Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Jordan Smith is back where we’re used to seeing his name — near the top of the iTunes music charts.

The Season 9 winner of The Voice released his debut album Friday. It comes in record turn-around time for a winner of The Voice — just three months.

It’s an album that includes more covers than originals as Jordan lends his voice to classics such as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “You Are So Beautiful” and “Amazing Grace.”

And though Jordan said back in December that he’d been writing songs for a debut album during his stint on The Voice, only one of his co-writes — a song called “Settle” — made the cut.

Fans don’t seem to mind.

As of 8 p.m. Friday evening, Jordan’s “Something Beautiful” debut was sitting at number three on iTunes, behind only Kane Brown’s “Chapter 1” EP and, ironically, the new album from Season 9 Voice coach Gwen Stefani. At 10 a.m. Sunday, Jordan was still at number three, increasing the likelihood that his new album will be the most successful debut in Voice history.

Among the comments about the album on Jordan’s Facebook page.

* Susan Hayes Dias: “My daughter just bought me the CD. I listened to it in the car on the way home. It is BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL!!! I had to grab a tissue to wipe away the tears it was that amazing.”

* Gary Scroggins: “Bravo, young man, bravo! This album shows you are standing in the light and being seen exactly as you are. A truly fantastic album. I see many awards in your future.”

* Merimar Piacentini: “It’s beautiful! I have already listen to it like 5 times. It’s really inspirational. Thank you. I’m ready for many more.”

Now it will be interesting to see where Jordan lands on the Billboard 200. The best debut ever for a singer featured on The Voice came last year when Melanie Martinez dropped her brilliant “Cry Baby” album and landed at number 6.

In making the album, Jordan told his hometown newspaper, The Lexington Herald Leader that he and producers didn’t want to assault listeners with an album filled with song featuring soaring vocals.

“I wasn’t trying to win a show, and I wasn’t trying to gain votes, I was just making music because I wanted to make something beautiful and something that I thought was extremely heartfelt,” Jordan said in an interview you can read here. “I can say I poured my whole heart into these songs, and sometimes that means a little drama, and sometimes that means simplicity.

“I’ve spent countless hours in the studio on this, but I’ve also spent so much time the last few years dreaming about something like this happening.”

Here’s the recently released video for the lead single from the album, “Stand in the Light,” written by Lauren Christy and Stephan Moccio.