Idol Chatter & Voice Views

So far, 2013 has been a wee bit light in terms of new music releases from former American Idol finalists.

But other former contestants have been stepping up to fill the gap, albeit a single at a time.

Erika Van Pelt released her first post-Idol single this week.

Erika finished 10th on Season 11 of Idol, just good enough to make the summer tour.

And she just released her first single since appearing on the show: “Listen, Learn, Then Delete,” which hit iTunes this week.

I’m not sure what I expected from Erika in terms of post-Idol music, but this isn’t it.

I mean, this is the 27-year-old from Rhode Island who sang Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind,” Bryan Adams’ “Heaven” and The Four Tops “I Believe in You and Me” in the Idol finals.

Of course, one of her finer moments on the show was a wild card performance of Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory.”

This is more in that vein. Not as anthem-ish, but young and fun and dance-worthy.

And definitely high energy. Just check out the video below. At one point, a young lady takes a chainsaw to a teddy bear. Now how often does that happen in a music video?

There’s more music coming, though don’t expect it to all sound like the first single.

In a Wednesday morning TV interview, Erika told The Rhode Show that she started working on an album — “My Independence” — in January and expects to release it the second week of September.

“The entire album is a really eclectic mix,” she said. “I was given sort of a hard time by some producers who said, ‘Erika, you really need to stick to one genre.’ I don’t deal well with authority really, and I just said, ‘Who made the rules?'”

“(The album’s) a really eclectic mix of soul, pop, it’s got a little rock and roll in there, there’s some funk throwback elements to the ’70s. I like it.”

You can check out the full interview here. For Erika’s website, head here.

And here’s the video for the single.