A treasure trove for my rants, raves, and randomness about the voice, beauty, and totality of one Clay Aiken. Coherence, rationality, and angel wings optional.
Monday, July 31, 2006
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111!!1!!!1
Clay Aiken's DESPERATELY anticipated sophomore album, A Thousand Different Ways, will be released on September 19th, 2006!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He blogged to tell us, so it's definitely REAL! And he said there'll be official word in a few hours!
I'll edit this with more thoughts later, I just wanted to spread the word for now.
In my iTunes list of highest played songs, Clay's songs are naturally close to the top, even though I have over ten gigs of music to choose from. But the top spot of this non-Christian's list belongs to Clay's rendition of My Grown Up Christmas List on Good Morning America. I won't say how many times it has been played, let's just say it rhymes with matey-something.
If you watch this, I think you will see why. Most people know Clay for the glory notes and Broadway style belting he did on his American Idol run. This shows another facet of his musical diamond. Here, Clay cooks with his frying pan of talent instead of hitting you over the head with it. More purple-prosily, he curls his voice around the notes and infuses each one with so much feeling that you can almost touch it. Somehow, this quiet, emotionally brimming interpretation resounds deeper for me than anything else he's sung. It's the most comforting piece of Clay music I have.
Non-hardcore Clay fans - I dare you to only watch this once.
I've been giving my blogs a lick and a promise lately. Here's something a bit more substantial. It's an old blog about Unchained Melody that I posted on the OFC months ago, with a video of AI's UM added. Enjoy!
The Triad of Unchained Melody – a metamorphosis
Clay has sung a myriad of songs. He has conquered countless classics and even made sonic diamonds out of Barry Manilow and the Monkees. When Clay Aiken sings cheese, it’s Brie. While Unchained Melody isn’t cheese, it is a love song, and one that has a lot of meaning in the context of my fandom.
When I was fifteen, my dad bought me a little glass music box that played Unchained Melody. I didn’t know much about the old song at the time, but I thought it was very pretty, and liked to play it in more pensive moods. It was a harbinger of things to come. Thanks to our rebel prince, Unchained Melody is now one of my favourite songs of all time.
Chronologically, Clay’s transformation of the song begins with the version on Look What Love Has Done. The tempo is slow, almost dreamy. He caresses the notes; like he’s singing a lullaby. His lower range is prominent here – so prominent, that when I discovered this version on Kazaa, I didn’t believe it was really Clay. The voice was stunning – and yet, so incredibly different from that radiant tenor I’d heard on American Idol. Yet something about this stayed with me, and when I found the fan boards and discovered that Clay had done the version in his ‘deep voice’, I knew why. While I don’t listen to this often, I enjoy it greatly when I do. There’s a certain majesty about it that belies his eighteen years.
Next, we have Unchained Melody, as sung on American Idol 2. Clay’s had owned me since ‘Take’, and I fell prey to his charm with DLTSGDOM. Unchained Melody was another milestone in my fandom. He exuded power – vocally, and emotionally. Something about that performance compelled me to listen to those two blessed minutes for an hour at a time. There was something beyond the thrilling vocals – it was the unbridled yearning pouring from him. Clay wanted something; our love, glory, perhaps immortality to match his name. Listening to it now, he still leaves me breathless.
Finally, Clay sang Unchained Melody during the Jukebox Tour. I was fortunate enough to hear him sing it live at the Toronto show. It was my first time seeing Clay live, and I was terrified that he couldn’t be as charming, handsome, witty, and talented as I’d imagined him to be in my two and a half years as a fan. Unchained Melody swept away the last of those misgivings. He was every bit as wonderful as I’d imagined and seen him to be. He cradled the audience in the palm of his hand and sang to us with tender, wistful grace. In one of my fanfics, his wife Alicia said that his voice fills every part of you. I didn’t quite understand why I’d written that until I’d finally heard him sing Unchained Melody live.
To me, Unchained Melody in Toronto was the culmination of two and a half years of fandom. Unchained Melody is my little magic moment, when the world is drowned in his melody. I know that we will have many more sonic diamonds from Clay, but Unchained Melody is one I hope he takes out and polishes now and then. For old time’s sake.
P.S.: As an aspiring writer, I love the dictionary more than a normal person would. *g* When I looked up ‘metamorphosis’ on my Mac’s dictionary widget, the example of word usage given was ‘his amazing metamorphosis from gawky hayseed to sexy pop star’. Clay’s name was not mentioned, but as we can see, they didn’t have to.
Clay just blogged about the situation of children affected by the current Middle East conflict. He stresses that their safety and protection must be paramount in everybody's minds, regardless of their political beliefs.
If you can, please support UNICEF's work in Lebanon by donating
In honour of Clay's caring heart, here is a WONDERFUL montage by hockeydonna. To me, it celebrates the totality and goodness of all Clay was, is, and will become.
I have a history with the song When Doves Cry. When my mom was pregnant with me, my dad would take her out dancing on Saturday nights. At the time, WDC was dancing its way up the charts like nobody's business. So my mom thinks it's absolute heresy that I prefer Clay's version to Prince's. I call it a con.nec.tion. :)
For a myriad of reasons, this performance delights me to no end. I'll just give you seven, since this seems to be one of Clay's favourite numbers.
1. The snark. Clay's stripping of the choir boy robes he donned at the start of the song is a direct raspberry to those who mock his spirituality and (former) hayseed image. 2. The sensuality. He stalks Angela over the stage like a hunter, with a touch of danger glinting in his eyes. He is a magnet, and he is not as innocent as he seems. When the occassion calls for it, I don't think he'd lack passion. 3. The moooooves. Clay has always said he can't dance. I humbly beg to differ. 4. The grinding. Whether Clay's being ironic or not, this.is.hot. 5. The glory notes. When he tilts his head back and starts wailing, I always hold my breath and can't exhale until he finishes the note. Clack originates from the word 'crack' for a reason. 6. The dorky faces Clay makes at his acolytes A and Q when he's in a silly mood. I love the goofy versions of WDC as much as the sultry ones. 7a. The pose that Clay, Angela, Quiana and Jacob make at the end. Inexplicably, I love it. 7b. The way that Angela and Quiana caress Clay when he sings 'Touch if you will my stomach'. Enough said.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you tsunamimommy's FABULOUS montage of Clay's WDC from the Jukebox Tour.
Posted by pixieglitter at Wednesday, July 26, 2006 |Permalink | Comments
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Today's Treasure #8
It was like watching magic...
Clay was certifiably adorkable when he appeared as the sweet waiter-boy Kenny on Scrubs. I loved every second of his career as an actor, from the sheepish grin to the 'god bless ya' to the stalking offscreen. Rawr. Now, I don't think he deserved an Emmy (surprise, surprise), but he did a decent job. And he did look SO debacleable with floopy hair in those jeans.
Ken Jenkins (Dr. Kelso on Scrubs) noticed Clay's transformation from boy to man when he started to sing. He explains it a lot better than I do, so I'll hand him the mic. :)
While I'm here, here's something I made today. I love playing in Photoshop, especially when an ersatz shirtless Clay Aiken is involved. :P As I said when I posted this at CV, this kind of CD cover is best saved for a cold day in hell.
Today, I will post the first chapter of my NC-17 (so rated for language and violence, not 'the nasty') fanfiction in this blog. It's a romantic drama/mystery story starring Clay Aiken and my original character, Ariadne de Carivante. If you would like to read more, you can find this story in Clayversity's Reading Room, posted by yours truly.
Enjoy! (Or not, that's okay too.)
Runaway Chapter 1 An American in Paris
Someone was pounding at the piano on the terrace, anger and glory fused into music.
I breathed deep and sharp, drinking the air like ice water. Ribbons of light spiralled from the ballroom and circled me as I stood at the balcony, arms resting on the glinting iron rail with studied abandon. The night was cold for June and electric with stars spinning above and below me. A few bounced, luminous, from the sky to the silent, swallowing river. They wanted to drown.
As did I.
He was standing alone, by the outmost alabaster column. When my eyes first rested on him, blue diamonds shattered inside. He laughed, and gestured at his companion with impossible tranquility. A degree cooler and he’d be frozen forever. A soundless symphony of music floated from his tall form and like a fevered dream I remembered the night when the stars had been blind. When we’d been lost to the whole world except each other, both innocent and both alone. A night unlike this one except that beneath his intricate calm he was alone, too.
For a moment his eyes locked on mine, searing. The emerald melted into jade disbelief and I felt stabbed. I did not run away. The marble cooled beneath my feet as I floated across the floor, knowing that I was followed.
Empty words bubbled inside as I felt him approaching. Apologies would burn him, pleas would chill. The sound of his feet was louder than the singing drumbeat of my heart.
His sultry hand rested on my shoulder, the fingers pressed against the skin. There would be four little marks when he let go. I turned, my toes curling against the floor in feeble desperation.
In The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje describes Katharine Clifton as having a 'theatre of expressions'. When I read this beautiful phrase, my mind jumped to Clay Aiken, as it usually does when I find words describing that rare, elusive magic that some people just exude. Clay Aiken is a man of a thousand faces.
He can be pensive.
Goofy.
Spiritual.
Happy.
Sexy.
Innocent.
Please come back, Clay. We miss you making faces at us.
Until then, here's a cute video of Clay on the Jimmy Kimmel show. Nose crinkling, lip biting, eyebrow raising, head cocking, giggling, @ss kicking Clay are all here for your enjoyment.
Well, the fan board insiders have promised a hot July, and I've been obsessed with Clay's cuteness lately, so I bring you this little clip. It's Clay doing the weather on WRAL, but in his very own quirkish and charming way. If we had more weathermen like this, I might actually start watching the news. I love hearing his accent. It seems more pronounced when he's home, somehow.
Last night, I watched an episode of the Simpsons that parodied American Idol. There was a young Clay Aiken imitation and a Milhouse singing When a Man Loves a Woman. My mind put the two things together and made me crave another look at this performance.
Clay Aiken sang WAMLAW at the Meadville stop of his 2005 Jukebox Tour. His fans have been yearning to hear him sing this ever since his stint on AI, when rumour had it that AI 'couldn't get clearance' for him to sing the song because it would make the competition irrelevant. Our wish came true during this Stump the Band segment, and it was effortless, breathtaking, and HOTTER than I had ever dared to dream. Now, if he'll sing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, I will become one happy phantom.
Here's something so old it's new again. It's Clay and Kim on the Wayne Brady show! I loved the Clocke in its day, and this kind adorkability is why. Look how young and almost shy Clay is. He looks so innocent yet mischievous. Did you see that eyebrows-raised look he gave Kim? EEEEEEE!
If nothing else, look how cute Clay is in his rumpled, unironed clothing. Awwww.
He's come so far in those *mumblemumble* almost three years. *tear*
It started out normally enough. Through the morning and early afternoon, people debated the meaning of soon, a HOT July, and whether we would get a press release. Nothing unusual there.
And then, at 2:51 PM, Rainlover of CV posts that missyluvsclay of the CB said that KrissXOXO on Youtube has uploaded a montage with a recorded track of 1000 Days from Clay Aiken's Jukebox Tour. *exhales*
Fandemonium ensues. I hyperventilate before realizing I MUST rip the mp3 before Youtube yanks it. I was one of the first to upload a crummy first copy of the mp3 for the fans' aural pleasure.
Once the thudding subsides (or shows signs of beginning to subside), people start to wonder. Where did this clean, studio-sounding version of 1000 Days come from? If it's a leak, how did it fall into KrissXOXO's hands? As far as anyone knows, she's just another ordinary fan blogger on the OFC. Is she an insider? Is she Clay?
If it's not a leak but a spliced and cleaned up clip of the concert version, who made it? How could an amateur get a track full of screams to sound so professional? Why didn't KrissXOXO tell us about this fab version before making a montage with it?
I'm as furfuzzled as anyone. All I know is that I have the song on repeat, even though I don't love it. Clay does that to me.
Stay tuned for more, as the spinning ball turns...
ADDENDUM - The Mystery is Solved
KrissXOXO explained the mystery - she found the track on Limewire. She suspects it was on the computer of someone who didn't intend to share it because it was later taken down. No planned leak, no conspiracy. Just a lucky coincidence and an unexpected windfall for us Clay fans.
To me, it sounds like a rough, early demo of the song, possibly recorded before the JBT. The vocals still shine, but I'd expect better production on Clay's sophomore album. Also, there is no growl at the end of the bridge in this version and Clay knows we LURVE the growls. ;)
Last night at Clayversity, our conversation wandered to bugs (Yes, this is the board about everything and nothing. I love it.) So someone brought up Clay Aiken's Vermont performance of Bonnie Raitt's I Can't Make You Love Me. Some lucky little bug had snuggled herself against Clay's left shoulder, inches from his collar. I think it was the first time I've been certifiably jealous of a BUG.
In all seriousness, this is a beautiful video of that performance. Clay's voice is almost painfully exquisite here. I love the tender way he curls his voice around the notes and the zone he slips into when he sings such an emotional song. Because we're so spellbound by his voice, his audience is pulled into the zone too. I haven't felt this intensity of connection with anyone but Clay.
I *heart* Clay Aiken. Anyone who has glanced at this blog could glean that. Why shouldn't I? He has a heartbreakingly beautiful voice and the sweet, lopsided smile of a mischievous child. He's a hip-swiveling humanitarian who can snark his detractors in one breath and talk about the benefits of inclusion in the next. He is, to my eyes, the most untraditionally handsome man I've ever seen. And he cares about people. He really cares.
Yet for all that, he has a few quirks that, bless his adorkable heart, make me shriek 'Ewwwwww!' whenever I chance to see or hear of them. Biting his toenails is one (thank goodness we don't have clack of that). Turning his feet around backwards is the other *shudders*, which you can see in this short video of Clay on YTV's Hit List. Strangely, it's one of those things that are so creepy yet transfixing that you can't help but stare. Enjoy!
Posted by pixieglitter at Wednesday, July 19, 2006 |Permalink | Comments
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Today's Treasure #1
I'm going to start sharing some of my favourite Clay video clips here.
This is a clip of Clay Aiken visiting tsunami-ravaged Banda Aceh early in 2005.
As a UNICEF ambassador, he helped raise awareness of the continuing need for donations and help to rebuild. As a singer, he used his voice to brighten the sad days. As a former teacher, he brought smiles and new hope to the faces of forgotten children.
Over 350 people were killed in yesterday's Indonesian tsunami. Over 200 more are missing. If you believe in the power of prayer, pray for them and their families.
I had stayed up until one o'clock waiting for our rebel prince to blog. At 1:04, I capitulated with a sigh. I'd FINALLY posted the new chapter of Runaway, the east coasters at CV had started dragging themselves to bed, and I imagined Clay was enjoying the end of a hot date, blissfully forgetting the thousand and one girlfriends waiting for his word.
But I could scarcely sleep.
My intuition told me to get out of bed and just refresh ONCE to see if anything of interest had happened. For once, I resisted. I ignored the call. I counted sheep that bleated acronyms for ATDW to cajole myself into sleep.
Morning. I check the boards. TEN NEW PAGES. Tartar sauce! (TM Spongebob) He had blogged half an hour after I had left. (!) I sprained my fingers racing over to the OFC to read Clay's blog. He nudged us toward his EP Jaymes Foster's blog. At the end of a rhapsody about Clay's musical talents, there it was.
ATDW. A Thousand Different Ways. The album title.
At last... some news has come along... our clackless days are o-ver...
Ahem.
Later, news came from Variety that CA's album will be released on September 19. 919 is Raleigh's area code. Coincidence, or confluence? I hope it's both. I don't dare to take this as gospel, but it encourages me that SOON has evolved out of Clay's definition and into its real meaning.
I picture him like this right now - just bursting with the need to tell us everything. But he's biting his lip and prying himself away from the keyboard.
Right now, the music world needs a VOICE. Clay, let it be yours.
