Herald Dispatch declares: Clay Aiken's "Back and Better Than Ever"

Clay is "Back and Better Than Ever", the Herald-Dispatch declares in its review of On My Way Here.

Normally, I listen to a CD at least twice before I post a review of it, but I am so excited about this one I couldn’t wait.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Clay Aiken is back and better than ever…

For any of you out there who were thinking we’d get the same old same old from Clay on his new CD, “On My Way Here,” I am happy to tell you that you are VERY wrong. Clay’s got a whole bunch of new tricks on this one including rocking basslines, vocoders and risqué lyrics—or at least as risqué as Clay gets.

But as excited as I am about this—and I am VERY excited—I’m a little sad because I can’t help but think that we could’ve already had this CD if Clive Davis had just stayed out of it…

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The CD starts out with the title track, and even though I will never shake its similarity to “I Survived You,” it really is a good ballad and hopefully will score Clay some good AC airtime…

When I heard the chorus to “Ashes,” I just couldn’t help but smile. It has a great rocking guitar and it will make a great concert number with Claymates screaming all over the place—including me…

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“Falling” has a classic 80s feel to it with yet another rocking bassline and a moody melody. And the vocoder—which I’m normally opposed to—is kind of cool…

“Where I Draw the Line” is a great medium tempo song that I could hear playing on “Gossip Girl”—that is, if “GG” wanted to lose all of its street cred…

“The Real Me” is a gorgeous soul-searching ballad…

“Weight of the World” has a bit of a quirky bassline, but Clay’s voice totally makes it work…

Clay puts his theater skills to good use with “As Long As We’re Here,” which is a touch theatrical, but by that last chorus, you’re totally on board…

“Sacrificial Love” is also a little dramatic, but it has fantastic lyrics and really makes you wonder if Clay has been in the kind of relationship the song talks about, where someone just stayed with him until they found someone they thought was better…

Then Clay goes a little socially conscious on us with “Grace of God.” It’s an okay song, but with all of the different things Clay throws at us on this CD, the song doesn’t quite fit…

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I know that Clay lost some career momentum after “A Thousand Different Ways,” but in all honesty, that CD wasn’t that bad (I still listen to it all the time.). It was just disappointing that there wasn’t more new material and unfortunately, it came off a little cheesy. So I hope anyone that jumped off the Clay Aiken bandwagon is ready to jump back on because this is the CD we Claymates have been waiting for. I’m just sorry it took so long to get it (Thanks a lot, Clive.).

So, Claymates, I urge you to book it to your favorite store tomorrow and pick up a copy or two (Remember that Moms love Clay.). You will not be disappointed…

Now, get rested up, Clay, because we want a tour for this one! I’m saving up my money as we speak…