Katharine McPhee Signs a New Record Deal, The Ting Tings Release a New Video, Yada Yada Yada

This post is a bit of a mosh/posh of music bits and bites, so forgive me. And away we go!

I just read on Perez that American Idol Season 5 Runner Up, Katharine McPhee just signed a new record deal (RCA dropped her in early 2008)! I’ve always liked the girl and thought that it should have been her rather than Taylor Hicks – but then again, I always want the female contestants to win over the males.

Billboard announced that she was signed to Verve. Verve! Home to Jazz greats Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Sarah Vaughan, Diana Krall and others. This is good news and means that she’s ditching her pop career in favor of something more suitable to her talents. As I’ve said before, her 2006 self-titled debut wasn’t bad…it was just a bad match. There were a couple of decent tracks and the production was top notch (Danja, Babyface, Idol’s own Kara DioGuardi) and McPhee showed that she’s a multi-faceted singer/songwriter, co-writing 3 of the tracks. I just thought that based on her Idol performances that she was going to put out a more Nora Jones-type of Jazzy/pop album. When she didn’t, I was kind of disappointed. Clearly, she and her label, RCA, went more commercial. I’m happy for her! Can’t wait to hear what’s next from Ms. McPhee!

Next bit of buzz…The Ting Tings (whom I’m excited to be seeing in Boston in March!) released a new video for their single “That’s Not My Name.” Check out the old video, just as good with less goin on.