Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Michael Sarver has a new country album out called “Begin Again.”

And he says the title is an accurate reflection of where he feels he’s at with his career, six years removed from a 10th-place finish on American Idol Season 8.

“You think you’re going somewhere, and then you hit a brick wall,” he said in an interview with PopDust that you can read here. “You think ‘oh my gosh, what just happened? I thought I was traveling forward.’

“‘Begin Again’ is a theme with everything I’m doing,” Michael, 34, adds. “It’s a new outlook on who I am as an artist. My purpose in this record is, I didn’t feel like I had an opportunity with my first record to deliver myself as the artist Michael Sarver is. That was my drive for this album.”

While he says he wouldn’t have done anything differently about his Idol experience, coming off the show can be a mixed blessing once the hype fades.

“You have people who love you because you were on the show,’ he says in the interview, “and you have people who don’t love you because you were on the show. Most industry people have a lack of respect for artists that come out of ‘Idol.’”

He says his new album leans more toward traditional country than pop-country. He’s released “Miss You Something Crazy” as its lead singles.

Other highlights include country rockers “Like to Like You” and “Place I Call Home” and the ballad “What You Do to Me.”

Michael told PopDust he plans to tour in support of the new album. On Tuesday, in a Twitter post, he said he’s booking shows now and asked fans to recommend tour destinations.

In addition to Twitter, you can keep track of Michael through his website.

Here’s the video for “Miss You Something Crazy.”