A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream)

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A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream)
A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) cover
Studio album by Blake Lewis
Released Flag of the United States Flag of Canada December 4, 2007
Recorded June—November, 2007
Genre Pop rock
Electronic
Hip hop
R&B
Soul
Length 52:44
Label Arista Records
Producer Blake Lewis
BT
David Hodges
J. R. Rotem
Louis Biancaniello
Mike Elizondo
Ryan Tedder
S*A*M & Sluggo
Sam Watters
Professional reviews
Blake Lewis chronology
Blake Lewis (EP)
(2007)		 A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream)
(2007)
Singles from A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream)
  1. "Break Anotha"
    Released: October 30, 2007
  2. "How Many Words"
    Released: March 10, 2008[2]

A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) is the debut studio album by Blake Lewis, the runner-up on the sixth season of American Idol. It was released in the United States and Canada on December 4, 2007. The first single is "Break Anotha" and was released to radio on October 30.[3] The album did not leak as other artists' albums generally do, instead appeared in full first within the "Free Full CD Listening Parties" section on AOL.com on December 3, the day before the release.

Contents

[edit] Background

On June 21, 2007, Lewis disclosed in his blog at MySpace that on top of the American Idol tour, he has "been in meetings with producers and writers" for his album, though his record deal with Arista Records/19 Recordings was not announced officially until August 24.[4][5] He started to record his album in the studio "for all night long" from June 18 and co-wrote 12 songs out of 13 tracks (excluding the interludes) on Audio Day Dream.[6][7][8]

An exclusive version of Audio Day Dream with a 17-minute documentary, which was shot by Ethan Newberry and Cisco McCarthy, Lewis' friends, is offered as a bonus video download by Wal-Mart with purchase of their specially marked CD.[4][9][10] Another special edition of the album, which is tied with a bonus track called "Human", is available on iTunes Music Store. A trailer of A.D.D. was published on BlakeLewisComingSoon.com right before the leak of "Break Anotha".

[edit] Musical influences

Lewis has stated in several interviews that he wanted his future album to have pop, electronic and jazzy hip hop feels to it, as he classified the sound as "electro-funk-soul-pop".[11][12] He has also listed his ideal choices of producers and collaborators for his album in various interviews, including "Father of Trance" BT, Darkchild, will.i.am, Pro J, DJ Shadow, Dan the Automator and Gnarls Barkley.[11][13] In interviews with Entertainment Weekly and Entertainment Tonight, he mentioned a collaboration with Doug E. Fresh, the hip hop/beatboxing legend Lewis beatboxed with to "The Show" in the Grand Finale of the sixth season of American Idol and received a standing ovation from the judges and the audience, as well as some of his musical influences, such as Maroon 5, 311, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson and Jamiroquai.[14][15]

Lewis described some of the songs he has recorded on July 16, 2007:

“ I try not to be put in a box. I'm inspired by everything. I've got six tracks done. I've got a track that's very Erasure-sounding, a track that's Sting-meets-Neverending Story and a track that's very electro-poppy Depeche Mode. It's all over the map.[16] ”

The singer gave another depiction of A.D.D. in the official press announcing its release:

“ This album is exactly how I wanted it to come out. It's like an '80s mix tape, with some hip-hop and electronic influences. I wanted to make a record where every song sounds like it could be on the radio, but my radio. 2000-'80s Blake radio is what I call it.[17][18] ”

[edit] Reception

The album met mixed reviews. All Music Guide called the album "ADD is certainly one of the more interesting AmIdol-related records, but so much commotion without construction is ultimately as forgettable as Jordin's pageant-winner trifle, and perhaps a little more tiring to get through, too."[19] Entertainment Weekly gave the album a "C" and wrote "If Lewis could just find a way to integrate all his early-MTV influences (A Flock of Fat Boys?), well...that album wouldn't be great either--though it'd be less forgettable than this exercise in pop adequacy."[20]

Other critics praised the album. Billboard titled it's review "American Idol" season six runner-up Blake Lewis' debut, "ADD: Audio Day Dream," is indeed a little all over the map, but, surprisingly, it works."[21] Los Angeles Times was quite impressed stating "His singing on "Audio Day Dream" is fine; it gets the job done. Yet what arrests your ear are Lewis' ideas." [22]

[edit] Chart performance

One day after its release, Audio Day Dream hit the top spot of iTunes Top Pop Albums chart and eventually #2 on Overall Albums chart. In its first week of release, Audio Day Dream sold about 97,500 copies, debuting at #10 on the Billboard 200, the same spot where fellow American Idol Jordin Sparks debuted, and #3 on the Billboard Digital Albums Chart[23]

[edit] Track listing

# Title Songwriter(s) Producer(s) Featured guest(s) Time
1. "Silence Is Golden...(Intro)" 00:32
2. "Break Anotha" Blake Lewis, Louis Biancaniello, Ryan Tedder, Sam Watters Ryan "Alias" Tedder *(additional production by Blake Lewis) 03:09
3. "Gots to Get Her (Inspired by "Puttin' on the Ritz") / "A.D.D. (Interlude)" Blake Lewis, Irving Berlin, Kristal Oliver, Ryan Tedder, Steph Jones Ryan "Alias" Tedder 03:09
4. "Know My Name"/ "Hyper Psyche (Interlude)" Blake Lewis, Josh Hoge, Ryan Tedder, Wasalu Jaco Ryan "Alias" Tedder Lupe Fiasco 03:58
5. "How Many Words" Blake Lewis, Sam Hollander, Dave Katz S*A*M & Sluggo 03:34
6. "Surrender" Evan "Kidd" Bogart, Ryan Tedder Ryan "Alias" Tedder 03:43
7. "Hate 2 Love Her"/ "A.D.H.D. (Interlude)" Blake Lewis, Ryan Tedder Ryan "Alias" Tedder 04:14
8. "Without You" Blake Lewis, David Ryan Harris, Sean Hurley The Runaways: Louis Biancaniello, Ryan "Alias" Tedder, Sam Watters, Wayne Wilkins, Rico Love 04:22
9. "Here's My Hello"/ "durty FUNK!!! (Interlude)" Blake Lewis, Dave Katz, Sam Hollander S*A*M & Sluggo 04:16
10. "What'cha Got 2 Lose?"/ "Calm Before The Storm (Interlude)" Blake Lewis, Chris Richardson, Jonathan Rotem J.R. Rotem *(additional production by Blake Lewis) (Background Vocals by Chris Richardson) 04:06
11. "She's Makin' Me Lose It" Blake Lewis, BT, Alex Greggs BT *(additional programming & production by Alex Greggs) (Background Vocals by Chris Kirkpatrick) 03:55
12. "Bshorty Grabs Mic (Interlude)" 01:09
13. "End of the World" Blake Lewis, Johnson, Louis Biancaniello, Mani, Omley, Ryan Tedder, Sam Watters Radio & Ryan "Alias" Tedder 03:33
14. "1000 Miles"/ "The End Is Almost Near (Interlude)" Blake Lewis, David Hodges, Mike Elizondo Mike Elizondo 04:17
15. "I Got U" Blake Lewis, Ryan Tedder Ryan "Alias" Tedder 03:37
16. "...I Choose Noise (Outro)" 01:06
17. "Human" (iTunes bonus track) Blake Lewis, Sam Hollander, Dave Katz & Chris Richardson S*A*M & Sluggo 02:59

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ People magazine, December 2007.
  2. ^ "How Many Words" Radio release. Retrieved March 3, 2008.
  3. ^ Barnes, Ken (October 29, 2007). "Blake Sets Album Date, Readies First Single". USA Today. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
  4. ^ a b Blake Lewis' profile. MySpace. Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
  5. ^ "Blake Lewis Sixth Season Runner-Up on 'American Idol,' Signs to 19 Recordings/Arista Records". PR Newswire (August 24, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
  6. ^ "Behind the Scenes: 'Idol Live' Tour Rehearsals" (video). MyFox Los Angeles (June 25, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
  7. ^ Zepeda, Dana Meltzer (June 27, 2007). "American Idol's Blake Lewis Dishes on New Album". TV Guide. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
  8. ^ Graff, Gary (November 23, 2007). "'Idol' Runner-up Lewis Realizes 'Dream'". Yahoo! News. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
  9. ^ Balta, Victor (July 27, 2007). "Blake's Back Home". HeraldNet. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
  10. ^ "Audio Day Dream (with exclusive video download)" on WalMart.com. Wal-Mart. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  11. ^ a b Barnes, Ken (May 20, 2007). "Blake Talks to Reporters". USA Today. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.
  12. ^ Zepeda, Dana Meltzer (June 27, 2007). "American Idol's Blake Lewis Dishes on New Album". TV Guide. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
  13. ^ Edwards, Haley (May 25, 2007). "Blake Talks About 'Idol' and Beyond". The Seattle Times. Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
  14. ^ "Blake Lewis Plans His Debut CD!" (video). Entertainment Weekly (May 31, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  15. ^ "Blake Lewis: 'Idol' Runner-Up". Entertainment Tonight (June 2, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
  16. ^ Guerra, Joey (July 16, 2007). "'American Idol' Fivesome Talk Music, M&Ms, Makeup". Chron.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
  17. ^ "Blake Lewis to Release Debut Album 'Audio Day Dream' on 19 Recordings/Arista Records on December 4, 2007". PR Newswire (November 16, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  18. ^ Pure Tone Music. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
  19. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (December 4, 2007). "All Music Guide-A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) Album Review". All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
  20. ^ Willman, Chris (December 4, 2007). "Entertainment Weekly -A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) Album Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
  21. ^ Menze, Jill (December 4, 2007). "Billboard-A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) Album Review". Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
  22. ^ "Los Angeles Times-A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) Album Review". Los Angeles Times (December 4, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
  23. ^ Katie Hasty, "Groban Ties Elvis With Third Week At No. 1", Billboard.com, December 12, 2007.

[edit] External links