Blake Lewis: Should He Choose Noise or Decide Silence Is Golden?

Blake Colin Lewis (Also known as bShorty or his alter ego Jimmie Walker Blue), born in 1981 to former rocker Dinah Lewis, is a young 'Rebellious' beat-boxer from Washington. He is a self-taught beat-boxer and former member of the acapella group M-Pact. You may recognize his name from season 6 of American Idol, where he was beaten by Jordan Sparks.

During the show, he stepped out of the box and beat-boxed and sang with what some people call arrogance, but what I call bravery. Probably his version of "You Give Love A Bad Name" (the biggest selling single put on iTunes from Idol) or "When the Stars Go Blue" are the most popular of his performances on Idol.

So where is he now, you may ask?

Lewis has released two albums since Idol, Audio Day Dream (A.D.D.) and Heartbreak On Vinyl. He's named number five on the top ten sexiest men from Idol and was was ranked #21 in the list of music's 21 sexiest single men on June 11, 2007 on AOL. In the issue of People magazine on June 15, 2007, the brand-new runner-up of Idol appeared on its list of "Hottest Bachelors of 2007". He has also made the cut on the list of 50 hottest guys on Elle Girl. Blake's known to be outspoken, publicly stating his dislike of Sanjaya and David Archuletta.

Enough background, though.

I personally believe Blake Lewis is a wonderful artist who hasn't had enough credit. He brings something new to the table yet leans on other artist's styles. You can hear the electronic and pop come through his music in a completely different way.

In his first album, Audio Day Dream, he had an intriguing intro and closing, "Silence is Golden..." and "I Choose Noise..." I appreciate his decision. "Break Anotha" and "Gots To Get Her" are the best on the album, in my opinion. Although I think he could skip beat-boxing entirely, I still admire his talent, especially since it was self-taught.

Heartbreak On Vinyl although I thought was an annoying and repetitive album, and completely ruined his chances of becoming an international superstar, given it only sold 10,000 copies compared to 308,000 for A.D.D.

I encourage everyone who reads this review/ ranting to listen to his music with an open mind. I recommend Blake Lewis to likers of Maroon 5 and Rihanna.