A Ruben-Clay Rematch

08/04/2006 1:00 PM, E! Online


Get ready for the Claynation versus the Velvet Teddy Bear in a battle royale. Again.

Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken are set for a record store rematch this fall, with both the second-season American Idol champ and runner-up releasing their third albums next month.

Aiken releases his new effort, A Thousand Different Ways, Sept. 19, while Studdard's The Return drops Sept. 26.

"I've had people ask me where I've been in the past few years so I thought calling it The Return made sense," Studdard. "The first track on the new record is 'The Return of the Velvet Teddy Bear,' so I just shortened it and made it the title of my CD.

"With The Return, I'm letting all the people who've followed me from American Idol until now know that basically I'm back."

As for Aiken, he explains his title choice thusly: "This is an album of love songs, but they are about all different kinds of love. Romantic love, friendship, unconditional love. There are a thousand different kinds of love; a thousand different ways to tell someone you love them."

And a thousand different songs about love to borrow.

Ten of the 14 tracks on A Thousand Different Ways are covers of love songs from the past three decades, among them Richard Marx's "Right Here Waiting," Elton John's "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word," Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is," Paul Young's "Everytime You Go Away" and Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)."

"These are songs I heard growing up," Aiken said. "I've always loved them then and I still love them today, but we decided to do them a little differently. They have new arrangements and we put our own style on some of them."

Studdard, too, will pay homage to his musical forbearers on his album, singing an updated version of Luther Vandross' "If Only for One Night."

The first single off the album, "Change Me," hit the airwaves July 31.

While the albums will be the third major releases for both artists, it's arguably just their second respective attempts at mainstream efforts. Studdard's sophomore release, 2004's I Need An Angel, was a gospel album, while Aiken's Merry Christmas with Love was a collection of holiday classics.

While both releases sold respectably, going gold and platinum, respectively, they fell short of the blockbuster success of the singers' debut releases.

Studdard's 2003 post-Idol victory lap was capped by the Grammy-nominated R&B chart-topper Soulful, which went platinum. Claymates helped Aiken's Measure of a Man debut at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 613,000 its first week out (still the biggest sales week of any Idol alum) and eventually going double platinum.

While the duo will be busy making the promotional rounds for the albums this fall, at least one of them is getting some roadside assistance.

The Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel is erecting six billboards commemorating the state's trio of homegrown Idol successes, featuring the mugs of Studdard, Taylor Hicks and Bo Bice under the tagline "Where America finds its voice. Alabama."

The ads will be displayed around the state for four months before, like the Idols before them, hitting the road for a nationwide tour. The billboards go up just before auditions for the reality competition's sixth go-round make their first ever stop in Birmingham Aug. 21.

Meanwhile, Studdard and Aiken lead the charge of at least a half-dozen Idol-related CDs this fall. Season-three winner Fantasia Barrino's second album hits shelves Oct. 17. Hicks and fellow fourth-season finalists Katharine McPhee and Kellie Pickler will all release their debut albums Nov. 14. Another season four mainstay, Chris Daughtry, is also slated for a fall release, though no specific date has been announced yet.