American Idol judge Randy Jackson must have seen a little bit of magic in one former American Idol contestant – blond, former nanny, Brooke White.
Jackson, who has never before been involved with an album by an Idol alum, is executive producer of “High Hopes & Heartbreak”, White’s sophomore album due for release on June Baby Records on June 21. Jackson, White and White’s manager, Carl Stubner formed that label, and Jackson is taking an even higher step with White in co-managing her career. White’s initial album, “Songs From the Attic” was released before her stint on American Idol.
As for the Jackson and White pairing, the demure White told The Salt Lake Tribune, “It is completely bizarre. I never saw this coming. I have no idea why he’s working with me.”
But Jackson was quick to explain. “What I loved about her was that she was a straight-up real artist, he said. “There’s always room for artists. You have pop stars, and then you have artists. The holy grail are artists. The sprinters are pop stars.”
White, who will also be teaming with Michael Johns for a West Coast Midwest tour beginning on August 16th in Pomona, CA, said that after her elimination from Idol, she was in a Los Angeles guitar store when Randy Jackson walked in. They began talking, she said, and before they even realize it, an hour and a half had gone by.
“He was so personable,” White later recalled. “He said, ‘If there’s anything I can do to help out, let me know.’” But White, 26, admitted that she thought that the offer was a kindness, but never expected anything would come of it. But lo and behold, a few months later, out of the blue, Jackson called her and asked if she would be interested in making a record with him as executive producer. And she said that she jumped at the chance.
Jackson then became her “sounding board” – helped her locate a writing partner and encouraged her to stay focused on writing the kind of music that she truly wanted to record.
“She’s not going to be Lady Gaga,” admitted Jackson. “You’re not looking at fitting her into a box.”
So White settled down to compose music straight from her heart -- music with what some people have referred to as a Carole King and Carly Simon kind of sound.
In addressing White’s new album, NY Post opined, she has “a full-fledged audio arsenal backing her up, headed by the one and only Randy Jackson. … Her new CD brings reasons-a-plenty as to why… you should give her at least a 10-minute listen. Brook’s country drenched cover of Kings of Leon’s ‘Use Somebody’ takes what that band already developed and paints it with a feeling of young love. Also, her mid-America themed video for the album’s first single, ‘Radio Radio’, embodies the tingly emotion that makes you feel like a 12-year old kid again.”
On White’s Facebook page, fans reveal not only how much they enjoy her new single, but how much the lyrics touch their hearts. One fan wrote, “I love love love Radio. … When I was younger, radio was such a big part of my life. My 3 sisters and I would listen and dance all day long. We would try (unsuccessfully) to win contests, dialing, dialing, dialing. On warm afternoons, I would go to my friend’s house and we would sing along to the Carpenters. … I still listen to the radio and remember.”
“’Hopes’” is already doing well on iTues,” White smiled and revealed. “It was such a personal process making this record. It’s like putting your babies out there.” The album, she explained, is “a bit of a throwback.” She described it as a singer/songwriter album with an organic tone – some a little California country – and there’s even a disco tune.
One song, “Out of the Ashes,” she said was particularly meaningful. But she added that “Sometimes Love” is another of her favorites. “It’s hard to choose. I go through different phases where I reconnect with each of them in different ways.”
Another of White’s Facebook connections wrote of her favorite, “I really love ‘Phoenix.’ I think the line, ‘Now I’m getting older still my memory holds on to you’ is something everyone can relate to, regardless of what memory it is that the person is holding on to. … It reminds me of the memories I shared with some of my favorite people when I was a kid, and even as I grow older I still remember them as if it were just yesterday.”
In reading the emotions pouring from fans on Facebook, the reader gets the sense of turning pages of secret diaries – reading of love, happiness and sadness so personal and meaningful to their lives that it delves to the depth of their souls. And it is White’s music that reunites these fans with the most poignant times of their lives. Whether happiness or sadness, they live their emotions once again.
Brooke said that while the American Idol experience was one of the most monumental of her life, it was when the Idol tour ended that she began to really pressure herself to make a second album. “I was really motivated by myself,” she explained. “The first thing, I got back to songwriting. After the show and the tour, you’re kind of depleted. But you’re also so full with so many things to write about. (The album) was pretty much finished by the end of April. It went really fast, but it was really rewarding and super fun.”
But she admits that it was a stroke of luck that she met Jackson in that guitar store – setting her career back into full emotion.
Recalling her American Idol days, White expressed that she has had a lot of luck, that “American Idol is a household name. I’m really glad to be associated with it. Of course, I want to expand on that. At the end of the day, that’s the opportunity that launched my career. But it’s not solely who I am as a person and an artist.”
And the most recent American Idol Top Ten are all rooting for White.
Idol finalist Adam Lambert, a White fan, said that he appreciates the pure and simple quality of her music. “She’s a singer-songwriter in the vein of Carole King,” he said. And eighth place finisher Scott MacIntyre, a singer-pianist himself, explained that what he likes is her distinctive style of singing and playing. When White premiered one of a song from her album, “”Hold Up My Heart” on American Idol, MacIntyre felt that she really “re-established herself, and the reception was great.”
White admits that having a new album gives her “a billion butterfilies.” But she also feels that “there’s a great deal of excitement, along with (the) nervousness.”
With Jackson’s guiding hand, it is unlikely that anyone will be surprised to see White emerging as one of the most exciting and successful of American Idol alum!
White and Michael John’s tour dates:
August 2009
16 - Pomona, CA - Glass House
17- Sacramento, CA - Boardwalk
19 - Reno, NV - Club Underground
21 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre
22 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
23 - Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory
24 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory
26 - Salt Lake City, UT - Avalon Theater
27 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
29 - Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck
30 - Des Moines, IA - People's Court
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