‘American Idol’: Hear substantial clip of Phillip Phillips’ ‘Raging Fire’

Raging Fire -A few short days before his big return to “American Idol,” we have some good news for all of you who liked his performance of “Raging Fire”: You can hear a good portion of it below!

Are there some familiar melodies and refrains in here? Sure. The song has some moments that bring to mind “Gone, Gone, Gone” as well as “Home,” but we mostly consider that to be a good thing. These are songs that America responded well to, and they helped to turn his first album “The World From the Side of the Moon” into a massive hit. So to go back to that familiar bag of tricks, and to add a few new elements, was a smart move. We have no doubt that this will be anything other than a big hit on the adult contemporary charts, and we could also see it getting a little bit of play on top 40 radio.

Like any other former “American Idol” winner, Phillip probably feels a great deal of pressure to be sure to get something out there that he is really proud of the second time around … and second albums have not fared well for many after winning the show. Scotty McCreery is still working on trying to buck that trend with his recent “See You Tonight.”

Phillip will perform this song (as mentioned earlier) on “American Idol” Thursday night, and he admitted to Billboard that he still gets nervous performing a show in front of TV cameras versus something at a venue in front of an audience:

“I like seeing all the people that I got to know… It’s cool to see all those faces. But it’s also weird for me to get back up onstage and sing, because I hate live television, and I’m gonna be scared to death when I get up there. It’s always a little nerve-wracking.”

Want to see some more “American Idol” news from us? Then be sure to click here, where you can see where we have ranked all of the top 12 contestants going into Wednesday’s performance show. Also, sign up here for our CarterMatt Newsletter, where you can have some more great stuff worth a song or two delivered right to you.

Photo: Interscope

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