Idol Chatter & Voice Views

** New Music from Ashthon Jones ***

Ashthon Jones has been tweeting like crazy about the new music she has coming out early this year.

Ashthon plans to release a single called “Lookout” in February.  She’s going to premiere the song on the Nashville FOX TV station during a morning show on Jan. 17.  You’ll be able to check it out here.

She plans to follow that up with an album called “Goodbye Genre.”

Ashthon was one of the most talented of the gone-in-a-heartbeat gals from Idol Season 10. Despite an impressive performance in the semifinals, she wound up being the first of the 13 finalists eliminated.

The 25-year-old from Tennessee released an EP in November 2008 called “Introducing Ashthon Jones” that is among the most impressive of the pre-Idol music from the Season 10 contestants. It’s still available on iTunes.

It also looks like Ashthon has changed her look as she prepares to release her new material.

*** Melanie Amaro on working with L.A. ***

Digital Spy has posted some interesting comments from X Factor winner Melanie Amaro, who finds herself signed to Epic Records, where L.A. Reid is chairman and CEO.

Anyone who watches the show knows L.A. was Melanie’s most frequent critic. While the other judges raved about her spot-on vocals — hey, they were unique on a show a little short of knockout vocal performances — L.A. was constantly criticizing her for being too predictable and not stepping outside her comfort zone.

Says Melanie: “I would hate for him to say, ‘You know, you were great every week’ and not say what he was actually feeling and then I don’t progress each week or I don’t make it through.”  You can read the full story here.

** Lauren’s new video ***

At last, Lauren Alaina’s new video has hit YouTube, so I’ve embedded it below. The video for “Georgia Peaches” debuted Friday on CMT along with a more telling “behind-the-scenes” piece.

Behind the scenes, we learn about four things Lauren can’t do:  Drive a vintage Ford Mustang with a stick shift.  Wink and sing at the same time.  Operate a vintage jukebox.  And walk sassy.

Lauren does get to show off her slimmed-down body with a midriff-baring shirt.  And dance a lot.  And include some friends.  The end result is a fun video to match a fun song.

Says David McClister, director of the video, in something of an understatement: “She’s got a lot of personality.”

The video

Behind the scenes