Jordan Knight stepped into the spotlight at the age of 14, as the lead singer of original boy-band phenomenon, New Kids on the Block. Almost 26 years later, and Knight is preparing to spend his summer on a sold out tour with NKOTB and the Backstreet Boys, as well as getting ready to release his first solo record in almost five years titled, Unfinished.
And with his album’s first single, ‘Let’s Go Higher,’ already taking the airwaves by storm, it would seem that the five-year wait for Unfinished, was well worth it.
“‘Let’s Go Higher’ is the perfect first single because it’s happy, fun and really upbeat,” says Knight. “You want that first single to be something that covers the broad scope of the record,” he adds. “The rest of the album is basically just as upbeat, fun and happy as it is.’”
Fans who have enjoyed the slower ballads shouldn’t be worried though, as Knight promises, “Of course, there will be a couple ballads too.”
The first single, which Knight worked on with producer Colby O’Donis, has already garnered tens of thousands of YouTube hits –and the official video isn’t even out yet. Completing the final edit just last week, Knight says fans can expect the video to be a mix between cool, sexy and fun – though the process wasn’t easy.
“It was a lot of work,” says Knight, “because the song is happy and upbeat, but sometimes it’s harder to translate that into video. I’m not 14,” he adds, “I can’t jump around and do that kind of thing, but you still want it to be happy and fun.”
The last time Knight released a “fun” video, was in 1999 for his Billboard Hot 100 hit “Give it to You”— arguably his most commercially successful song to date. Though “Let’s Go Higher,” carries the same dance-pop, upbeat style, Knight said he’s not interested in trying to churn out hit singles.
“I don’t think about that hit factor as much when I’m creating music. In fact, ‘Give it to you’ was one of three songs I’d sent to a radio station in Florida and I actually thought another song should have been the first single, but they said ‘No, this is it, this is the hit,’ and we went with it,” said the singer. “But that song, that was an experiment and it just so happened that it ended up being as popular as it was.”
Since then, Knight has released four solo albums, including Jordan Knight, The Fix and in 2006, Love Songs. Though fans have been holding their breath for a fifth solo record, Knight explained the reason for Unfinished’s five year delay.
“Three out of those five years were spent focusing on New Kids, reuniting and performing and working out the tour,” said Knight. “And in between that, it was just never the right timing to go ahead and start working on solo projects.”
Knight also says that his last solo record Love Songs, was in fact, a race against deadlines and not a labour of love.
“It wasn’t really an album I put my heart and soul into. There were only three songs I put my heart into and felt good about. Everything else, I went into the studio, sang and left. I didn’t want Unfinished to be like that.”
With the sold out NKOTBSB tour, Knight will no doubt be incredibly busy performing with the group this coming summer. But fans of the artist shouldn’t lose hope for a solo tour just yet.
“Hopefully, I can do one, once everything with the NKOTBSB tour is over,” says Knight, adding that smaller tours are almost more fun than touring with a group.
“At the larger tours, you kind of have to play the most popular hits because you want all of the fans to be included, whereas at smaller shows, you can focus on performing the stuff you know your personal fans will enjoy too.”
Though some breakout artists may stress to surpass the success of their original musical group, Knight doesn’t pressure himself to compete with the New Kids.
“New Kids is bigger than all of the individual members,” explains the artist, “but I do compete against myself. It’s all about the process and working to create something that I’m happy with.”
And even though the 40-year-old father of two admits balancing his role as lead singer, solo artist and family man are difficult, he’s never deviated from music – though he’s thought about it once or twice.
“I always thought it’d be nice to be a painter, that or maybe a counsellor,” he says. “When everything is not going as planned you sometimes question,‘Why am I still doing this?’ — but ultimately it’s the love of music that keeps bringing me back.”
If you’re looking for the perfect album to blast with the windows down this summer, keep an eye out for the release of Jordan Knight’s Unfinished this coming May, by checking out his official website, Twitter, or Facebook page.
http://www.andpop.com/2011/04/20/jordan-knight-returns-with-his-newest-solo-record-unfinished/
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