Blake Lewis: Hard at Work on New Album
Matt Richenthal
at
.
Kelly Clarkson, the original American Idol, came out with her latest album last week.
Now comes new that one of the more recent,beloved American Idol contestants will also be releasing a CD later in the year. That's right, Blake Lewis fans, get excited.
"I've been working for such a long time writing a lot of songs in different genres," Reality TV World reported Lewis told TV Guide on Wednesday. "The first album is really a testament of who you are."
Lewis said he hit the studio on Monday, June 18 in Los Angeles to begin laying the groundwork for his debut album, with electronic musician BT already signed on as a producer.
"I just recorded my first track last night," Lewis said. "I've already written seven songs."
In addition, Lewis said fellow beat-boxer Doug E. Fresh - with whom he performed a memorable duet of the rapper's 1986 hit "The Show" during Idol 6's finale - is currently "in talks" to beatbox on one of the album's tracks. However Lewis' eagerness to perform with others from the industry doesn't stop with Fresh.
"There's a couple of emcees I'd like to work with," he said. "I'm going to have four or five people beatbox between tracks."
Lewis also doesn't want to just collaborate with some of his musical inspirations, as he's planning to pay them homage through the album's sound.
"I'd classify it as electro-funk-soul-pop if you need to label it," he explained. "I really love the sounds of the '80s so I hope to ring some of that back. I'm really inspired by electronic music."
Lewis told TV Guide his debut album can be expected to drop before the end of the year "because they want it out by Thanksgiving or Christmas."
Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.
