{"id":118847,"date":"2024-11-22T12:01:48","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T12:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/magic\/2024\/11\/22\/clay-aiken-wants-to-give-fans-that-cozy-vibe-of-safety-and-security-with-new-christmas-album\/"},"modified":"2024-11-22T12:01:48","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T12:01:48","slug":"clay-aiken-wants-to-give-fans-that-cozy-vibe-of-safety-and-security-with-new-christmas-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/magic\/2024\/11\/22\/clay-aiken-wants-to-give-fans-that-cozy-vibe-of-safety-and-security-with-new-christmas-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Clay Aiken wants to give fans that ‘cozy’ vibe of ‘safety’ and ‘security’ with new Christmas album"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alvis, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clay Aiken<\/strong>‘s new album,\u00a0Christmas Bells Are Ringing<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 his first in nearly 15 years \u2014 arrives Friday, 20 years after his first holiday album, Merry Christmas With Love.<\/em> Clay says he made the album for a very specific reason, but he also thinks it’s something the world needs at this moment.<\/p>\n

For the past 10 years, Clay’s been focusing on running for office in his home state of North Carolina. But he rediscovered his love for singing live after he and pal Ruben Studdard<\/strong> toured together in 2023.<\/p>\n

“I had fun,” he tells ABC Audio. “And I thought, ‘You know what? I could see myself going out and touring or performing again.’ Then my manager said, ‘Well, you can’t go out and do it unless you have a new album,’ and I thought, ‘Oh, God<\/em>.’ So the album is a means to an end, right?”<\/p>\n

Clay’s planning a Christmas tour for 2025. But as for why he chose to make a holiday album<\/a>, he says, “Christmas just felt like the right place to start for me. It is something that’s all positive. … [It’s] supposed to hearken back to that sort of Perry Como<\/strong>, Andy Williams<\/strong> sort of vibe of cozy, safety, security.”<\/p>\n

He laughs, “I feel like after what I’ve done for the last decade, and after the year that the world has gone through \u2014 yeah. Something safe and secure … I wanted to be a part of that.”<\/p>\n

And keeping with that vibe, Clay is only singing classic tunes and old favorites.<\/p>\n

“Everybody thinks they’re going to be the next Mariah<\/strong>\u00a0and come up with this new, catchy Christmas song,” Clay says. “But no one’s going to beat Mariah. … So I didn’t want to try. I didn’t want to try for new original songs because no\u00a0one ever remembers those.”\u00a0<\/p>\n