Jordan Smith, seen here performing at the People's Choice Awards in Los Angeles, releases his debut album today. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)Album track Listing
* “Over the Rainbow”* “Stand In the Light”* “You Are So Beautiful”* “Beautiful Angel”* “And So It Goes”* “Amazing Grace”* “I Got to Be Me”* “Settle”* “What Now”* “Ain’t Got Far to Go”* “Beautiful Things”
You could be in Jordan Smith’s next video
Jordan Smith says he’s received numerous fan stories relating to the lyrics of his new single, “Stand In the Light.” In the chorus he sings: “The greatest risk we’ll ever take is to stand in the light and be seen as we are.”So Smith posted #WhoIAm, a call to fans for a selfie and accompanying story explaining how they see themselves. Follow @JordanSmithLive on Instagram, upload a selfie, tell him your story of who you are in the caption. Be sure to include #WhoIAm in the caption and tag @JordanSmithLive.At the end of the month, the singer will create a music video incorporating the selfies and stories.
Jordan Smith says coming up with a name for his first full-length album became obvious as he recorded its 12 tracks.
"'Something Beautiful' is honestly just that - something very beautiful. There's something beautiful for me in each song chosen for this album," Smith said during his recent homecoming visit to Lee University.
Smith is the Lee student who won Season 9 of "The Voice" in December. Immediately following his win, Republic Records released a compilation album - "Jordan Smith: The Complete Season 9 Collection" - containing all the songs he performed on the NBC reality singing show.
Smith's debut full-length album,"Something Beautiful," is being released today on LightWorkers Media/Republic Records. It's a combination of original material and covers both sacred and secular. In addition, Smith co-wrote one of its tracks, "Settle."
The album's first single, "Stand In the Light," was released the first week of this month. Its anthemic lyrics continue the message of being true to yourself, a philosophy Smith spread during his "Voice" journey.
"It was important to me to sing songs I connect with and people would connect with," says Smith. "I got to hand-choose each song, which was selected because it was a part of me or my story. I was very blessed and lucky to work with a label that allowed me to pick songs I wanted and were supportive of that process."
"Stand In the Light" made its debut locally on WDEF-FM/Sunny 92.3 radio last week in James Howard and Kim Carson's morning show. Station Manager and Director of Programming Danny Howard says the song was put into rotation within an hour after receiving a copy.
"We felt it very important to support Jordan, our winner of 'The Voice,'" Howard says. "Our listeners are responding to the song very positively; we've had several phone calls requesting the song. It seems to be, at least in our region, a hit song."
There's also a lot of industry interest in the commercial success of "Something Beautiful."
Other than the Season 3 and 4 winners, Cassadee Pope and Danielle Bradbery, who launched successful country music careers and have maintained that success, no other "Voice" winners have made names for themselves in contrast to numerous winners and even just finalists on "American Idol."
But then, no other artist in "Voice" history broke the iTunes records that Smith did.
Javier Colon sold 46,000 copies of his album, "Come Through for You," after his Season 1 win on "The Voice." Smith's post-"Voice" compilation album topped that with 50,000 units sold.
Pope's solo album "Frame by Frame" sold 125,000 copies in its first week of release, and she was the first "Voice" winner to land a Top 10 Album on the Billboard charts. She currently has a duet with country star Chris Young in the Top 20 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart.
Smith sold more than 1 million singles on iTunes and set a "Voice" record by landing eight songs in the Top 10 on iTunes' singles charts - the first artist from any "Voice" season to crack the Top 10 every week of the live performances. He and Pope are the only "Voice" artists to notch three No. 1 singles during their seasons.
Smith's label has done its part to set its star up for success. Legendary producer/composer/musician David Foster (Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Celine Dion, Michael Buble, Josh Groban) produced six of the tracks on "Something Beautiful." Smith also worked with Grammy- and Oscar-nominated producer Stephan Moccio (The Weeknd, Ellie Goulding, Groban).
"It was so incredible to work with David Foster," Smith says. "He's a genius. Some of the things he taught me he didn't even have to say out loud, it was the just the way he did things on the recording."
Smith describes Foster as "so honest" and a teacher who didn't believe in using auto-tune or hiding a voice behind a lush orchestral score.
"He never accepted anything less than my best and see how far I could push myself into that realm of excellence," says the singer. "I worked with him first, so it set this high standard of excellence for me that I tried to carry out through the rest of the album."
Smith says that adjusting to his new celebrity status and its accompanying fame has been "finding a fine balance."
"It's important to me in the middle of this crazy stuff to find time for Jesus Christ, which is such an important part of my life, my fiancee and my family."
And even though his singing career is taking center stage right now, he still plans to finish his degree at Lee.
"I just don't know when that will happen. But it's important to me to finish. Right now, though, things are just a little busy."
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.