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ClayManiacs.com  |  Archive  |  Media & Appearance Archive  |  10/13/03 AN AMERICAN IDOL SCORECARD - ARTICLE
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Author Topic: 10/13/03 AN AMERICAN IDOL SCORECARD - ARTICLE  (Read 2081 times)

Marilyn

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10/13/03 AN AMERICAN IDOL SCORECARD - ARTICLE
« on: April 27, 2010, 10:56:06 PM »
Pamela
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AN AMERICAN IDOL SCORECARD - ARTICLE
« on: October 13, 2003, 10:50:50 AM »   

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What happens after the show ends? An 'American Idol' score card
By NICK MARINO
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Spiky-haired sensation Clay Aiken, shown performing at Philips Arena in August during the American Idols Live! tour, will debut his first full-length album, "Measure of a Man," tonight.

Since garnering some 12 million votes in May's "American Idol" finale, spiky-headed pop singer Clay Aiken has executed a promotional blitz generating Bennifer-caliber buzz.

He's performed on the American Idols Live! tour, made the cover of Rolling Stone and booked almost enough time on television to merit his own network.

Now all he has to do is release his debut record album and hope it satisfies a nation of fans who have whipped themselves into an anticipatory tizzy.

"They voted for me and put me in this position because they liked what they heard," Aiken said. "We don't want to put this record out and have people say, 'Why did I vote for him?' "

Aiken's first full-length record, "Measure of a Man," will be available at midnight tonight -- just after his appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and just in time for a fan-organized international album-release party.

The release party, which will convene locally at Media Play in Duluth, typifies the excitement that has snowballed in Clay Nation in the not quite five months since the "Idol" season ended.

"I don't ever want to ignore the fact that I made it this far because of 'American Idol,' " Aiken said. "But there's definitely a point where we don't want it to be 'American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken.' "

Aiken, 24, doesn't know exactly when that point will come. But said, "We'd love it to be now."

The Raleigh, N.C., singer describes "Measure of a Man," which has been guarded with near-militaristic intensity, as "not really a rock album -- it's definitely the least rock of any of the RCA acts -- but it has a little bit of a rock edge to it." It also has a softer side, with "a lot of powerful songs on the album of the ballad persuasion."

After tonight, the music itself will become a focal point. In the weeks leading up to the release, however, much of Aiken's momentum has stemmed from his improbable personal story, which has turned the former YMCA counselor into, well, something of an idol.

Claymania has swept away Todd Venice, a 45-year-old Arizonan who runs a fan board that he says has more than 5,000 members.

"It's just such a groundswell that's going on for this artist that I quite frankly have never seen in my lifetime," Venice said. "I feel like I'm sort of on the ground floor of something historic that's going to happen."

Kelly Clarkson, the winner of the first "American Idol," has sold more than 1.5 million copies of her debut album. But the debut by hunky Justin Guarini, last year's runner-up, has sold a comparably paltry 130,000.

So why should this year's runner-up fare any better?

"I'll tell you the difference," Venice said. "Clay touches the geek in all of us. We watched him blossom, like a flower almost. His first appearance on 'American Idol' was so the opposite of a pop star. You could never imagine him being a sex symbol -- it was the exact opposite."

It still is. Aiken swears not to swerve from his nice-guy persona and squeaky-clean material, even if his album ends up bombing.

"I'm not willing to change directions if that means turning into something that's hard-core or what I consider trashy," he said. "If that's all that's going to sell, then I guess I'm not going to sell. But I don't think that's all that's going to sell."

Geoff Mayfield of Billboard magazine expects the record to have "a big week," with sales near the 500,000 mark. But, he said, "it's always a crapshoot to even guess what something's going to sell until it's had at least a few hours in the store."

What he does know is that Aiken's fans are hungry for this album.

"Thanks to e-mail, I hear from the fanatics," said Mayfield. "I hear from the die-hard fans from your bigger artists. There are certain artists that really have big cults -- Madonna has one, Mariah Carey has one. I don't recall anybody who's generated as much e-mail response as Clay has."

Now the question is whether all those e-mails (and those 12 million "Idol" votes) will translate into record sales.

"What I've learned from 'American Idol' is to stop handicapping it," Mayfield said. "Because very little of it has gone the way I expected it to go."

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