‘American Idol’ winner Phillip Phillips announces new single ‘Raging Fire’

Have you been looking forward to some new music from Phillip Phillips? It’s been around a year and a half now since the release of his “The World From the Side of the Moon” debut, and rather than following the recent trajectory of spending more than two years on a standard sophomore release for “American Idol” winners, Phillip and Interscope are making sure that something else gets out there sooner rather than later.

The image attached here is of “Raging Fire,” which is the new single that is going to be potentially on Phillip’s sophomore release. What we know about the song right now is that it’ll be available next week on March 3, which also suggest to us that it won’t be too long after that before we see him make an appearance on the show for his first-ever televised performance of the song.

Phillip does have a pretty difficult challenge ahead of him as he hopes to avoid the pattern of many other recent “American Idol” stars are having which is releasing a great first album, and then slowly and surely losing album sales subsequently before falling off the map altogether. Scotty McCreery is doing okay with his second disc, but it’s hardly a home run. He and Adam Lambert are the only two notable contestants since season 7 to have an impact beyond their first album. Even David Archuleta and David Cook were pushed in different directions musically after their second albums launched with soft sales. This is why it is so hard to maintain a career after the show, as so many people know you and identify you because of what they saw on TV. You then have to find a way to continue speaking to them in your music, and that is difficult.

What do you think of Phillip’s art, and are you excited to see his album? Share your thoughts below, and click here if you want to see where we’ve ranked all the season 13 contestants moving into tonight’s show. You can also sign up for our CarterMatt Newsletter to get some other TV updates on all of your favorites sent to your email.

Photo: Interscope