thomas concert...just him and not Matchbox 20. And he mentioned he had been doing a lot of writing in other genres besides rock and roll (?)...he specifically said that he had written a pop song that he intended to send to Clay! I'd say our guy is attracting some big time attention...as well he should! He should have enough stuff for 3 new albums..Clay?? We're waiting!! 

Now, I guess maybe Rob Thomas was being sarcastic, but if this is true it would be great!  I really like Rob Thomas and think he has written some really good songs and he is a pretty big name.  The bad news is, if he is just sending it to Clay, does this mean they are still looking for songs and the album is no where near done??????????

[Pamela]

CD releases slim in coming months
By MIKE BELL - Calgary Sun

"There's a headline for your article," said a record company publicist earlier this week, "Music industry gives up."

We'd like to assume he was joking, but then again, judging from the upcoming record release forecasts for the next few months, it appears as if the white flags have been collectively waved, at least for the time being.

Yes, if you're looking for some hot new sounds from here until March, the pickins is slimmer than a starlet Exlax-ing for a photo shoot.

(snip)

But, at the risk of getting your hopes up, there are some huge acts with new records in the works -- ones that are either in the can and being tinkered with, or close enough to completion that the record companies are confident they'll be ready for spring.

In April, cross your fingers and hope for new albums from Pearl Jam, Diamond Rio, jacksoul, Godsmack, Dashboard Confessional, Def Leppard, Shooter Jennings, Donna Summer and Rihanna.

And if you're good, maybe May and June will bring studio recordings from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Too Short, Velvet Revolver, Tool, Alan Jackson, Clay Aiken, Billy Talent, Christina Aguilera, Eamon, Kenny Chesney, Chantal Kreviazuk and Justin Timberlake.

Canoe.com

May....hmm. It's what I guessed in the poll.  It sounds like forever away, but it will be here before we know it.

[cjrmax]

CD releases slim in coming months
By MIKE BELL - Calgary Sun

"There's a headline for your article," said a record company publicist earlier this week, "Music industry gives up."

We'd like to assume he was joking, but then again, judging from the upcoming record release forecasts for the next few months, it appears as if the white flags have been collectively waved, at least for the time being.

Yes, if you're looking for some hot new sounds from here until March, the pickins is slimmer than a starlet Exlax-ing for a photo shoot.

(snip)

But, at the risk of getting your hopes up, there are some huge acts with new records in the works -- ones that are either in the can and being tinkered with, or close enough to completion that the record companies are confident they'll be ready for spring.

In April, cross your fingers and hope for new albums from Pearl Jam, Diamond Rio, jacksoul, Godsmack, Dashboard Confessional, Def Leppard, Shooter Jennings, Donna Summer and Rihanna.

And if you're good, maybe May and June will bring studio recordings from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Too Short, Velvet Revolver, Tool, Alan Jackson, Clay Aiken, Billy Talent, Christina Aguilera, Eamon, Kenny Chesney, Chantal Kreviazuk and Justin Timberlake.

Canoe.com

May....hmm. It's what I guessed in the poll.  It sounds like forever away, but it will be here before we know it.

Personally, I like that Clay was included among the HUGE acts!!! 

Just out of curiosity, has there been any rumoring about when Ruben's next album is due out?  Seems these season 2 folks are a bit slow at getting their second mainstream albums out!!

[lovinclay]

Well, now......Rob Thomas, huh?  I'd certainly like to think this is true.  I love Rob Thomas....alone or with Matchbox 20 (or with Santana - insert sigh).  I think he's a wonderful songwriter, performer, etc.  I'd like to imagine that if he penned a song for Clay, it would be very radio friendly.  Rob certainly has had radio success!  I would love for Clay to someday collaborate on a song with huge, established acts like Santana, (who IMO had alot to do with Rob's solo success).  It seems (if rumors are to be believed) that alot of very successful writers are vying for a chance to work with Clay.  So, that make me very positive about the next CD.  My dream?  For Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Elton John, or Sting to pen a song for our guy!  I know, I know.....it will probably NEVER happen, but one can dream, right?

[cjrmax]

I posted this on Critical Mass, but I thought I would post it here too:

You know, the more I think about it, and the more I read what others have heard, the more I think the Rob Thomas comment, if true, was meant sarcastically or as a joke.  This is from someone at RHT:

I

never mentioned this before because I didn't think it was important. Still don't. But since the topic came up....

On the radio station I listen to (97.9 WNCI-Columbus) they did a "Rob Thomas Idol" competition. For several weeks (I think it was 3 weeks) singers competed over the radio and listeners voted on which of the two they liked better. At the end of the three weeks, the finalists went to the studio and were judged by Rob Thomas. He picked his favorite and they received recording studio time and a meeting with the excutives of some label. I can't remember which one. Anyway, the DJ's asked Rob if he was ready. His response was something like "I'm ready as long as none of them are Clay Aiken wannabes. I'd hope you had more talent in Columbus than that." Of course everyone in the studio got a big laugh out of that. He followed up with "Thank God he didn't win, I don't want him to be a part of the musical community".

This was recent (like in mid 2005 sometime), not right after AI. Hopefully he has changed his mind.


Edited to add: I didn't hold it against him. He's allowed his opinion even if he IS wrong.  I like him too.

I still like Rob Thomas, and he most certainly is entitled to his opinion, but after reading this relatively recent comment, it seems unlikely he would seriously be writing a song for Clay.  Plus, if you think about it, why wouldn't he just write the song for himself if it were any good?  Their genres aren't that different!

[clayharmony]

Okay, you guys have got me curious...(don't laugh now...), 'cause I'm going to Windows Media to hear who this Rob Thomas guy's music.  I may not be as much an ignoramus...often I listen regularly to music I like, but I don't bother to figure out who's performing it unless I'm going to rush out and buy the CD.  With my Clay interest, I've replugged into the current music scene again.  To my students' delight, I've even purchased Alicia Keyes tracks.  (They get to hear my download configurations while they take tests...so, I feel as long as they listen to Clay (I'm Clayverting them a few at a time...  ) I throw in some of their favs that have won me over, too ....a bit of quid pro quid, is it?)

Anyway, I stopped in to post this here...in case you didn't catch it on the CH board.  I found it quite interesting.  I hope you will too. Note:  It's from the New York Times.

Critic's Notebook

Pop Comfort Over Ambition


By JON PARELES
Published: January 6, 2006

The full tallies were released by Nielsen SoundScan this week, and it's official: 2005 was a year for unheroic, unambitious pop with little more to say than "Play me on the radio."

Mariah Carey's "Emancipation of Mimi" was the best-selling album released in 2005.

The Year's Top Albums in Sales (January 6, 2006)

In 2005, Kanye West was among few stars who dared to be political.
Voting with its dollars, the public ignored the esoteric favorites championed by critics and went for music that offered a little comfort and dance beats. Entertainment, not ambition, was the priority.

Entertainment is always part of the story. Getting heard widely and regularly is the essential part of becoming a pop phenomenon. Yet through the years, the most memorable blockbusters have aspired to something beyond popularity. They set out to inspire, to startle, to define an era or to defy it. For the likes of Nirvana, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Eminem, Alicia Keys, Metallica or Bruce Springsteen, catchiness has been a means rather than an end. By those standards, million-selling pop in 2005 was downright quiescent. That may be part of the reason that album sales dropped again in 2005: mass-market hits felt disposable, like a momentary pleasure rather than like something worth owning.

The best-selling album released last year was Mariah Carey's "Emancipation of Mimi," which shuns eccentricities to offer radio-ready R&B songs about hooking up, breaking up and making up. In the last weeks of December, its sales edged out the routine gangsta rap of 50 Cent's "Massacre," which substitutes belligerence for romance but is no less circumscribed. Between 50 Cent's threats, catalogs of weapons and step-by-step sexual instructions, "The Massacre" makes sure to include raunchy, catchy pop like "Candy Shop."

Compare 2005 with 2004, which yielded albums like U2's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" - full of compassionate songs that grappled with faith and science, fame and family - and Green Day's "American Idiot," which was nothing less than a rock opera about 21st-century alienation. Those albums continued to sell through 2005 because there was little to supplant them.

A war is still on, but mass-market pop is steadfastly ignoring it. When 50 Cent raps about "My Toy Solider" on "The Massacre," he's rhyming about his personal posse, not Iraq, and when he talks about war, it's the battles between gangs or between rappers. Black Eyed Peas used to flaunt its social consciousness in its raps. But its 2005 album, "Monkey Business," stuck to cheerful boasting, battle-of-the-sexes shtick (and the goofy anatomical pride of "My Humps"), until the album's closing message song, "Union," which offers, "We don't want no war, can't take no more." Pop 2005 focused on the private and the local: a romance, a neighborhood and the internecine hip-hop squabbles that fill the Game's raps on "The Documentary."

Some of 2005's blockbusters were knockoffs that traded expansive thoughts for petty ones. Coldplay, the English band that's openly eager to become "the next U2," came up with more of its grand, chiming, would-be anthems, only to ruin them with lyrics unworthy of the music's splendors. Like a cheesy self-help guru, Coldplay inflates listeners' vague fears and insecurities, then offers itself as a panacea: "I will fix you," Chris Martin vowed.

In the wake of Green Day, the year's new punk-pop sensation was Fall Out Boy, which sold 1.65 million copies. The band has a sense of humor as snappy as its melodies, with song titles like "Champagne for My Real Friends, Real Pain for My Sham Friends." But the perspective of its songs is proudly myopic and self-absorbed, as the songs concentrate almost completely on gripes about girl trouble and the music business.

There are ample reasons for pop's narrowed ambitions in 2005. For one thing, 2004 was an election year in the United States, which clearly prompted some thoughts about the wider political and social situation, while 2005 was its aftermath, full of unhealed divisions. Singing about private lives - love affairs, individual longings or the local beefs and exploits of hip-hop - was the safest route to a mass audience.

Meanwhile, major recording companies are still unable to stop the declining sales that they blame on the Internet rather than on their uninspiring products. As they grow more worried, they're taking fewer chances on music that's not geared for instant radio acceptance, and radio stations have never exactly welcomed innovation. (And as the New York State Attorney General's investigations showed, there's still payola around.) Preferably, the songs will also do double duty as a commercial or a TV-show soundtrack: something noticeable but not too demanding.

Yet timidity and calculation aren't the only forces at work. Popular music now competes in a digital din of cable television, DVD's, video games and Web surfing. Separate songs, not sweeping album statements, are the currency of radio, MTV, iTunes, self-promotional sites like Myspace and the shuffled playlists of countless portable MP3 gizmos. Why devote attention to a big statement when there's another great groove just a click away?
With all of those choices further diluting a potential audience, it's astonishing that Ms. Carey or 50 Cent could each garner nearly five million album buyers in the first place. Pop stardom has always been about more than the songs; it's also an alchemy of longing for the star, identification with what the songs say, and the knowledge that thousands or millions of people feel the same way. Ms. Carey and 50 Cent are more eager to please than to inspire; their respective fans can take home neatly circumscribed, high-concept fantasies of romance or machismo.


The Year's Top Albums in Sales (January 6, 2006)

Forum: Popular Music
They're as functional and one-dimensional as a fashion magazine or an action movie, and fully content to fit within their formats. Their niches, fully exploited, are large enough. They don't set out to surprise the paying customers, or to leverage popularity into leadership.

Only one full-fledged star tried that in 2005: Kanye West, whose second album, "Late Registration," exulted in his own success without settling into formula. The album expanded his musical sources, found comedy and sorrow, and raised questions about temptations and responsibilities amid the boasts. He even acted like a star by daring to make a controversial statement - "George Bush doesn't care about black people" - on live television. Mr. West's year was a rare show of the old pop ambition - the kind that's validated by album sales and radio play, that pleases a mass audience but doesn't kowtow to it.

It's going to be harder to maintain that kind of large-scale public dialogue in a culture of atomized individual preferences. Independent companies, small and large, are claiming an ever larger part of the music market, bypassing radio to apply the old do-it-yourself strategies of touring and noncommercial media, and the newer ones of file-sharing and word-of-blog.

Paradoxically, though, far-reaching ambitions are re-emerging on the do-it-yourself scale. Where indie-rock was once a realm of self-conscious modesty - a refuge from the arrogant blare of Top 10 rock - acts like Bright Eyes, Animal Collective and Sufjan Stevens used their 2005 albums to make the kind of grand statements that bigger stars shied away from. They orchestrated elaborate sound worlds and grappled with big ideas rather than petty concerns, and they found audiences that made up in devotion what they lack in numbers.

There's less guarantee than ever that someone has heard of, much less heard, her neighbor's favorite act, as the Internet encourages people to start, or join, a microcult of their own. That's a blow to the monolithic blockbuster mentality, and a clear gain for cultural diversity. Yet it would be a shame if the old pop-star ambitions were to be replaced by a strict choice between innovation for an exclusive cult and shallow catchiness for the crowds. The challenge, now as ever, is to make innovation catchy - and with any luck, the pop stars of 2006 will rise to it.

[clayMaine-iac]

RCA has updated their Upcoming Releases:

Jan. 3 The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth
Jan. 31 Heather Headley - In My Mind
Feb. 7 Mylo - Destroy Rock 'n Roll
Mar. 21 Anti-Flag - For Blood And Empire
Apr. 11 Bullets And Octane - In the Mouth of the Young

RCA

As you can see, this list goes until April and there is NO Clay on there!!

[GWENN]

As you can see, this list goes until April and there is NO Clay on there!! 

 

GWENN

[mrs. c.]

As you can see, this list goes until April and there is NO Clay on there!! 

 

GWENN

I ditto that Gwenn...

[quynn]

There's less guarantee than ever that someone has heard of, much less heard, her neighbor's favorite act, as the Internet encourages people to start, or join, a microcult of their own. That's a blow to the monolithic blockbuster mentality, and a clear gain for cultural diversity. Yet it would be a shame if the old pop-star ambitions were to be replaced by a strict choice between innovation for an exclusive cult and shallow catchiness for the crowds. The challenge, now as ever, is to make innovation catchy - and with any luck, the pop stars of 2006 will rise to it.

Very interesting.  After reading the articles posted by clayharmony, I get the feeling that pop's current stars are facing a point in their careers where they must reach deep into the well of creativity in order to remain popular with the music consumers.  Maybe the powerful influence of the radio industry to sway the musical preferences of society is is weakening?  I do wish that were true, but at this point in time I don't see that happening.  I hope that Clay can produce a song that mixes innovation and radio friendlyesque qualities.  Sounds like that may  the key to successful music for 2006.