Songoftheday 10/09/24 - There was a man a lonely man, who lost his love through his indifference...
from the album Measure Of A Man (2003)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 2
Today's song comes from Clay Aiken, who came in second in the second season of American Idol, but won the battle of the charts with winner Ruben Studdard, beating him out for #1 with his single "This Is The Night". Clay's follow-up "Invisible" was a modest radio hit as well, reaching the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the beginning of 2004. Clay also contributed to the Christmas release American Idol: The Great Holiday Classics, which went to #28 on the Billboard 200 sales tally and sold over a half million copies. Both his songs on there made the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart, with his take on "The First Noel" peaking at #9 at the close of 2003.
For the third offering from his debut album Measure Of A Man, Aiken released "The Way". Written by pop star Enrique Iglesias (possibly a toss-off from his own album recordings?), future American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi, keyboardist Dave Siegel and producer Steve Morales, the lyrics paint a boy-band-style love greeting card that was possibly a bit too clean for Enrique to keep for himself. Clay's vocals show that he can keep up with the melodic gymnastics the Idol franchise and their audience craves, while the production from Morales is pristine (as most boy-band tracks are) and by the book inobtrusive. The video has Clay giving his lipsync all while (other) couples canoodle around him...
But "The Way" was almost completely ignored by radio stations. Instead, some started playing the "B-Side", which was the studio version of a song he performed on American Idol and beloved by his fans (of "Claymates"). "Solitaire" was written by pop music veteran Neil Sedaka for his 1972 album of the same name, which is now notable for having his backing band be the future members of English art-rock heroes 10cc...
Vocal pop dinosaur Andy Williams recorded it for a top ten hit in the United Kingdom in 1973, which also reached the Adult Contemporary radio chart in Billboard at #23. However, most Americans would have known the song for its cover by the Carpenters, who took "Solitaire" to #17 on the Hot 100, and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart a year later...
So you can tell the age of the audience of his fans that recognized the song in Clay's performance on American Idol. And they went wild for it, keeping his streak alive to make it eventually to the final two. So "easy listening" radio gave this song enough of a (albeit small) push to make this the higher-played of the two on the single, and with Billboard's rules having it listed on the Hot 100, even without a video of its own. Clay really turns on the simmering burn on the lyrics (though coming no where near Karen's forlorn and flawless performance). The production is a little more organic and traditional than "The Way", and explains well why this was the favored side...
"Solitaire" helped the single sell bank at the stores, and put it in the top ten on Billboard's Hot 100 in April of 2004. But the fanbase was only so big, and singles sales can only go so far, so it plummeted to #27 the following week, and off the charts in eight weeks. On the radio, the song reached #27 on the Adult Contemporary radio chart. Internationally, the single topped the chart in Canada. But the fan's reaction to "Solitaire" had RCA re-issue the Measure Of A Man album booting "This Is The Night" for it.
A final single from the debut album, "I Will Carry You", also was a success at AC radio at #25. At the close of 2004, Clay released his own holiday album, Merry Christmas With Love, which was a huge success, making it to #4 on the Billboard 200 and selling over a million copies. Of its twelve tracks, five reached the Adult Contemporary chart, with "Winter Wonderland" doing the best at #13.
Aiken returned with his third album on RCA, A Thousand Different Ways, in 2006, which spent a week at #2 on the Billboard 200, though spending half the weeks on the chart than his debut set and selling just a half-million copies (though over 200K in the first week is quite respectable). Both singles from the record, a cover of the Nilsson/Mariah Carey hit "Without You" and "A Thousand Days", peaked at #28 on the Adult Contemporary radio chart.
Two years later, Clay re-emerged with On My Way Here, which hit #4 on the Billboard 200, but dropped off the list after five weeks. The title track from the record is his so-far most recent radio chart appearance, peaking at #26 on the Adult Contemporary list. By the end of that summer, Clay came out as gay publicly, and by the next year, had left RCA Records.
Signing with Decca Records, Aiken put out the all-covers album Tried and True in 2009, which came in at #9 on the Billboard 200. His most recent studio release, Steadfast, arrived in 2012, and spent a week on the Billboard 200 at #120. Since then, Clay's been more active on television, where he's been a steady presence and coming in runner-up on one of the seasons of Celebrity Apprentice, and the stage, where he appeared in Spamalot. He's also delved into politics, running for the U.S. House of Representatives twice.
"The Way": (4/10)
"Solitaire": (5/10)
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's Clay's live performance on American Idol...
and reprising it again on the next season as a special guest (a much better take)...
Meanwhile, Aiken performed "The Way" on his round of the morning talk shows, like this one on The Today Show...
But did "Solitaire" on The Tonight Show, which probably gave the B-side the push....
Up tomorrow: The troublesome rapper goes Humpty Dumpty.
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