Haley's in the studio.

[Miguel]

Especially considering she said her first single could drop "any second now."

[Miguel]

stairway2halien found this "exclusive interview with Wetpaint Entertainment:"

Haley, who was signed to Interscope Records shortly after finishing the competition, is now hard at work on her first album.

“I'm working my tail off,” she admits. “I like being a part of the writing process, and they're starting to understand that I want to be really hands on with everything. So I'm totally, utterly and completely in the process of making everything. I'm in the studio just about every day with different writers and producers and getting towards the end of the making of the album. My debut will be out beginning of next year.”

...“I like so much different music, but I like to put my own spin on it at the same time.”

http://www.wetpaint.com/american-idol/ar...-exclusive

"They're starting to understand" -- Has she had to fight some battles? Did she outright reject some of the things they wanted her to do?

"Beginning of next year" sounds more like "any second now" than "first quarter of next year." So is her "debut" the single or the complete album? Usually they push a single out first.

[midnightblues]

Especially considering she said her first single could drop "any second now."

Wow giving birth to a new single.

[john]

"They're starting to understand" -- Has she had to fight some battles? Did she outright reject some of the things they wanted her to do?

"Beginning of next year" sounds more like "any second now" than "first quarter of next year." So is her "debut" the single or the complete album? Usually they push a single out first.

It's likely that the first single is pretty well baked but they want to release it after the holidays.

It sounds like Haley is standing her ground and making the album her own. That is a good sign and the kind of thing that sets her apart. [Certainly different that Durbin's remarks about going out for a sandwich or whatever, while the song was written for him.] It's a lesson she learned during her AI experience:

Her advice to new Idol hopefuls? “I would say, take all the advice that you can, but don't take all of it,” says Haley. “Listen to everything, but pick and choose and stay true to yourself because you'll make it in the end.”

“The judges were constantly saying that I don't know who I was, but by the end I think they saw that no matter what I did, I always had like this soul, or whatever, I put into [the performance] that made it my own,” she says. “I like so much different music, but I like to put my own spin on it at the same time.”

It seems that Haley has clearly revisited her Idol experience. Perhaps she processed it with family over Thanksgiving. It's likely that some of the battles she has had to fight have occurred when she got that bad gut feeling that she didn't listen to a few times on AI. Ain't gonna happen again. A return of some of those bad advice feelings may have also caused to reflect and clarify her thoughts on the AI feedback and overall experience.

[Miguel]

In her Idoloonies interview not long after the show ended, Haley spoke then of taking the advice you can use and filtering out what you didn't need.

I think the first single is ready to roll. Maybe they had her in NYC to discuss their plans for promoting it and what they wanted her to do. Billboard had a recent article about James Durbin wherein they spoke of the things they have planned.

(Durbin) had an entire album ready to be mastered in less than three weeks.

Because of the album's quick turnaround, the marketing rollout will be slowly paced, with late-night TV appearances coming after street week and a return performance on season 11 of "American Idol" planned for the spring.

http://www.billboard.com/news/james-durb...5952.story

^^ Thought the AI mention was interesting because Haley has also expressed the possibility of returning and performing a single. In the past, has AI had (multiple) non-winners return to perform the very next season?

James' formula of turning the album around quickly and rolling the marketing out slowly doesn't sound like the best plan for success. By "slowly paced," I think they just mean they are waiting for the holiday period to end to ramp things up.

If so, there could be the synergy there in the media coverage of Haley and James, but it could be a drag on Haley professionally as it would likely carry the tag "American Idol contestants Haley Reinhart and James Durbin..."

[midnightblues]

(Durbin) had an entire album ready to be mastered in less than three weeks.

Okay, to go out on a limb and say this. I'm not sure that any of the other idols did their own writings when they made their albums, or they had writers doing everything for them in the case of James Durbin it looks to me that's the style. With Haley. On the other hand, she's taking her time and she's consistently with the writers and producers, she's definitely a hands-on girl. She's wanting to make sure that this album or single that she's making is a pure essence of what a record should be like. I'm really encouraged because she's doing her own writing and that gives her a lot of credibility. Not like every other artist that they have somebody sitting there writing songs for the only thing they have to do is sing it. I was reading in one of the posts, that Haley's new album is highly anticipated. And if she's ready to drop out a new single before the holidays that would be a good treat. I read the comment on James Durbin, that he went out to get something to eat and when he came back a song was written for him it sounds mass-produced no thought whatsoever. That's what separates an artist from singer is somebody who could just sing a song, but a real artist, is an individual who can think up the lyrics put them into music and produce a masterpiece, hopefully that's the case of our Haley. In fact, I'm sure that's the case. Way to go girl.

[Miguel]

I believe Haley wants to create an album that expresses what she loves about music. She is not happy to just be recording an album, she wants to create an album that is acclaimed for deftly incorporating different influences.

James did write some of the lyrics on his album, but this is how he described the recording process in regard to one of his songs (what the "get something to eat " comment was referring to):

I get to Rewind Studio in Manhattan...we started and I had lyrics (for “Screaming") that I had written with no song. I also had tickets to go see the Spiderman musical on Broadway with Casey [Abrams], so Casey and I went to that and I left my lyrics there and they wrote the song. I came back, heard what they had and was, like, ‘Yeah, that's fucking awesome!’ We recorded a demo and that was it.”

[john]

James did write some of the lyrics on his album, but this is how he described the recording process in regard to one of his songs (what the "get something to eat " comment was referring to):

I get to Rewind Studio in Manhattan...we started and I had lyrics (for “Screaming") that I had written with no song. I also had tickets to go see the Spiderman musical on Broadway with Casey [Abrams], so Casey and I went to that and I left my lyrics there and they wrote the song. I came back, heard what they had and was, like, ‘Yeah, that's fucking awesome!’ We recorded a demo and that was it.”

Sorry, I'm not trying to spread misinformation. Thanks for clarifying that Miguel. I couldn't imagine any of that scenario in Haley's world.

[Miguel]

I'm thinking the situation James described occurred when the American Idol tour was in New York City (on August 23 they performed at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island).

Haley wisely said from the get-go that she wanted to wait until the tour was over before getting in the studio and that she wanted to take her time and get it right. It appears she was the only Idol in the top 4 to allowed to do that. I hope her album is a big success so that she will continue to be given that artistic freedom.

[john]

I haven't seen this clip. I'm linking to it here because at the end she mentions that her debut album is coming out early next year.

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/vide.../134988117


Go here for some more videos: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/Search/Sear...y+Reinhart+