IdolChatter Interview & Review + MyFox Boston video!

**Shayne** · Half of Brayne Number of posts: 5810 Age: 17 Location: WA Came on: 2008-11-28

Quote:

Blake Lewis: The Interview
Oct 06, 2009 01:16 PM

Blake Lewis' first album, Audio Day Dream, had its danceable moments. But even though it sold nearly 400,000 units, Blake -- who finished American Idol's 2007 season as runner-up to Jordin Sparks -- never felt like he'd made the album he'd intended. Now, moved from the 19 Entertainment/Sony Music world to Tommy Boy Records -- a label with a long history of hip-hop and dance music -- Blake says he feels like he's finally gotten it right with his new album, Heartbreak on Vinyl, out today.

Idol Chatter: For people who've heard Audio Day Dream but only Sad Song from the new album, give them a sense of the difference between the two albums.

Blake Lewis: It's definitely a completely different record. This is the record I wanted to make -- fun, definitely my same kind of pop vocal stylings, but in a different environment, very danceable music.

What took Audio Day Dream in a different direction from what you had your heart set on?

Pretty much Clive Davis openly saying he didn't like electronic music, and that's what I had been doing for 11, 12, 13 years.

We definitely butted heads. I'm no diva R&B singer, so we didn't get a long very well.

I would imagine that put you in a tough position as a new recording artist. You're the new kid, and you're surrounded by guys who ostensibly know what they're doing.

The industry likes to label people and put them boxes. I'm definitely not one who likes to be put into boxes. It was tough for me, being on American Idol and trying to balance the beatboxing with the singing. Then again, after American Idol, it was tough to get what I wanted to do.

So what good did you get out of Audio Day Dream and the experience of making it?

I had an amazing experience making the record. I mean, I was very excited to make my first record, and I'm very proud of it. It turned out great, and my fans loved it. It turned out great. But, for me, I wanted it grittier and dirtier. I was, like, 'Dance music is evolving, and it's gonna get huge.' And here we are a year later, and Lady Gaga's blowing up, and hip-hop's turning into dance music. But there were some danceable songs on Audio Daydream.

Heartbreak on Vinyl is the result of that. Not getting all I needed to out of my first record, I got to put a lot out on this one.

The new album has a very apparent '80s influence -- Erasure, Depeche Mode, New Order.

Yeah, I definitely have a nostalgic '80s sensibility in my music. I've always been inspired by really great synth-pop -- Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and Erasure -- and I get those comparisons all the time, which is great. Those are the bands that inspired me growing up. Organically, my melodies sound that way, and I'm in love with the polysynth.

The girl you reference in Sad Song, Heartbreak on Vinyl and most of the rest of the songs -- is that a particular girl?

I had just broken up with my girlfriend, and she had moved out, pretty much the week I wrote Sad Song. That was the second song I wrote for the album. The first song I wrote was a love song, Our Rapture of Love.

I was totally in love with her. I Left My Baby for You, Rebel Without a Cause, well, and The Point, are very much the story of that. In I Left My Baby for You -- The You is my career in California, and I come back and confess my love to her, I know that I'm wrong, I should be with her.

I'm very independent, and she was very co-dependent. By the time I came back, she had already, she was leaving that day for Hawaii with her new boyfriend. I was a little crushed. Well, a lot crushed, I would say.

Has that relationship normalized enough that she's heard the new music, or is that a completely separate thing now?

She heard some of the rough demos. I played them for her then, which was tough. Yeah, she's always been the one. I wrote one of my first pop songs about her, a long time ago, five years ago. I was in love with her five years ago, and she shot me down then. This time, I kind of shot her down. It's just always been bad timing. Looking back now, I don't think she was the one. Though I thought so at the time.

How much actual beatboxing is there on the album? There's the one track -- SuperScratchaVocalisticTurntableLicious -- where it's really heavy, but how about on the rest of the album?

You know, there's a lot of auxiliary beatboxing throughout the whole record. Afraid probably has the most in it. You know, the scratch song. I think that's my gift as a beatboxer, my vocal scratching abilities.

There are so many amazing beatboxers out there. I don't pride myself on being an amazing beatboxer, but the scratching is kind of my forte.

So we made a song specifically for that. On the other songs, there's a lot of atmospheric stuff and lot so filters. And I use my Kaoss Pad on stage, which is this vocal effects unit, which I can stutter my voice and filter it out. There's a lot of that on Afraid and on I Left My Baby for You, which is Daft Punk-y/Prince/David Bowie-esque. I call it 'the mash-up song.' It's all over the map. There's some on The Remedy.

I always try and put a little bit on every song. You wouldn't know it's beatboxing, but it's on there.

On Idol, the producers gave a big push to that side of you early on ...

Like the only thing they showed ...

Exactly. And that's the sort of thing that can make you look like a novelty act really quickly.

Well, beatboxing, it kind of is a gimmick if you do it all the time. If you do an hour of beatboxing, unless you're the most amazing person and you can arrange it musically, it kind of is just a gimmick. I didn't want it to be a gimmick, especially coming on Idol.

That was tough. They showed me beatboxing four times before they showed me singing. I hated that. I've been singing my whole life. I just found beatboxing 10 years ago. I get it. I guess it gave me an advantage, if you will, over other people, but people really tuned into my arranging. I produced every one of my songs. I wish they had shown more of that -- me actually going into my computer and producing all of these songs behind the scenes. They only showed it for, like, half a second one day.

But that was the thing. People didn't know what to expect from me, and I kind of like that. I want people to come experience a new show every time I do a show. I take my album, live, and I remix it. I'll take a breakbeat song and turn it into a reggae song, or vice versa.

I like being the out-of-the-box character. I don't want to conform to a certain style, either.

American Idol acts historically have had a hard time being taken seriously in the rock world. Does that same dynamic exist in the dance scene?

It's not an issue. I've been part of the dance community for more than 10 years. I got embraced when I was on American Idol, because I had opened for all these famous DJs and producers -- Sasha & Digweed, Paul Van Dyk, Crystal Method, DJ Dan, all these amazing pioneers of electronic music. Coming to the WMC and seeing them all again, it was just all love. It was like, 'Man, we voted for you all the time! It was great!' That was like the best love I ever got, the community I had embraced my whole life reaching back.

Has Adam Lambert's success this past season had any effect on your life whatsoever?

Yes and no. It's the American Idol family, so he got compared to me, as being rebellious and flamboyant. I got that. I guess I'm known as the rebellious American Idol. And he kind of did his own thing.

He's a great dude. I helped him with a couple of beats for his record and tried to hook him up with certain people for his album. I saw him at one of their shows, at an American Idols Live concert in New Jersey. He just tore the roof off. He and Matt Giraud were my favorites from this season, and Allison, as well.

This was the first season that I actually watched, ever. It was cool, because there were two or three people I really enjoyed.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2009/10/blake-lewis-the-interview/1

Quote:

Blake Lewis' 'Heartbreak' beats
Oct 06, 2009 10:16 AM

Blake Lewis' Heartbreak on Vinyl is out today, and I'll post an interview with him later today. But first, let's take a quick scan at what reviewers are saying about his new album this morning.

All Music Guide: "Freed from 19, he's brought all his disparate interests together on Heartbreak on Vinyl, which cut for cut is more rhythmic and melodic than A.D.D. and is a whole lot more memorable."

The Washington Post's Express Night Out: "A 13-track odyssey in all things electronica, the album remains largely stuck in neutral — the 'electro pop goodness' Lewis describes in the album's press release never really shines through."

Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch: "Probably the thing that stands out the most about Heartbreak is that it is a continuous story, which leads to a more cohesive album as opposed to a collection of singles."

Have you seen other reviews? Post the links in the comments section.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2009/10/blake-lewis-heartbreak-beats/1

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[12-4-07] "I want a hug!" [11-7-08] "You need a chatroom." [11-11-08] "I almost cried seeing this." [7-21-09] Shayne's Art;; ♫!

Bri*

Thanks Shayne!
Lots of cool questions were answered
I think I'm just gunna make a thread for all the HoV reviews and such like that like BLA is doing.

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[7/27], [10/12], [11/11], [12/27], [4/5], [5/23], [7/27], & [8/10]

Stephhhx3

great interviewww

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Blak3rGirl · Hero Blaker Number of posts: 2910 Age: 15 Location: NH Came on: 2008-11-27

So that interview was todayyy,
and on August 5th ; when I met him
in like the same areaaa-ishhh ,
he wore the same exxxact thing !

Hahaa, I thought that was funny
for some reasonnn.

But I didn't know he was gonna be on
theree ! BOOO.

Good interview anyway !

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♥ 8-5-2009.

rooochh · Baby Blaker Number of posts: 183 Came on: 2008-11-27

Great interview *going to translate*
haha basically I translate everything for my website laugh

cause most of all the visitors are spanish people, so

cakeshake

Blak3rGirl wrote:

So that interview was todayyy,
and on August 5th ; when I met him
in like the same areaaa-ishhh ,
he wore the same exxxact thing !

Hahaa, I thought that was funny
for some reasonnn.

But I didn't know he was gonna be on
theree ! BOOO.

Good interview anyway !

Haha it was taped that day xD hahaha.

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