"Superb" Sophomore Album on Track to Summer Release

The CH's mic stand was lucky enough to attend music business conference recently and she reports that there is excitement regarding Clay's sophomore album. In fact, a friend of someone who worked on and has heard tracks off the album says that the album is "superb." Let's get the party started, Claymates!

Update 3/14: mic stand contacted us and told us to post this e-mail address, in case you have any futher questions for her -- floridiotx@gmail.com.

Here is mic stand's full report:

anyway, to the point; like i said earlier this morning, i went to a conference last week with a friend of mine, who's a local singer here. it was mostly business management and other areas within the music business. he has his own production company, that he would like to take further, as well as further his music career.

i went more so for the 'something to do' factor, and to kind of give my friend another perspective on how i saw things, not thinking that i'd actually hear something interesting. i mostly only paid half a**ed attention during the conference, since business management doesn't really interest me much. there was about 100-150 people, 3 main speakers, and on either side of the room, they had booths / stands with people who work in different areas of the business. you could ask them questions, get pamphlets, get information of any kind.

after the conference, we went into another room where they had food and more booths / stands, where people just mingled and talked. i mostly just stayed by my friends side, listened and observed. and this is where things got fun! for me atleast.. i'll tell you one thing though.. Clay's name gets dropped; a lot. i actually lost count with how many times i heard his name (mostly used as an example while someone was telling someone something). however, there were two mentions that made my ears perk up and made me eeee!!! a little on the inside.

one of the guys that my friend was talking to had made a comment about a friend of his 'doing some work on Clay Aiken's latest album'. i didn't catch the name of the person if he gave it, what kind of work they did, or if they were still working on it, but he said that he had 'heard a few tracks' (don't know if they were rough recordings or a finished product) and that what he had heard was 'supreme' (i personally thought that an odd choice of words, but shrugs), 'superb' and 'vocally stunning and amazing'. he also said it was some of the 'best work he'd seen from any artist in a long time.' at this point i'm nearly peeing my pants with giddiness.

the second big mention of the night was when my friend was talking to someone who does a lot of PR here for local talent, and he was asking him what kind of things he can do to further his career, whether it be music wise, image wise, or just overall 'package' wise. this guy started giving him examples and ideas, and then goes 'well, you know who Clay Aiken is right?' and my friend nodded, so he continued (this is paraphrasing, but as direct as i can remember) and went 'take him for example. his latest will be like nothing people have ever heard from him. not just musically, but visually. it will be very different from how people remember.' he was basically saying that if you want to evolve, you need change. and with change comes different types / styles of music and a different type of image. he was basically indicating that Clay's new music was going to be something different (gee, where have i heard that before? *g*), but that he was going to look different as well. and then the conversation from there went into image changing, etc.

the over all impression that i got was very positive. the guy who was talking about his friend that did some work on it (the album) seemed really impressed with whatever it was that he heard; hopefully it'll be something that's actually on the album and not something that gets thrown out! it definitely excites me though that the 'buzz' about Clay and this next album has reached Orlando, where most stuff usually doesn't... peopke kind of concentrates on local stuff here for the most part.

and.... that is all. *g* like i said this morning too, what happened with me just kind of reminded me of calliek's posts, so i figured i'd throw something else out here, since what i heard was basically echoing what she and others have posted.

i hope i was able to at least bring a smile to some people's faces

Currently, the CD is scheduled for release in May or June.