Blake Lewis Talks Heartbreak on Vinyl
Season 6 runner up, Blake Lewis talks to Lindsey Parker of Yahoo Music in this Part 1 of her wide ranging video interview, about signing with indie label Tommy Boy Records after getting dropped by Sony, finally making a dance/techno record, and his discomfort with being “boxed” into a genre.
Video after the JUMP…
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I have trouble imagining myself buying any of Blake’s music, but one of the few true musical highlights for me from Season 6 (outside of some by MindyDoo) was his You Give Love a Bad Name. That was creative. Yeah, he had one of the weakest voices ever among top Idol finalists, but he knew what to do with it, which sometimes is not the case on Idol.
I can’t imagine Blake ever having had a heartthrob rep on S6. S6 seems to be the ugly stepchildren of the Idol franchise as far as seasons go, but it seemed the most commercially relevant (of that season’s finalists) won.
As for Lyndsey Parker, I may get my DC application to be Fan #1 revoked if I give her a pass for writing about Adam knowing how to be a rock star outside of the show while DC only knew how to be one on TV (or something like that). Not saying that either are rock stars at this point, but this was when Adam was still on the show and DC was already playing headlining concerts in support of his album. I know she’s a huge Adam girl and it’s perfectly fine that she lurves him more, but why diss someone you’re supposedly a fan of just to make a point about how great someone else is? Why not choose some other artist to diss instead of one you like? So nope, not buying her protestations of being a HUGE DC fan. (As I said, I’m a DC Fan#1 wannabe. Insert ‘jumping up and down’ emoticon here.)
Where do you see a claim about an album?
I made just one very specific “claim” — that very few rock singers can do what Lambert does with his performance of Whole Lotta Love — the combination of stage theatrics and vocal rnage/power/skill.
I’ve been through my iTunes list of several hundred male rock singers and can only find a dozen or so with the vocal chops — although, there are of course many I prefer to Lambert. For example. I conisder Bob Dylan to be the best male singer I’ve ever seen, but he obviously cannot do what Lambert does. He doesn’t have anywhere near the vocal chops.
Singers that made me stop and think – just vocally – were Robert Plant, Roger Daltry, obviously Freddie Mercury, Roy Orbison, obviously Elvis, Jim Morrison, and two soul singers Wilson Pickett and Otis Reading. I had to really stop and think about three of the best singers ever — Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Michael Jackson. I can’t find any recordings where they demonstrate power in their vocals. There strengths were more in different areas. A surprising candidate is Jerry LeCroix, the singer for Edgar Winter’s White Trash. That dude could wail.
Yeah, I’ll grant you that’s a pretty dumb opinion to have when Adam hadn’t even left the show yet, BUT the nature of Idol-centric blogs and Idol fans is that each season, there will always be the new fave. In the case of Lyndsey, her new fave Adam surpassed DC, FOR HER. That’s her opinion and she’s allowed to have it. Just because she prefers Adam to DC doesn’t mean she can’t still like DC a lot. It also doesn’t mean that her DC interviews are automatically going to be terrible. So she dissed DC in favor of Adam. That’s her prerogative. That doesn’t make her a #1 fan, but she can still be a fan. I don’t think being a fan means you can’t like someone else more, or that you have to like them unconditionally. You also can be a fan of someone and diss them. There are a lot of bands that I support simultaneously, and I criticize all of them. I dunno, in her mind, she probably thinks she’s a huge DC fan because he still ranks among her top favorite Idols, albeit under Adam.
Anyway, back on topic: after watching a bunch of Miss Parker’s Idol interviews, I think her questions are not bad. She’s no Slezak, but she’s a fan of the show who knows her stuff and draws some interesting responses. I’d love to see her interview DC again– a long one. Her questions to DC may have been a tad Idol-centric, but at least she didn’t ask ANY of the chicken squawking type questions (do you prefer Kris/Adam, is Simon really that mean, what was it like to win Idol, etc.) I hope she interviews him again. Hope I don’t get my DC fan card revoked for saying that.
Weird. I thought ‘Whole Lot of Love’ was terrible (I thought it was one of the banner performances that could be pointed out the clear limitations of Adam when he tries to be a ‘rocker’ instead of the alternative pop singer he really is), so your mileage may vary. I do think Adam has a slew of truly great vocal performances (Mad World and Tracks of My Tears, for example) that no one else can do, and possibly has one of the greatest voices ever in terms of his vocal control and range. So there are certainly many songs Adam performs that Blake could never do.
However let’s not pretend that Adam can do what Blake does either. Go back and watch Blake’s version of ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’. That’s a song that only Blake could ever do, just to throw out an example.
And I don’t know why I never made the connection before, but clearly Blake paved the way for Adam. He’s also the Idol most similar to Adam so far, by a country mile. Sure, contestants like Bo and Daughtry (to a lesser extent) and David Cook (to a greater extent) may have also paved the way for Adam (though honestly all of them are much more similar to Kris in style and manner), but Blake is the most similar to Adam, in my opinion.
Blake seemed really tired in this interview, but I don’t get why people think he’s a ‘jerk’ he didn’t seem particularly arrogant to me, but I know that somehow he’s got that reputation (don’t know exactly why).
I kinda like 80’s synth-pop, so it would be kind of cool if his CD were similar. I hope he succeeds, I always thought he was talented, and also it would be really cool if someone who was previously labeled as having disappointing first album sales was able to make a comeback.
The problem is that you made the wrong comparison with other singers. Like I said, he should be compare with female singers, because his singing style is often more of the likes of Patti LaBelle –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyQz0dnndFw
And she wipes the floor with him for that kind of over-the-top high-pitched wailing style of singing.
I don’t really see what’s so extraordinary about his WLL. The perception that there is a great deal of sexual energy there is entirely subjective, I’m sure a rabid Barry Manilow fan would think Manilow unleashes a tsunami tide of sexual energy whenever he gets on stage. And using the mic or mic stand to simulate sexual act is really quite old and clichd. I have said before that I do think he is arguably the best singer to come out of American Idol, but I wouldn’t even consider him if I were to make a list of 100 great singers. I’ll wait and see what he does with his coming album first, much too early to compare him with any of the greats.
Thanks sma11ie for the head-up on Part 2 of the interview. It’s better but still a bit egocentric.
ETA – I think it interesting that he considered doing an Imogen Heap song, at least showing that he got some taste. (Just editing to see how long I can still do it after posting, and it looks to be a very long time.)
I think that Blake is the most like Adam. I don’t like that type of music but they are similar.
Hope I don’t get my DC fan card revoked for saying that.<blockquote
No chance of that LOL but………
You see the problem with Lyndsey is she opened the interview asking him about Adam and Kris. That was her obvious focus. So she may have gotten a better interview if she had focused on David who she was in fact interviewing. So IMO she did not prepare well for David's interview. She was focused on Adam and Kris. Having said that she can like who she wants to like. But she has done a poor job with David in interviews IMO.
Smallie no cards revoked here. I think that Lyndsey has every right to like whoever she wants. She trashed David before Adam was on the show so it really has nothing whatsoever to do with Adam. Her interview with David was poor. Her interviews with other Idols are better so her bias shows and you can not get away from that. Her liking Adam has absolutely nothing to do with it. IMO
Uhhh, I don’t think Lambert is a female singer!!!
I understand what you are saying. The fact that he can sing like a power ballad diva is exactly what I’m talking about. There are few male rock vocalists who can do that. Most who have his range don’t have that kind of effortless power — in other words, they can sing Mad World, but not Whole Lotta Love. Most run-of-the-mill rock singers can’t really sing either.
I’m really having trouble coming up with a lot a names here and I’m pretty knowledgeable about the history of rock. I’m thinking, for example, of a guy like Art Garfunkle who could sing like an angel. He could do the Mad World in his sleep and he could certainly hit the power notes, but I can’t see him doing Whole Lotta Love.
Male singers who can sing high and do WLL? I’m sure there are/were many many of them – Meatloaf, Bon Scott of AC/DC, Sebastian Bach of Skid Row, Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses, Geddy Lee of Rush, Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, Klaus Meine of Scorpion, Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates, etc. etc. Perhaps they may not do the song the way you think it should be done, but I’m sure they can do it.
If you want male singers who ooze sexual energy in their performances, then I’d take James Brown, Mick Jagger, early Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, plenty of other rock and roll and blues singers (also a lot of female singers) over Adam anytime.
Iron Maiden? Great vocals? I love good snark like that! Thanks.
The list isn’t about what you like, and what you like doesn’t matter a great deal, since Bruce is regarded by most as one of the best heavy metal vocalists.
I hope Blake does well with this album. He may not be the strongest vocalist, but I was impressed with what he did on S6. I also don’t get the whole douche thing either. Yes, he talks about himself, but people who make it in this business need to believe in themselves and have an ego. Yes, even Cook has an ego. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to get up on that stage and sing.
I get what you are saying about singing hwc. I think your point is that Adam can sing many styles of music well and that is what makes him unique. Yes, there are great heavy metal vocalists, but how would those singers sound on “tracks of my tears”? Adam may not be better, but rather, he is more diverse.
True. Bruce Dickinson has a tremendous range. Might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but then neither is Adam.
Remember the hard rock of the 80’s? Back then it was practically a requirement that you had to have gigantic vocal range, and it’s funny how often the ‘hair bands’ are ridiculed now, seeing as the singers were some of the best vocalists (in terms of range) of any era.
If you have a second some time, check out ‘Angel Eyes’ by Steelheart. Absolutely *insane* vocal range is displayed there… the kind of thing th at Adam would be left crying in the corner if he every tried to pull off. But they only ever had one hit and immediately faded back into oblivion. Shows that vocal range is not the most important component of having a successful career as a musician.
I’ve always liked Blake. He was my favorite on Season 6. Does his vocal strength dwarf in comparison to pretty much every other contestant that got as far as he did? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t talented. I think that some of the people that really don’t like him are still bitter about the fact that he outlasted Melinda Doolittle.
He’s not the best with interviews, but we’ve been spoiled with incredibly well articulated Idols the past couple of years. David Cook is phenomenal in interviews, and David Archuleta is adorably awkward. Kris and Adam are both really great as well. I wouldn’t say Blake is BAD, he’s average when it comes to the interviews and stuff. He just looks bad because of some of the others. Blake is just kind of chill and relaxed in the interview and doesn’t take himself too seriously, which I like.
David Cook and Kris Allen are the Idols that are usually credited with being the ones that rearranged songs and turned them upside down and inside out and took our breathe away. Would they have even attempted to do what they did on Idol if Blake hadn’t been the first to completely rearrange songs? Maybe not. I don’t know if Kris Allen did his own arrangements or not, but I know there was a HUGE debacle during David Cook’s season about how he “ripped off” other peoples’ arrangements. Blake did all his own arrangements of songs, which I think takes mad talent on its own.
You always hear the progression that Bo Bice inspired Daughtry to audition, who inspired David Cook, who paved the way for Kris Allen (and Adam Lambert, to a lesser extent). I think Blake fits right in there too. Though he’s not exactly in the rocker progression, I think David Cook, Kris Allen, and Adam Lambert would have all had a hard time pulling off what they did if not for Blake being the first to do it.
These days on Idol, it’s expected that you really “make the song your own”. Before season 5, it was perfectly acceptable to sing a strait up version of a song if you could do it well. None of the successful Idols before Bo Bice were really all that “creative”.
I believe that Blake is one of the reasons that Idol is the way it is today. He’s not the most successful, and probably will never be, but I definitely think he was essential in the recent change in the Idol expectations of being a really “original” artist and really defining yourself.