''On My Way Here'' is the fourth studio album released by

Clay Aiken Clayton Holmes Aiken (''né'' Grissom; born November 30, 1978) is an American singer, television personality, actor, politician, and activist. Aiken finished second place on the second season of ''American Idol'' in 2003, and his debut album, ' ...

on May 6, 2008. This album of both ballads and pop-rock is an eclectic mix of styles and tempos. Aiken wanted to get away from using multiple producers and chose

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

Award-winning British producer Mark '

Kipper A kipper is a whole herring, a small, oily fish, that has been split in a butterfly fashion from tail to head along the dorsal ridge, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold-smoked over smouldering wood chips (typically oak). In the United Ki ...

' Eldridge (

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

Chris Botti Christopher Stephen Botti ( ; born October 12, 1962) is an award-winning American trumpeter and composer. In 2013, Botti won the Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category, for the album ''Impressions''. He was also nominated in ...

) to produce the album. Jaymes Foster was the executive producer. This was his final studio album for

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

. The title track, "On My Way Here", written by

OneRepublic OneRepublic is an American pop rock band formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2002. It consists of lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Tedder, lead guitarist and violist Zach Filkins, rhythm guitarist Drew Brown, bassist and cellis ...

frontman

Ryan Tedder Ryan Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. As well as being the lead vocalist of the pop rock band OneRepublic, he has an independent career as a songwriter and producer for various artists since th ...

along with Hunter Davis and Chris Faulk, was the only single released. The song was originally for Tedder's debut album back in 2002, under Freelance Entertainment, which became defunct before the album could release. The song is about how the lessons we learn growing up shape us into the adults we become. This struck a chord with Aiken and the song became the inspiration for the album's theme. The last track "Lover All Alone", written by Aiken and

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

and originally available as an

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

bonus with Aiken's '' A Thousand Different Ways'' album, was produced by

Emanuel Kiriakou Emanuel "Eman" Kiriakou (born August 16, 1966) is an American songwriter, producer, record executive, music publisher and multi-instrumentalist, based in Los Angeles. He recently co-wrote and produced " Take You Dancing" by Jason Derulo, and has ...

Sales and chart performance

The album, selling 94,000 units in its first week, made its debut on the ''Billboard'' charts at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200 and #1 on Billboard Top Internet Albums. The album debuted on Billboard's Top Canadian Albums at number twenty-five for the week ending May 24, 2008.

Track listing

Additional personnel

* Nathaniel Kunkel – Recorded and Mixed * Cameron Craig – String Engineer * Joe Harding – Engineer * Chris Jennings – Engineer * Wesley Seidman – Engineer * Jorge Vivo – Engineer * Bernard Levin – Asst. Engineer * Dale Parsons – Asst. Engineer * Nick Banns – Asst. Engineer * Tyler Van Dalen – Asst. Engineer * David Jones – Asst. Engineer *

Keith Carlock Keith Carlock (born November 29, 1971) is an American musician who has played drums with Toto, Wayne Krantz, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, Tal Wilkenfeld, John Mayer, Sting, and Chris Botti. In ''Modern Drummer's'' 2009 ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Freddie Washington –

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Jon Herington Jon Herington (born Jonathan Reuel Herington on April 14, 1954) is an American guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and session musician. Career Herington was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and grew up in West Long Branch, New Jersey ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s * Jeff Young –

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, B3 Hammond, Background Vocals * Oz Noy – Guitars (appears courtesy of Magnatude Records) * Keith Beauvais – Guitars, Production *

–

("The Real Me") * David Hartley – Piano ("Something About Us" and "Sacrificial Love"), *

Dominic Miller Dominic James Miller (born 21 March 1960) is an Argentine-born guitarist. With much of his career as a sideman and guitarist for singer Sting (musician), Sting, he has also released several solo albums. Career Miller was born in Hurlingham, Bue ...

– Nylon Guitar ("Sacrificial Love") * Jon Ossman – Bass ("Falling") *

– Keyboards, Programming * Mark Neary – Additional Pro Tools * Quiana Parler – Background

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Angela Fisher – Background Vocals * Jenny Hill – Background Vocals * Windy Wagner – Background Vocals * Sumudu Jayatilaka – Background Vocals

Strings

* David Hartley – Arranger * Dermot Crehan –

Violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(solo on "As Long as We're Here") * Perry Montague-Mason – Violin * Warren Zielinski – Violin * Emlyn Singleton – Violin * Patrick Kierman – Violin * Boguslaw Kostecki – Violin * Tom Bowes – Violin * Maciej Rakowski – Violin * Julian Leaper – Violin * Chris Tombling – Violin * Dave Woodcock – Violin * Mark Berrow – Violin * Jackie Shave – Violin * Jonathan Rees – Violin * Dermot Crehan – Violin * Peter Lale –

Viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

* Bruce White – Viola * Katie Wilkinson – Viola * Rachael Bolt – Viola * Anthony Pleeth –

Cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

* Martin Loveday – Cello * Dave Daniels – Cello * Jonthan Williams – Cello * Chris Laurence –

"Lover All Alone"

–

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(Acoustic & Electric),

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Doug Petty –

Hammond B-3 The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...

* Cameron Stone –

* Jimi Englund – Shaker

Additional notes

In an interview with Linda Loveland of

WRAL-TV WRAL-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Research Triangle area. It is the flagship station of the locally based Capitol Broadcasting Company, which h ...

prior to the album's release, Aiken said that a couple of the songs on this album, while previously recorded, had not been widely heard. "The Real Me" was originally recorded by

Natalie Grant Natalie Diane Grant (born December 21, 1971) is an American singer and songwriter of contemporary Christian music. She received the Gospel Music Association's Dove Award for Female Vocalist of the Year four consecutive years (2006, 2007, 2008 an ...

for her album '' Awaken'' (2005). Aiken stated in an interview that Grant rewrote some of the lyrics for him. "The Real Me" was covered by Jessie Clark Funk on the 2009 ''Be Thou An Example'' CD from Songs for the Youth produced by the EFY cd's. "Something About Us" was written and recorded by Michael O'Brien for his album ''Something About Us'' (2007). "As Long as We're Here" was recorded by

Kristy Starling Kristy Starling is a contemporary Christian music singer, born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. After marrying husband Adam Starling in the late 2002, she came second in a national singing competition, ''Today's Superstar'', NBC News' morning show. ...

for her self-titled debut album (2003)

Recording and mixing

* Lower Barn, London, UK * Legacy Studios, New York City, NY * Grove Studios, London, UK * Ocean Way Recording, Los Angeles, CA * Robert Irving Studios, Los Angeles, CA * Studio Without Walls, Los Angeles, CA – mixing * Marcussen Mastering, Hollywood, CA – mastering * Lover All Alone ** Chalice Studios/Studio E, Los Angeles, CA – recording, mixing ** NRG Studios, North Hollywood, CA

Webisodes

Promotion for this album included a series of short filmed interviews of Aiken commenting on the making of the album. These interviews, known as

Webisode A webisode (portmanteau of "web" and "episode") is an episode of a series that is distributed as part of a web series or on streaming television. It is available as either for download or in streaming, as opposed to first airing on broadcast or c ...

s, are all on his official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

page along with a video that was filmed for the first single from this album.

QVC bonus disc

Aiken debuted the album on

QVC QVC (short for "Quality Value Convenience") is an American free-to-air television network, and flagship shopping channel specializing in televised home shopping, owned by Qurate Retail Group. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Chester, Penn ...

before its release. As a bonus with pre-orders, a second Enhanced CD was included containing 3 live Sessions@AOL recordings, 1 unreleased recording and an unreleased video that had been filmed for his 2003 '' Measure of a Man'' album. # "When I Need You" # "

Invisible Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light in ...

" (Live) # "Measure Of A Man" (Live) # "I Will Carry You" (Live) *Enhanced CD Portion: "This Is The Night" (Unreleased Video) Directed by:

Matthew Rolston Matthew Russell Rolston is an American artist, photographer, Music video director, director and creative director, known for his lighting techniques and detailed approach to art direction and design. Rolston has been identified throughout his care ...

*tracks 2, 3 and 4 from Sessions@AOL, November 2003 and December 2004

MusicPass

This album is also available in a new music format called MusicPass. The MusicPass is a gift card that gives access to a digital version of the album for

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

s and

MP3 players A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...

. Included as a bonus are 3 music videos and a

digital booklet Digital booklet is the digital equivalent of booklet attached to physical release that often accompany digital music purchases. They are most commonly distributed in PDF. One well-known distributor of digital booklets with digital purchases is the ...

.New Digital Album Card
/ref> # "Invisible" – music video # "The Way" – music video # "A Thousand Days" – music video

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:On My Way Here 2008 albums Clay Aiken albums RCA Records albums 19 Recordings albums Albums produced by Kipper (musician)