Beyond the "will he ever get kicked off?" drama of hairstyle-experimenter Sanjaya Malakar, the most exciting aspect of the dullest "American Idol" season ever was Blake Lewis. Sure, his singing wasn't the best, his dance moves weren't original and the beat-boxing shtick grew wearisome, but he had a cool sense of artistry never before seen on the big budget talent show, and it seemed very likely that his post-Idol album could tinge with guilty pleasure genius. After months of curious anticipation ("What will it sound like?", "Will he beat box on every song?", "Should Justin sue him for style-jacking in advance?") we're finally getting some answers thanks to the newly leaked "Know My Name".

As expected, the track pinpoints him in the slick soul-pop lane he tended to favor while on the show (Maroon 5, Robin Thicke and Jamiroquai represented a few of his song choices). A summery, '70's-funk feeling cut with a modern-day electro sheen (what would Lewis do without some chopped-up elements somewhere?) finds the singer/ songwriter/ producer indulging in some celebrity beauty that's caught his eye from the paper's society pages. In one instance he decides they would be the perfect couple and he makes it his life's duty to track her down and introduce himself, spawning dreams of joining her rumored "long list of lovers" over live drums and a steady stream of dotted synth notes.

Blake still doesn't have a strong voice, but he shrouds his limitations in brief soulful wisps, layered studio effects and a staccato delivery that gives this record a neat, cutting edge quality. "Know My Name" really hits it's stride, though, on the bridge, a delirious fusion of falsetto crooning, beat-boxed percussion, and semi-rapped promises of the ideal future he's planned with "a dog, white fence, maybe couple of kids". Within that thirty-second span of busy pop brilliance, he conjures a hooky sound a million times better than any all-pleasing country-R&B hybrid the depressingly bland Jordin Sparks could ever come up with. In the words of this season's "Idol" winner theme, Blake's time is definitely now and if A.D.D. holds more infectious cuts like this, the man could easily pull a Daughtry and end up one of 2008's biggest sellers.

DL: "Know My Name" (YFH)