Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Ace Young
“Ace Young”

1. Addicted
2. The Letter
3. A Hard Hand to Hold
4. You Redeem Me
5. Where Will You Go
6. Fast Life
7. Young Money
8. How You Gonna Spend Your Life
9. The Girl That Got Away
10. Dirty Mind
11. The Gift
12. Addicted (acoustic / hidden track)

When I picked up this CD in the bargain bin at Circuit City’s closeout sale, I figured it had been released a couple of years ago.

After all, Ace Young gained fame as one of Idol’s hunkiest contestants ever (or so I’m told) back in 2006, when he finished seventh in season five.

Nope. His debut album didn’t arrive in stores until July 2008.

Misconception number two: Given the long locks and friendship with Chris Daughtry, I figured he’d release a rock album. Hey, the guy even got a Grammy nomination for helping write Chris’ “It’s Not Over.”

Nope. Most of the songs here are dance-driven pop.

The delay and the direction are explained on Ace’s Web site.

“While interest from labels followed (Idol), they were pressing Ace for immediate release to capitalize on his Idol fame, but Ace felt that rushing to market would not allow him to produce the album he envisioned.”

So he compiled a list of folks he’d like to work with and “incredibly” wound up meeting with the first guy on his list, Desmond Child, who became executive producer of the album.

“In the process of completing the album independently, Ace built a strong seasoned executive team of music professionals,” his Web site bio reads. “Many music industry insiders believe that Ace and his team may have created a model for the future of the recording industry.”

Wow. You can imagine my anticipation. This was going to be special.

Well, not so much.

And I doubt the music industry is rushing to follow the model for an album that peaked at 160 on the charts and sold 10,000 copies. Those numbers come courtesy of Wikipedia.

Not that the album doesn’t have a couple of highlights. The single, “Addicted,” is rather addictive, and you get two versions here. “Fast Life” is also worthy of a listen.

But the ballads provide a reminder of why Ace finished seventh on Idol. And then there’s the strange “Where Will You Go,” in which Ace, king of the smoldering look, sings “Girl, where will you go? / You got my child / Ain’t even born / You’re not the only one going through this / If you could just hang one we can do this / together.” What’s strange is that those lyrics don’t quite fit the seductive dance beat that probably helped get them in that jam in the first place.

Since the release of the album, Ace has chopped off most of his hair so he could play the role of Kenickie in “Grease.” And he’s now a guest host on American Idol Extra, which airs Thursdays on the Fox Reality Channel.

The critics who reviewed his album last summer seem to agree, that’s more suited to his talent.

You can listen to “Addicted” on Ace’s Web site or his MySpace page.

Review:

AllMusic.com: 2 1/2 stars out of 5