Clay Aiken, the season two finalist on American Idol, is re-releasing music! The song he's chosen is actually his debut single! And it's releasing today! I'm sorry for all the exclamations, folks, but this is awesome news.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Clay Aiken has made some incredible music. Both recently and less recently. And his life has changed plenty since his old bangers came out. Father's Day is a perfect time of the year to release "Measure Of A Man" again.
Measuring A Perfect Father's Day Record
Clay Aiken released "Measure Of A Man" originally in 2003. Yes, folks, that's already 22 years ago. Terrifying stuff to think about for too long.
The song back then was a beautiful one, but sadly didn't have much meaning for the music star. He was a closeted gay man and certainly didn't have any kids.
But as I said before, didn't make the music any less powerful.
However, keeping these life changes in mind, Clay Aiken has decided to return to the song. He now wants to put a much more personal twist on the song and is releasing this new version today! (Friday, June 13th, as published.) Right ahead of Father's Day weekend.
He told PEOPLE, "I love the song, but it was given to me. It had no meaning for me." He then added, "[I]t was an opportunity, this was a song that I could take and make it mean something to me, even though it didn't 22 years ago. I could refashion it into something that is personal."
And boy, did he accomplish his mission. The song has become no less beautiful.
The Re-release Fad?
In another conversation with PEOPLE, Clay Aiken revealed his inspiration behind the move.
He stated, "My manager and I were talking about this Taylor Swift-inspired phenomenon of people recording stuff they've already recorded and re-released."
Once he decided that the re-release energy was for him, it was easy to land on both the song and the date of release. He's a father to a 16-year-old teenager now, and spoke candidly on the struggles of this part of his relationship with his son.
"It's strange how it becomes more difficult to have emotional conversations," He mentioned before adding, "I realized that I could kind of tweak the lyrics of the song and talk about how sometimes it's difficult to put into words your emotions and how sometimes I may not be able to say it, but it doesn't mean I don't love you."
I would say this is a pretty perfect Father's Day gift for a wide variety of dads.
