Idol Chatter & Voice Views

We’ve waited a long time for a first album from season two American Idol contestant Kimberly Caldwell.

Looks like we’ll be waiting a little longer.

In a video message to fans Saturday, Kimberly announced that the April 6 release date for her album has been pushed back to July 27.

The reason: She recently recorded a song that she, Capitol Records and Vanguard Records decided just has to be on the album.

“It just wouldn’t be complete without it on there,” she says. “You guys are going to freak over this song.”

Kimberly has already released “Mess Of You” as the lead single for the album. Here’s the link to the video.

If you go to her MySpace, you can hear two other songs from “Without Regret” — “Going, Going, Gone” and “Heart Like Mine.”

And if you go to her Web site, you can get a free download of another song, “Say Love.”

So we might be waiting four months for the album, but we can already hear a good chunk of it. And it sounds promising.

Kimberly has spent the last two months on a radio tour to promote the album. Here’s a link to her interview with Kiss 93.3 in Kansas City.

Among the topics the 28-year-old discusses …

* She wrote a good portion of the material on “Without Regret,” but the album also includes songs written by Kara DioGuardi, Diane Warren and Chad Kroeger of Nickelback.

* She thinks “it sucks really bad” to see Simon Cowell leave Idol, but figures the show will persevere. Even if you cut Idol’s audience in half, it would still be a ratings success.

* Asked if she’s dating anyone, she replies: “I’m dating my album. We’re geting along very well.”

As for her long wait to release an album, Kimberly had this to say:

“I’m so glad nothing ever worked out in the past few years. This feels right for the first time. I’m so proud of it.”

Here’s the link to the full interview.