The Kat's Meow

Right about now Taylor Hicks is wondering if he would've been better off as a runner-up. While the American Idol season five champ is slipping into post-Weird Al obscurity, second place Katharine McPhee is releasing the first single from his second album.

McPhee, whose new album Unbroken drops Oct. 6, debuted her new single "Had It All" this week for purchase on iTunes or to stream on MySpace. The latter site is also offering webisodes on its Celebrity section that take a behind-the-scences look at the making of the albums. The LA-born singer recorded Unbroken in Nashville, Boston and in her hometown working with producer John Alagia (John Mayer, Jason Mraz). The "Had It All" single was written by David Hodges, Mitch Allan and Idol judge Kara DioGuardi.

The singer's self-titled debut opened at No. 2 on the charts a few years ago. In addition to changing her hair color between albums, McPhee also changed labels to Universal Music's Verve Forecast, which previously developed such female music legends as Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall and Billie Holiday.