Top 20 in American Idol's Song Competition!

Perry Smith

As a relatively new songwriter, I attended the DS Expo in Santa Ynez in February for the first time. I was inspired, by many of the presentations and listening sessions, to rewrite some songs. So on my drive home to Orange County from the Expo, I put a track (without the vocal) of one of my songs on and I came up with an entirely new melody and song idea. In fact, on that drive home, the song transformed in my mind from a country song to a pop/rock song. After I got home I got some lyrics down, and got an incredible rock vocalist I know named Logan Pepper to sing the song over the original track. It sounded like it was going to work, so I ordered up some big guitars and a new bass and drum track to turn the song into a rock ballad instead of a country ballad.

As the song was being completed, I saw that the American Idol songwriting competition was going on. A light bulb went on and I rewrote the lyrics yet again to conform more closely to the American Idol theme. I got the rock track back and got the song mixed with just enough time to get the song in a day or two before the deadline.

Then, shortly before American Idol put the top 20 songs up on its website for voting (which it did on April 10), I received a call from 19 Entertainment telling me that out of tens of thousands of entries, my song, “You Believed In Me”, was selected to be included in the top 20.

I need all the help I can get to get the vote out. The voting is open now and closes April 23rd 2008. I would appreciate any support that the members might be able to give. They can preview my song at www.perrysmith.com and link from there to the voting website. There are some similar titles, so please remember that mine is a male rock ballad and not the female ballad with an almost identical title.

I would like to thank those who participated in the Expo for giving me the inspiration to rewrite an already completed song, which led to this great opportunity. Please take the time to visit my website and vote.

Best,
Perry