My voice will reach you somehow

You might or might not have known that Blake Lewis's new album Audio Day Dream was out today.

And you might or might not have guessed that I was just about dying to hear it. Especially after not listening to any previews or streams or anything beyond the initial "Break Anotha"/"Know My Name" leak.

The fact that I had to go to class at 8 AM was annoying--no running out to the stores before class, then--but I figured I'd just go pick it up when class was over.

What I didn't count on was having to go on an epic journey (well, it seemed like it at the time) to track down a copy.

The first store I walked to may very well have had the worst supposedly current music section I've seen. Keep in mind that this wasn't a used records shop or a music exchange store or anything, just new CDs. Or really, that should be "new CDs." Example: looking for the new Britney album? Well, you're out of luck, but luckily they did have Britney's 2001 album Britney. And 'N Sync's Celebrity. I mean, at least it could've been No Strings Attached! No Blake, of course.

Second store (oh, and once again I walked there--in the complete opposite direction of the first store, of course)? Better and more modern if skewed towards wannabe hipster kind of stuff (half the time meaning just "ooo, look, a band from outside the U.S.!" Which of course I'm all for, but just 'cause something's not from your country doesn't/shouldn't mean it's cooler). Did have Jordin Sparks' album. No Blake, though.

At this point, I was out of time and had to go to my next class (which I would've sprinted out of afterwards if I didn't then get suddenly asked to go do something first). After it ended, I was left with one final option: Wal-Mart. Two miles away. Which would be no big deal if I had my car here, but I don't. Now, I know two miles isn't far in the big scheme of things, but imagine ever step of those two miles being filled with "is the album good? is it good? is it good? what does it sound like? is it good?" thoughts. Heck, I'd been pretty useless at getting work done all day in my free time because those thoughts were already running through my head.

Right, so two mile trek to Wal-Mart--not through some picturesque neighborhood or shopping centers, though, oh no--down a state road. Construction, trucks, roadkill, the whole shebang.

Got to Wal-Mart, found the CD without issue, nearly broke the self check-out machine, and left for my two mile walk back. Around now I'm about at "this better be the best CD EVER!" point.

So anyway, I finally get back, put in the CD and press play, whereupon I'm promptly met by more interruptions than I'd had the entire rest of the day. And a pair of headphones that I still haven't bothered to replace yet and so only work on one side (in retrospect, maybe that would've been a good thing to pick up at Wal-Mart, eh?).

And yet, through all that, there was one thing obvious: totally worth it.

I don't want to overstate this too much, because I don't want people to go in with these huge expectations--I'd rather people come out thinking "that was a great little album" (the response I think and hope most people will have; my response is more along the lines of "loooovvvee it!") than "hmm, not as good as I'd heard."

I really want to do some sort of real review of it, but I want to take some time to let it sink in first, even though I'm desperate to start writing (and raving) about it. For now, though, I'll just say that I'm really worried about how it's going to sell--I really don't think it's been very well promoted at all. Sure, maybe they're counting on gradually building it up instead of really big first week sales, but I can't help thinking that at least some buzz would've been good--that the song should at least be doing OK on radios or there should be a video out or something before the album gets released. I'm going to be really sad when it doesn't do as well as it should, because I really feel like that's what's going to end up happening.

A peak into my thoughts, though: you will never believe it, but most of my favorite songs on the album at the moment are--gulp--ballads. Yes, the girl who finds it necessary to shoehorn "I don't like ballads" into every other post says the slower songs on the album are, as a whole, her favorites; every single (real) song is a keeper, though. Plus, OMG, no way, Blake does an ERASURE ballad?!? Essentially, YES.

...right, so I wasn't going to do stuff like this, but I have to just throw this in there: not so fond of his look now. There are obviously a bunch of reasons why what I think doesn't matter, but I'm just going to say it anyway. This Blake...





...is definitely cute. Even doing stupid faces:



Ditto for...



..this Blake in a presumably more recent picture (though I'm not necessarily giving the OK to the dogs on his vest). And it's not just a preppy clothes thing, because he's good here too:




However...






...who is this? Not working nearly as well for me. Can we start working on fixing this, please? Thanks.

P.S. Maybe it's partially the bandana? Can we try the shot without that?