Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Fantasia’s latest single, “Bittersweet,” continues to climb the R&B/Soul singles chart, and it won’t be long before we hear more from American Idol’s season three champ.

According to her Web site, her new album will be released Aug. 10. Of course, I’ve seen various release dates for the album — July 27 on the Idol Web site; Aug. 24 on Amazon.com — but I think I’ll trust the artist’s own Web site.

The album will include songs written or produced by Ne-Yo, Claude Kelly and others.

“I’m Here,” Fantasia’s signature song from her performance as Celie on Broadway in “The Color Purple,” will be offered as a bonus track.

As for the title, it stemmed from a suggestion by comedian, actor and radio personality Steve Harvey following a radio interview.

“It describes perfectly where I am in my life right now,” Fantasia says on her Web site. “I’ve willingly let the world into my life through my book, the Lifetime television movie and now the VH1 reality show. Now, it’s time to go back to how things used to be when America first laid their eyes on me on American Idol. I want to focus everyone’s attention back to me and back to music that everyone can relate to and enjoy.”

As for “Bittersweet,” it’s the song Fantasia peformed on this year’s top four results show on Idol. And it reached number 16 on the R&B/Soul singles chart last week.

And, on Friday, Fantasia released the video for the song. You can enjoy it below.

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