Just as the height of her career, Jordin Sparks is facing a major set back. She’s had to cancel a couple of important gigs including her slot as the opening act on Alicia Keys tour because of an acute vocal cord hemorrhage. Right now, Jordin is on strict vocal rest. What she has could result in a bleeding vocal chord and she might have to have surgery to correct the damage (I think this is what happened to little David).

If the winner can not fulfil her duties, let the runner up take her place. That’s what happened when Jordin couldn’t perform at Earth Day in Washington, DC yesterdy, and Blake stepped in to take her place. From what I’ve heard, he did his own Blake-ized rendition of “America the Beautiful”. Now this, I want to hear.

Oh and concidentally, he had a bleeding vocal chord earlier this year too, and his voice still hasn’t completely recovered

And completely unrelated, but still important, MJ was at the Toyota Grand Prix Pro vs. Celebrity race yesterday in Long Beach, cheering on Will Power from Team Australia. He sure makes the Aussie colors look good! Oh and don’t forget to watch Access Hollywood tonight.

The “Break Anotha” official music video. It’s….unique?

>>watch it here<<

Performing “Break Anotha” & “How Many Words” on Regis & Kelly this morning. Loved hearing the second song, that would make a great second single (but I still hope it’s “Here’s My Hello”!):

“Break Anotha” on The Early Show (better that R&K!):

And lastly you can check out his AOL sessions here. His band is so good; I love that all the music is live, technically. Oh, and get the album if you haven’t already!

Blake’s slogan “silence is golden, but I prefer noise” says a whole lot about “Audio Day Dream”. Actually noisy is an understatement because listening to the whole album is like being in traffic and hearing semi’s come at you from every angle. But is that really surprising coming from a man who can make infinite sounds with his mouth? What Blake set out to do was create an album that sounds like an 80s mixtape. He says he’s the first Idol to get full creative control, and you can definitely hear that in the music.

The negative thing I would say about the album is that some of the songs kind of blend together in sound. There’s “Break Anotha”, the single that I like a lot but I don’t exactly have it on repeat on my iPod. After listening to the whole album, there were several other better choices for the first single. “Gots to Get Her” will probably fall into the same category for me; this song samples “Putting On The Ritz” which I thought was pretty creative, and it works well in the song.

Toward the end of the album there’s “What’cha Got 2 Lose”, which was supposed to be the single, although I don’t think it has radio appeal at all. Oh and Chris R. from Idol helped write this. The very next track is “She’s Making Me Lose it” which is my least favorite song on the entire album. By far. You can really hear Blake’s influences throughout the album but it’s a bit too obvious on this track that it was inspired by Prince. And they really should’ve stuck a ballad or something in between these two songs.

The songs on A.D.D. that are a tad bit slower with more of a trance vibe are the standouts, like “How Many Words” (I think I read this is Blake’s favorite) that has a really pretty melody, and it’s one of my favorites even though the hook seems a bit out of place. “Without You” is one of the few ballads on the album. This song was compared to Coldplay, an I don’t quite understand that, although it does remind me of Keane.

“I Got U” is a really poppy and catchy mid tempo, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this ended up as a single at one point. Another really catchy song that a lot of people really seem to like is “Know My Name”, featuring Lupe Fiasco.

And then there’s my two ABSOLUTE FAVORITE tracks on the album. First is “Surrender”; you really can’t deny the 80s vibe in this one. Great lyrics and the melody is pretty hypnotic. The second is “Here’s My Hello”…..oh my gosh I love this, it’s like the “Freeze” of his album. I think this should be considered for a single. Great chorus.

Oh wait, make that three. I’m also loving “End of The World” which is one of the other ballads.

Following up on my comment in the beginning comparing the album to being in traffic, that’s not a bad thing. Because love it or hate it, every song is complex. There’s nothing basic or boring on this album, no filler songs, you can tell Blake spent a lot of time on each one. Very rarely do I see an album where every track is this strong, even if I don’t love them all.

B+

Get it tomorrow or order it now!

ADD @ Amazon.com |

As much as I really do not care for the cover of Blake Lewis’ album, the inside artwork is quite nice and it really does fit the whole dream theme:

And here’s the commercial, which is …..amusing. I have a hunch that the footage is from the Break Anotha video (which is gonna hit the net on the 7th). I’m really not sure what to think about this purple swirly unicorn & rainbows theme being EVERYWHERE, but I’ll hold judgement until I actually see the full vid.

Anyways, image aside, I can’t WAIT to hear this. I’ve been listening to the clips online and it sounds tight! Expect a review on Tuesday or something.

ETA: >> Listen Here <<

Source: IdolForums.com

The cover for ‘American Idol’ season six runner up Blake Lewis’ album, ‘Audio Day Dream’ has been released. The album will hit stores December 4.

I really like this cover, actually.

Kim asks: Which cover is the worst?

• Blake's "Audio Day Dream"
• Blackout
• Jennifer Lopez's "Brave"
• They're all equally bad.

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Source

Finally! I’ve been waiting for months now for Blake Lewis’ first single to leak (which technically, it didn’t). His debut single goes out to radio stations tomorrow, and you can listen to it and another song from his album below:

>> Break Another (the single): Listen Here <<

>> Know My Name: Listen Here <<

The verdict: the single sounds good, definetly radio friendly, but I’m not really blown away which is kind of a bummer! Still listening to the second track. Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section.

What do you think of "Break Another"?

• LOVES it!
• Not bad.
• No thanks.

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Photo source: idolforums.com