Singer Clay Aiken [ tickets ] will turn from holiday cheer to his romantic roots with his third album, "A Thousand Different Ways," due in stores Sept. 19.

On the disc--which follows Aiken's 2003 debut, "Measure of a Man," as well as his 2004 holiday album, "Merry Christmas with Love"--the former "American Idol" runner-up will present his versions of 10 well-known songs from the past, as well as four new originals.

"This is an album of love songs," Aiken said in a press release, "but they are about all different kinds of love. Romantic love, Friendship, Unconditional love. There are a thousand different kinds of love; a thousand different ways to tell someone you love them. And, on top of that, since so many of these songs are covers, it's realistic to say that many of them have been or could be sung a thousand different ways."

The cover versions on "A Thousand Different Ways" include Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is," Dolly Parton's 1978 hit "Here You Come Again," and "Broken Wings," originally made popular in 1985 by Mr. Mister.

"These are songs I heard growing up," Aiken said. "I loved them then and I still love them today, but we decided to do them a little differently. They have new arrangements and we put our own style on some of them."

Aiken credited legendary music industry executive Clive Davis for coming up with the concept behind the album. "When we first embarked on making an album, my executive producer Jaymes Foster and I started out with one or two covers, then we had three.

"We slowly discovered that it's harder these days to come by songs that are as superb as the songs that I grew up on. Based on that, it was Clive's brainchild that we take classic love songs of the last 30 years and pair them with four new songs. He is a man who not only knows music, but really has his finger on the pulse of what listeners want to hear."