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So, the Clay Nation has been buzzing about the good news that Clay Aiken has parted ways with RCA after his team decided to walk away from the negotiations. Yeah, some of the entertainment sites have been twisting the story that Clay was dropped and the fans are in mourning but they are trying for good copy rather than truth. When we got the news, I don’t think I’ve seen so many dancing bananas on the message boards since the night Clay won his American Music Award.

Snide comments about his fifteen minutes of fame make me laugh at their wishful thinking. He’s starting his seventh year in show business and just came off a highly successful and critically acclaimed role on Broadway in a part described by one critic as “not a debut for cowards.”

Listen… to the song here in my heart
A melody I start but can't complete
Listen… to the sound from deep within
It's only beginning to find release

There appear to be a lot of choices out there for a singer with Clay’s talent, name recognition and built in loyal fanbase. Since the negotiations were ongoing, he was probably fielding offers (and may have even made a choice) but I like to speculate. He could get picked up by a major label, one like Atlantic that has figured out how to attack the new digital model. He could get picked up by David Foster’s label; the rumors have been out there for years that David wanted him, long before Clay and Jaymes Foster made David an uncle. He could choose one of those hybrid models, like Hickory Records which work hand in hand with the publishers to make records pay better for the artist.

Oh, the time has come for my dreams to be heard
They will not be pushed aside and turned
Into your own all 'cause you won't
Listen

He could also choose the new model with Live Nation, especially since he is a touring artist. Clay’s hit the road nine times with a shows that are like no other. A Clay Aiken concert is a smartly woven blend of music and comedy (both scripted and improvised) that leaves you wishing it would never end and wanting to see it again as soon as possible.

Clay tried to tell RCA what he wanted and it never seemed to happen. In the summer of 2005, he hit the road with his Jukebox Tour, a fun filled journey through the decades of music. He ended the show with his own music including introducing new songs that were under consideration for the next album. The fans responded in a big way. Clive Davis responded by tossing all of that aside and making Clay start over with an album of tired love song covers. The same formula that was forced on older artists like Rod Stewart who refused to sing the covers in his concerts.

Listen, I am alone at a crossroads
I'm not at home in my own home
And I've tried and tried to say what's on mind
You should have known

RCA had gold in their hand (actually platinum) and they tossed it away with such glaring incompetence that I cannot wrap my business trained mind around it. When he finally got to record the album he wanted, On My Way Here, they rushed it out and promoted it in the same way that a student council would promote the latest Friday night dance. Cheaply and last minute. Actually, I think some student councils may have had better budget.

Oh, now I'm done believing you
You don't know what I'm feeling
I'm more than what you made of me
I followed the voice you think you gave to me
But now I've gotta find my own

He found his voice with songs like Ashes, Sacrificial Love and As Long as We’re Here. He wrote for the first time, including the bridge for Lonely No More and the lyrics for Love All Alone. He produced (uncredited) the haunting new version of Broken Wings. Why is it that only the internet fans know that? He found his voice in acting too and I hope to see him spread his wings there, possibly finding an intersection of his acting and his music in the movies. The voice that sells albums was never on a movie soundtrack, despite the fact that Jaymes Foster’s sister is a force in the soundtrack business. Old Clive, I guess he likes power more than money.

He’ll have some rebuilding to do. Something that lets people know that he can sing funky songs like Everything I Don’t Need and other uptempo songs found on his last album. Songs that make him rock out in concert and just when you can’t dance anymore, he’ll float a ballad on the wind so you melt back into your seat and let the voice envelope you the way warm maple syrup surrounds French toast.

I don't know where I belong
But I'll be moving on
If you don't, if you won't
Listen.

Move on, Clay. I’m already packed.


Sony/RCA is releasing a “Best of Clay Aiken” CD on March 31st. One more chance for the label to make money off the fans without supporting Clay. I shall buy it because I consider it more than a CD.



In 2006 when Clay toured with his Soft Rock in a Hard Place show, Angela Fisher (one of his great back up singers) would perform Listen every night. On this night, she was ill and Clay performed it as a duet with his other equally gifted backup singer, Quiana Parler. It came on my ipod the other day and I realized how much of a siren call it was. I found a youtube of it that is a blend of the best audio with the best video. It's got a few minutes of goofy Clay at the beginning so he can make you smile before he knocks your socks off.



Pencil drawing by Linda Hubert with blend by Pax.

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