Taylor Hicks gets some good news today. HitPredictor.com recognizes his pull on the AC charts (he’s up to #28 on MediaBase). Taylor also makes his debut today on the Billboard AC charts at #30. Finally, there’s another new interviiew with Taylor at Lagniappe Mobile Online:
His days of playing small, intimate venues filled with smoke and tattooed ladies screaming “Freebird- are almost certainly gone for now. With Hicks’ symbiotic relationship with a live audience, he feels the larger audiences will make his live performances even more soulful than ever before. “There’s more energy,” Hicks explains. “I feed off of energy; I always have. I’ve always been kind of a high impact/high energy performer. The more energy that you can create with more people, the better off you’re gonna be and the harder you’re going to work.”
“You know, a misconception about the ‘American Idol’ show is that once you’re off the show, you’re pretty much at the mercy of your own decisions,” Hicks says. “Once the show was over for me, I was working on my own terms. Of course, I want to go back and sing on the show, but it’s really up to you on how you create your own opportunities after you win.”
“I’m moving toward writing a little bit more for this next album,” Hicks said. “I’m excited to be on a major label because I’ve got a lot of people behind me. I’ve worked with some great people such as Clive Davis (Rock and Roll Hall of Famer/Arista Records founder) and my producer Matt Serletic. Both of those people were very influential in this record and helping me stay true to one vision, and that was to create modern soul music.”
“Clive Davis (Rock and Roll Hall of Famer/Arista Records founder) and my producer Matt Serletic. *Both of those people were very influential in this record* and helping me stay true to one vision,”
I think that quote is very telling and a subtle way of admitting that he *didn’t* have complete creative control. Hopefully he actually DOES get more creative control on the next album and ODL will keep his “influence” out of it.