American Idol Winner's Album Out In August, But Will It Succeed?
American Idol winner Caleb Johnson is set to release his new album in August - the fastest turnaround in Idol history.
Caleb Johnson won’t be following in the footsteps of previous American Idol winners. Johnson, who was crowned as the season 13 victor this past May, is beginning his post Idol career by doing something that a winner has never done before: releasing their debut record only three months after the show’s conclusion. Usually, the album that an American Idol winner releases doesn’t see the light of day until much longer than Johnson’s three month timeframe. In fact, there hasn’t been a winner’s album that came out before October of the calendar that they won in. So, what makes Johnson the exception?
Caleb Johnson will release his debut album, Testify, in August
Since season 13’s finale, Johnson has been in the studio writing and recording for the album, working with established song writers like Sam Hollander and James Michael. "Usually, they just give (the winners) demo songs. I want this to be an artistic statement on my part,” Johnson told USA Today. On his upcoming album, Testify, out August 12, he has a co-writing credit on over half of the album’s tracks. Meanwhile, Candice Glover, winner of last year’s American Idol, only contributed to one of the songs on her album (ironically, one was even written by season three winner, Fantasia Barrino). Glover’s album, Music Speaks, was originally set to release in July 2013 – that would have made it the first album that broke the mold of Idol album release schedules.
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