USA Today's Idol Chatter Interviews Clay

USA Today's Idol Chatter had a few moments on the phone with Clay to discuss details about the new album, On My Way Here, in stores on May 6. Some highlights:

My (brief) encounter with Clay

Well, it was a short chat, and Clay couldn't have been more pleasant. We mostly talked about the album (I'll include the item that resulted at the bottom of this post), but I also complimented him on having the most dedicated fans around [...]

“I would like to have signature songs,” Clay Aiken says, “songs that are identifiable as mine as opposed to ‘Clay Aiken sings such-and-such.’ ” That’s why the American Idol Season 2 runner-up conducted an intensive search for new songs he could connect with.

“I went through a bunch of songs,” he says, “and found On My Way Here by (OneRepublic leader) Ryan Tedder, and it hit me in the gut. It became the catalyst for the whole album to be lyrically connected — most of the songs relate to lessons I’ve learned.” On My Way Here became not only the title track for Aiken’s new album, due May 6 on RCA, but also the lead single.