Alexz Johnson (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Alexz Johnson
Type = studio
Artist = Alexz Johnson


Released = Early 2009
Recorded = Late 2005 - Late 2008
Kensaltown Studio, UK / Capitol Records, Hollywood / Rocket Carousel Studio, California
Genre = pop, indie, progressive
Length =
Label = Epic
Producer = Greg Wells, Toby Gad
Last album = "Songs from Instant Star Two"
(2006)
This album = "Alexz Johnson"
(2009)
Next album =

"Alexz Johnson" (album title is subject to change over time) is the debut studio album by Canadian pop singer-songwriter Alexz Johnson slated for a early 2009 [ [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=389852888 Brenden Johnson's Official Myspace] ] release under the Epic label. This is also Johnson's first full length record away from the "Instant Star" franchise.

Recording

On February 15, Alexz Johnson announced in her MySpace blog [http://www.myspace.com/alexzjohnson] that she had signed a record deal with label Epic Records, part of the Sony BMG group. Since it was founded in 1953, Epic has been the label for a highly diverse set of artists: other female singers on the Epic label have included Gloria Estefan, Mandy Moore, Shakira, Fiona Apple, Heart, Tori Amos, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez, Cyndi Lauper, and Celine Dion.

With the songs already written, Alexz Johnson is currently half-way through the studio work for the album, and expects to be finished recording by the end of March, 2008. [http://www.myspace.com/StephenStohn] Having heard the first six songs, Stephen Stohn, in his MySpace blog of Feb. 16, 2008, commented that, "they are just incredibly good - very different from the songs you've come to know through Instant Star, much more rhythmic, with almost a world beat." [http://www.myspace.com/StephenStohn]

The producer for the album is Greg Wells - a Canadian (from Peterborough, Ontario), who now lives and works in Los Angeles as a producer / instumentalist / songwriter. As noted in Stephen Stohn's blog, Wells has previously worked with Pink, Natasha Bedingfield, Michelle Branch, Jewel, and Celine Dion, among others.

Alexz has said of her search for a label - "I basically just wanted to find a label that would support everything that I was feeling. And it wasn’t about going with the biggest label or anything like that; it was just about finding a label that would let me have my artistic freedom and be able to help me get this album distributed everywhere." [ [http://www.alexz-johnson.net/alexzinterview.php Alexz Johnson interview] ]

Intially, the recording process ended in April 2008 with the cd being mastered April 11th. Later on around July, Alexz ended up going back to the album to record more tracks.

Johnson spent the next few months traveling back and forth to New York City and Los Angeles as stated on her myspace. In that time, she met and worked with producer Toby Gad (Fergie, Natasha Bedingfield, Brandy).

It was also revealed through registered tracks on BMI that Johnson wrote with Ian Dench and Amanda Ghost. Though the time and place are unknown, it's assumed the sessions took place in Johnson's visits to London which is Amanda's current residence.

Stephen Stohn confirmed in August that Alexz had about a dozen songs recorded and the only steps left were to pick a few for the final spots of the album.

In early September, a track entitled "Steal My Love", which featured a sound that varied from the previous album material, was registered onto promosquad.

ound / influences

Johnson has been reported as citing people like Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Rickie Lee Jones as her main influences. Saying, that she herself felt the album sounded like nothing else out today, because she was not trying to sound like one certain genre or artist during the recording and creative process.

On the actual creative process, Johnson said "I pull from a lot of artists that I love. Nothing really recent; a lot of the artists I love like David Bowie, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Rickie Lee Jones. They’re all kind of not considered cool, hip artists of this time for young listeners. But I pulled from a lot of cool eclectic sounds, so I think my record’s kind of…just an eclectic pop record. It’s pretty different, actually, from anything I’ve ever heard cause it’s not coming from anything that’s being made right now in the music industry so I’m looking forward to hearing the fans reactions." [ [http://www.alexz-johnson.net/alexzinterview.php alexz-johnson.net ... your #1 source for all things alexz ] ]

Track listing

Tracklisting subject to change when further information is released

Other recorded tracks:
*"A Little Bit"
*"All In Disguise"
*"Blessing In Disguise"
*"Crawl"
*"Echo"
*"Forgotten Face"
*"Hero In Me"
*"Hurricane Girl"
*"LA Made Me"
*"Killa" ft. Brendan Johnson
*"Missing"
*"Shake It Off" [ [http://repertoire.bmi.com/title.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&page=1&keyid=8825014&ShowNbr=0&ShowSeqNbr=0&querytype=WorkID BMI] ]
*"Shutting You Out"
*"Spin"
*"Shout"
*"Sweetie"
*"Take Your Breath"
*"Taker"
*"This Isn't Like You"
*"Wasted Love"
*"What Rock Have You Been Under?"
*"Zeppelin" [ [http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=560195813&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=30&start=1 ASCAP ACE - Search Results ] ]

Some of these songs have been leaked onto the internet and can been found on various websites.

Credits

Production
*Producers: Greg Wells, Brendan "Killa Killa" Johnson, Brio Taliaferro, Toby Gad.
*Engineers: Jess Suttcliffe, Luke Tozour
*Assistant engineers:
*Mastering: Stephen Marcussen, Louie Teran
*Mixing:
*String arrangements: Paul Buckmaster.
*Vocal arrangements: Personnel
*Vocals, background vocals: Alexz Johnson.
*Background vocals: Alexz Johnson, Greg Wells.
*Featured musicians: Luis Conte, Lee Thornburg
*Bass:
*Guitar: Brendan "Killa Killa" Johnson

References

External links

*MySpace|alexzjohnson|Alexz Johnson