“American Idol” second season runner-up and target of much public mockery, the mildly goofy-looking Clay Aiken is back with more material — and thankfully more fodder for mockery. His latest album and fourth full-length release, On My Way Here, unfortunately doesn’t make it all the “way” to being particularly inspired.
The de facto “Idol” winner (come on, who knows whatever happened to baby Ruben?) gives fans a variety of sound, ranging from his typical power ballads to pop-rock that evokes fellow idol Kelly Clarkson’s energetic hits. These lively songs come the closest to resembling something new — well, new from Aiken at least. While his pop-rock tunes don’t have a terribly original feel, they’re embarrassingly catchy, so good luck resisting singing the chorus to “Ashes” before it’s through. Unfortunately, “Falling” is the only other catchy rock tune on the album.
In an odd reversal of expectations, Aiken does pop-rock better than the vocal-heavy romantic piano ballads he’s known for. Most are at least passable for restaurant and hotel muzak, but they are weighed down too much by several fatal, recurring flaws of On My Way Here.
Opening with the title song, the album is ridiculously optimistic and not nearly as deep or reflective as it sets out to be. Cliched and painfully simplistic, lyrics such as “In the end it all works out/ Faith has conquered fear/ On my way here” make it hard to take the rest of the album seriously. The recurring “It’ll be all right” message, likely the product of the writers’ Prozac more than anything, is as subtle as it is inspiring; that is, not at all. At times sounding like it belongs on one of those infomercial-exclusive Christian music compilations, the album’s corniest by far is “Grace of God,” with lyrical gems like “Faith holds the hope of the world,” that don’t really make any sense when you think about them.
Yet far worse than the unwarranted optimism you can tell even Clay isn’t really buying is the absurd overabundance of inane rhyming. Nearly every song is fraught with desperate pairings that would make even Dr. Seuss sick, such as “Struck by lightnin’/ It’s so frightenin’.” Disgusting.
The lyrics could be ignored if the melodies were consistently pleasant and sophisticated rather than brought down by inappropriate clapping, snapping, gospel backup vocals or a very out-of-place country feel. Aside from the few pop-rock songs, none of the power ballads are particularly memorable, as most are emotionally and melodically bland. Several showcase Aiken’s warm, full vocals, such as “The Real Me,” but fall victim to the album’s flaws, particularly the snaps. Whoever thought background snapping would actually enhance a song should be slapped. Hard.
The sole exception is “Lover All Alone,” the song with the most emotional depth, expressing the sorrow of a lonely, idealistic romantic with no one to share his love, which some fans have speculated might be a desperate cry from someone still in the closet. Yet it also shows his voice off the most with a beautiful range and a wisely minimalist use of piano, guitar and cello. Not quite an “All By Myself,” but a decent ballad of loneliness nevertheless.
Hardcore fans will adore On My Way Here regardless, but Clay’s usually powerful vocals and a smart use of strings are no match for its hokey lyrics or melodic pitfalls. He can sing, yes, but he hasn’t found his own sound yet.
While most are decent enough melodies, there are no instant classics here, or any classics at all, really. Clay Aiken can do as many cover songs as he’d like, and maybe he should actually stick to them, but it’s unlikely anyone will be covering his. This one’s on its way nowhere.
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Are you a Clay-mate? Want to hear some of Aiken’s new tracks yourself? Listen to Arts-on-Air, the collaborative music podcast from WSUM and The Badger Herald, at Wsum.net/bh, and hear what the panelists thought about On My Way Here as well as Nouns, the newest from indie-punk band No Age.
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2 1/2 stars out of 5
