Blake Lewis & Lupe Fiasco: Together At Last?
Blake Lewis feat. Lupe Fiasco: "Know My Name"
from Audio Daydream (19/Arista)
Blake Lewis was hardly spared a skewering during the weekly Kill Your Idols chat Jon Caramanica and I shared after each episode of "American Idol" this year (New season and chats coming soon!) Now that Lewis' album, the preposterously-named Audio Daydream, nears release, we're left to parse his 311-meets-Seattle hip-hop-meets-Maroon 5-meets Billy Joel-meets Rahzel stylings. The wonders of pitch correct have done quite a number on Lewis' slim falsetto here and he's landed a surprisingly fun, unexpectedly slippery verse from Lupe -- no small feat as Fiasco often has a problem taking himself too seriously. But the real story is Ryan "Alias" Tedder, astoundingly self-serious frontman for drip-rock Timbaland affiliates OneRepublic and the primary architect behind Lewis' album. He's also penned Leona Lewis' emerging "Bleeding Love" and Jennifer Lopez's peppy "Do It Well." Daydream is wildly scattershot -- lead single "Break Anotha" is among the year's worst -- but Tedder has a graceful way of dabbing MOR songwriting onto rhythmic pop, essentially the only mode Lewis can operate in. "Know My Name" is probably the best thing here -- if you can handle the beatboxing.
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