Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Phillip Phillips released his new album “Collateral” on Friday.

His fans certainly think that’s the case.

Phillip released his third album — and his first in more than three years — Friday.

“Collateral” quickly started climbing the iTunes charts. At noon, 12 hours after its release, the album was sitting at number 12 on the overall albums chart and number two on the pop albums chart, trailing only Camila Cabello’s “Camila.”

The long wait for new music from American Idol’s Season 11 winner was largely the result of a lawsuit he filed against against his label in January 2015 over the provisions of his post-Idol contract.

The case was settled last May; the new album once again comes under the 19 Recordings / Interscope banner.

Phillip talks about the meaning of the album’s name in a video on his Facebook page.

“It’s parallel with what I’ve gone through these past three years, a lot of frustration and a lot of waiting,” he says. “That was hard to do. I still stayed busy, playing shows. But not to be able to release these new songs that I was so excited about has been really hard.

“But also while writing these new songs and this new record, I got married, which is just amazing. So this album and the meaning of Collateral, I think it has a lot of weight to it, a lot of deep meetings, not just for me, but for my fans.

“They would always ask, ‘When is new music coming?’ And I would just say, ‘Soon.’ So this is really for the fans.”

Fans seem to approve. Some of the comments on Phillip’s Facebook page.

Teresa Martin Burnett: “Just bought and listened to your new record. It is AWESOME!!! Worth the wait.”

Danielle Booher: “Can’t tell you how much I love it!!!”

NJ Lindquist: “Just listened to it. Love it! So many great songs. In the end, everything that happens to a writer becomes something to write about.”

Here’s Phillip talking about his marriage and performing on FOX this morning.