Ledger Pop Journal - Celebrity News & Sports

American Idol winner Taylor Hicks may have the number one single in the country with his soulful rendition of "Do I Make You Proud," but a report from In Touch cites his longtime producer as saying he’s not really satisfied with the song.

Will Taylor Hicks Release 'The Fall?'

“He wants to be known as a songwriter, not a karaoke singer,” says Will Smith of Baldwin Entertainment Nashville.

Yikes - I'm having a Simon Cowell flashback.

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Smith, who worked with Taylor before he won Idol, says that Taylor, 29, would prefer the single to be “The Fall,” a song about a breakup with a girlfriend that he wrote and recorded with Smith four years ago.

I'm actually with Taylor and Mr. Smith on this one - I like "Do I Make You Proud," for what it is, but I am anxiously awaiting the true Taylor Hicks where he is not shackled by other's work.

“Even the lyric, ‘I climbed the ladder, you took the fall,’ fits with the American Idol contest,” Smith tells In Touch. “I’m not trying to slam the show, but every important critic has slammed the goofy single and, by extension, Taylor.”

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In Touch will also report this week that Smith is now making his case for “The Fall” by releasing the song to radio and letting Taylor’s fans hear it for themselves.

I don't think that will happen, but the 'Soul Patrol' would love it.

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The American Idol leap is indeed tricky.

Many Bo Bice fans believe his sound was ruined and he was not allowed to perform the type of music that made him runner up in 2005.

I don't think Taylor Hicks will allow that to happen to him and hopefully this is a sign that he will demand he sticks with his trademark sound.

Taylor Hicks can soar - as Taylor Hicks.

--Michael Amsterdam