Runner-up Blake Lewis tries to move beyond 'American Idol' with album

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Blake Lewis, the 26-year-old beatboxer from Seattle, is not another just-happy-to-be-here "American Idol" finalist. Given a long-awaited shot at a major label album release with his second-place finish (Jordin Sparks was the winner), he's trying to exercise as much artistic control as possible in the Simon Fuller-created machine.

He co-wrote all but one song on "Audio Day Dream," out Tuesday on Arista Records, and is already plotting a remix album to add hip-hop and electronica flavors that he favors but wasn't able to include.

"I just call myself a communicator. And all's I wanna do is communicate my art," he said. "And now with this album, I get to communicate myself wholeheartedly without any hiccups or speed bumps, like 'American Idol' has, you know?"

Like other musically experienced contestants (think Chris Daughtry), he made the show work for him -- not the other way around.

"Idol" music director Rickey Minor said Lewis was more involved in creating his own take on the music than other contestants.

"Audio Day Dream" features 16 tracks of what Lewis calls "electro-break funky soul pop music." To get there, he enlisted the aid of hitmaker JR Rotem (on "What'cha Got 2 Lose?"), Fiona Apple collaborator Mike Elizondo (on "1,000 Miles") and Timbaland protege Ryan Tedder, frontman in the band OneRepublic.