We in the ClayNation have been a little bit sad lately. Clay has been largely out of the spotlight and we haven’t had a tour in (it seems like) forever! Christmas without Clay is just a bit less merry.
We have, however, had a little bit of Clay. The Gala this year raised lots of money for the National Inclusion Project. It was well attended by the fans – happily those with money to spend! We should be celebrating that fact. We should feel proud of Clay and of ourselves for our continued support and success.
Overwhelmingly, though, the response to the Gala this year was not celebratory. It was not proud or happy. What I heard and read over and over again was negative!
“Clay looked tired!”
“Clay should get rid of the spikes.”
“Clay’s voice is shot.”
“The tables weren’t set up well.”
“We couldn’t even see.”
“The lighting sucked.”
And then……………
“OMG, he’s singing Moon River!”
“What if that’s on the next album as he hinted?”
“He’s going to do nothing but covers!”
“I am not going to buy the next album!”
“What he needs to do is……………..”
“What Team Clay needs to do is………..”
“What Decca needs to do is………………”
I am amazed that this fandom seems to be full of experts on the music industry!
Then we had the surprise performance at the David Foster and Friends show in San Jose which brought more expert opinions. My favorite one was, “I am sick to death of UM!” (possibly paraphrased a bit)
Now Clay has blogged and what responses have I seen?
“Orchestra? That means more slow songs.”
We had a Tweet saying that Clay and Ruben will be touring together. And…..?
“OMG! I thought he was trying to escape AI. This will bring it all back.”
“Does he want to be the runner up forever?”
Yada, yada, yada……
My response to all of this is a little bit different. After such a long lack of Clay I was thrilled to see all of the Clack from the Gala. Poor lighting? Better than no lighting! Voice cracks? It was his voice! Loved the DF performance! I will never tire of hearing him sing UM and I thought it completely put to rest any concerns about his voice. The blog? He’s excited! He’s recording! There will be a new album and Clay is happy with it! If he’s happy, I’m happy. Oh yeah – the Tweet? Not really feeling any response yet since the rumor is unconfirmed. I will, though, go to any Clay tour regardless of who else is performing. I happen to like Ruben, but I’d go if Clay decided to tour with Kanye West.
I have read lots of concern about whether or not Clay’s fandom is dwindling. It seems to me the negativity that abounds may be a cause of that. I hope that there are still lots of fans like me – I am an expert on nothing about the music industry. I just know that I love Clay Aiken, I love his voice and I can’t wait to hear him again.
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