Katharine McPhee Discusses New Album Plans

‘American Idol’ season five runner-up Katharine McPhee spoke with MTV News about the new look and sound fans can expect as she rolls out her debut album. “It’s a really great thing,” a grinning McPhee said of her image makeover. “Love that song, it’s been a great run, but it’s time to put it down.” The 22-year-old added, “The most important thing is making it the record that is really me. I think people didn’t know what I was going to be. Was I going to be the Celine Dion, the Barbra [Streisand] or the Pussycat Dolls?” McPhee said the sound will be a combination of the three. “With everything I had to deal with [during the tour] with my voice being down, a broken foot and all of that stuff, it was nice to take time to really think about what I wanted to do,” she said. “I was getting submitted a lot of songs that just weren’t right and I didn’t think I could make them mine, so it’s been taking a little bit more time. So now we’ve been building the songs like how you would if you were making a record if you weren’t on ‘Idol’ and you would take five months. It’s been a cool creative experience for me. I’m really a songwriter and I’m learning from the best people in the business.” Read more.