Given Kevin Covais was known was having "granny voter talent" during his eleventh place finish on American Idol's fifth season, it would have been hard to foresee this career move coming -- the 17-year-old high school senior will appear on fellow Idol 5 finalist Paris Bennett's upcoming debut album "Princess P," where the two will collaborate on a hip-hop track titled "Let Me Rap."
ADVERTISEMENT
"What people don't know is that he can rap," Bennett told MTV News about Covais. "He loves Kanye West. He'd rap whole songs. He used to freestyle backstage. I was like, 'I have to do that on my album.'"
Covais won't the only Idol 5 alumnus to appear on "Princess P," tenth-place finisher Lisa Tucker will also lend her vocals. While Bennett told MTV News that her duet with Tucker "is still in the works," she added the two "have become best friends since appearing on the show and talk daily."
"Princess P" is also a family affair. Due out in March on the independent label 306 Entertainment, which is owned by her uncle Paul Jones, "Princess P" features Bennett's mother Jamecia Venzett Bennett and grandmother Ann Nesby, both of whom were members of the vocal ensemble Sounds of Blackness. Keeping the album in the family, Bennett's 70-year-old great-grandmother also appears on it.
"I'm a fourth-generation singer, so we did a song together called 'Best Friend,'" Bennett told MTV News. "While we were recording it was kind of normal, but once we sat down to listen to it, we were tripping out."
ADVERTISEMENT
Bennett described the sound of "Princess P" as "just me."
"Everything you saw me do on American Idol, from the rock to the jazz to the R&B, I've figured out a way to intertwine that into a 12-track album," she told MTV News. "I am a versatile child. I like to try different things."
An example of this is the album's first single, a "rock and soul tune" called "Ordinary Love," which was produced by Beyoncé collaborator Jon Jon Traxx.
"'Ordinary Love' basically talks about me, a teen girl saying, 'I like this dude so much, it's not just love, I think he's my soul mate,'" Bennett told MTV News.
Despite finishing fifth on American Idol's fifth season, judge Randy Jackson said he can see potential in the 18-year-old Bennett.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I think she's got a bright future," Jackson told MTV News. "Paris was a very talented girl on the show. I think she just needed a little bit more seasoning, just a little bit more experience."
Bennett said she expects to promote "Princess P" in an upcoming tour, but details are "still coming together," according to MTV News.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio