Blake Lewis :: back to dance music
Being on the dance floor
EDGE: Is there a song on the CD that maybe hits closer to home than the others?
BL: They’re all personal in their own way. "Left My Baby 4 U" has the U as the metaphor for California and my career. I
"The Point" and "Rapture of Love," they’re all kind of my children and I’m really proud of the record and I love all the songs on there. "Binary Love" has one of my favorite choruses and hopefully that will be a single.
EDGE: I liked the song "Freak." What or who is the freak in the song?
BL: Actually, I had this chorus in my head and I was coming up with hooks like step back and touch yourself/you know I like watching. I did that one with Jesse Rogg, who produced that record. That song just kind of came out in an hour. I was doing the bass line while he was tweaking knobs and it just kind of came out and I literally wrote that on the way to the studio.
My friend came in just to get a third opinion and she said, "I think you have a song there." It’s about being on the dance floor and I go out all the time and dance and you don’t really care about anyone around you and you just let the music take you to a different place. In that song if you’re a freak you don’t even know how you’re dancing and you kind of immerse yourself; you’re just in the zone. It’s like when you watch a beautiful woman on the dance floor getting freaky with herself. It’s kind of my overview of dance culture in that song.
EDGE: In your post-Idol career, have you gotten used to the pace of your solo career?
BL: It’s always different. Every day is different but it’s definitely different going from this pop culture phenomenon back to the world that I’ve always been in, which is dance music. I’ve been doing raves and parties and clubs since ’98 or ’99. I was the host of one of the main clubs in Seattle. But it’s awesome coming out of the show where I’ve been embraced by those who happened to watch Idol. But now I’m doing clubs again and that’s my favorite environment. It’s my favorite thing to do because people are into the music and they’re ready to let loose and they respect it.
EDGE: One person who was into it recently was Michelle Obama, right?
BL: I was very lucky to perform for the ladies of Congress so it was all the women in Congress. It was like Michelle’s induction into that world and she was very gracious. I got to speak with her for a bit and I got everyone there to beat box, which was fun.
EDGE: Had she and the Obamas seen you on Idol?
BL: Yeah, she and her daughters had watched so that was really great.
Blake Lewis’s CD Heartbreak On Vinyl is available everywhere and you can also find out more about the singer at his official website as well as on Facebook and on Twitter @ BlakeLewis.
Watch Blake Lewis sing "You Keep Me Hangin’ On" on American Idol in 2007:
