"American Idol" Runner-Up Blake Lewis Dropped by Arista

The post-American Idol curse continues, as season six runner-up Blake Lewis revealed in an interview that he has already been dropped by his label, Arista. Lewis signed with the label last August and released his debut album Audio Day Dream in December. The album has sold roughly 300,000 copies since and has not charted any singles. In the interview with Maximum Threshold, Lewis expressed that he never really wanted to sign with a major label but that his second place win behind Jordin Sparks required it. It's been a rough stretch for Idol contestants not named Clarkson, Underwood, Daughtry and Cook: Both Taylor Hicks and Katherine McPhee, season five's winner and runner-up, were dropped from their respective labels after eighteen months and season two champ Ruben Studdard was dropped from J Records for falling "short of expectations."

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Song Stories

“Weird”

Hanson | 1997

Accomplished tunesmith Desmond Child co-wrote "Weird" with the three brothers that make up Hanson. Credited for dozens of cuts, including songs by Kiss, Cher, Bon Jovi and Aerosmith, Child told Rolling Stone that "Weird" holds a special place in his heart, "because it's about being different--and I grew up poor, I grew up being Latin, I grew up being gay, and now I'm fat!" The song was included on Hanson's 1997 album Middle of Nowhere, which sold more than ten million units.

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