Clay Aiken: Measure of a Man
The numbers are unreal. This debut record by Clay Aiken (runner-up in the second season of the "American Idol" competition) has sold 613,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures, and topped the Billboard 200 album chart as well. As much as some people might want to hate it, it's really a decent pop album. Yes, it's sugary at times (the song "Touch" has Aiken gushing that "I want to drown in your body and get lost in your charms") and is even a little creepy in "Invisible," where he voyeuristically chimes, "If I was invisibile, then I could just watch you in your room." But most of the songs are honest and believable. He didn't write any of them, but with album producer Clive Davis (need anyone be reminded of his track record with Whitney Houston, Carlos Santana, and Alicia Keyes?), Aiken is placed with many songs that ring true. He sounds like a poor man's George Michael at times, but he conveys an impressive romantic urgency. The North Carolina-bred Aiken, 24, has made an album that has a young-adult, contemporary-pop feel, not a plastic, teenybop feel. It's hard to say how far he can go, but it's clear that his 15 minutes of fame are not up yet.
