Idol Chatter & Voice Views

American Idol’s most successful Christian artist releases her third CD Tuesday.

Make it her fourth if you count Christmas CDs.

Mandisa is back with “What If We Were Real,” an album she called her most honest yet in an interview earlier this year with the Associated Press.

Frustrated by weight gain, Mandisa says she started recording the album “in a very dark place.”

Two of the songs that came from those early sessions were “Just Cry” and the title track.

And these are emotions Mandisa says she seldom shared through music.

“I realized that I had only talked about how great things were,” she told AP. “I never let people in when they were not. It was then that I decided I’d talk about the bad things too.”

Things are apparently better now.

For one thing, Mandisa recently announced on her website that she has succeeded in losing 100 pounds.

For another, it appears she has another hit album on her hands.

The previous three CDs, including the Christmas disc, all yielded top 10 singles on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart.

“What If We Were Real” has already accomplished that.

The lead single, “Stronger,” is already number six on that chart, jumping up from nine a week ago.

And, in anticipation of the new CD’s release, Mandisa’s last album (“Freedom”) re-entered the Billboard 200 the past two weeks.

Both of her previous studio albums were nominated for Grammys in the pop/contemporary Christian album category.

Time will tell if “What If We Were Real” follows suit.

But anyone wanting an early listen to the music can head to Mandisa’s website, where the title track is playing, or to Rhapsody, where the full album is streaming.

For those who don’t recall, Mandisa placed ninth back in Idol’s fifth season, the same season that produced Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler and Bucky Covington.