LOS ANGELES – Last week, singer-actress Megan Hilty wrapped her second, and possibly final, season of the TV musical “Smash.”

A day later, she made her Carnegie Hall headlining debut to a sold-out house. She spent this week racing around New York, getting the word out of her first solo album, “It Happens All the Time,” which was released Tuesday.

The Broadway veteran doesn’t ease on down the well-worn Broadway-diva CD-debut road, usually leading to a set of classic standards.

“While I love those albums,” Hilty said, “I wanted to do something unexpected.”

“It Happens All the Time” began as an album comprising covers of songs previously recorded by other artists. “But then Columbia started sending original songs along, and things started to evolve.” The result is a collection of wide-ranging genres: modern soul, ’70s pop, contemporary alternative.

And yet the record is thematically consistent.

“I guess it is a breakup album, but not a cry-your-eyes-out kind of album,” Hilty said. “That’s why we went with ‘It Happens All the Time’ as the title. People fall in and out of love all the time.”

The 31-year-old Hilty said she is in a relationship, although she wouldn’t reveal details about her personal life, except to say that she lives in New York and is the proud parent of two Jack Russell terriers.

It wasn’t any easier getting Hilty to spill spoilers about “Smash,” NBC’s both revered or reviled saga of the rocky road for a Broadway-bound musical.

More than one TV-ratings analyst has dubbed the show “Crash” as some weeks of the series’ second-season viewership have marked new all-time lows.

“The feeling on the set, from day one, was to work as hard as we can, and enjoy each other,” Hilty said.

“You can’t control any of the rest of it. It’s just like life.”

Carole King musical aims for Broadway

NEW YORK – A musical based on the woman behind pop standards such as “It’s Too Late,” “You’ve Got a Friend” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” hopes to make it to Broadway.

Producers on Friday announced plans to take “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” to the Great White Way by spring 2014. The story is written by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Douglas McGrath.

King composed dozens of 1960s hits with then-husband Gerry Goffin before emerging as a recording artist in her own right. Her 25 million-selling “Tapestry” launched the singer-songwriter era in 1971 and became the first real blockbuster album.

Springsteen sounds note of caution

CANBERRA, Australia – Bruce Springsteen is playing a note of caution about his political influence over Australian economic policies.

Springsteen and his E Street Band opened their Wrecking Ball Tour to enthusiastic reviews in Brisbane, the hometown of Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan, who revealed in a speech last year that The Boss had long been his political inspiration.

Swan said the New Jersey-born working-class hero’s musical railings against inequality echoed his own public battle against Australian billionaire mining tycoons who oppose his tax reforms.

When told Thursday that Swan had cited his musical idol as an influence on his center-left government’s economic policies, Springsteen urged caution.

“Really? You better watch out there,” Springsteen joked. “I’m not sure how good I am with my money.”

“I hope it’s been a positive influence, that’s all I can say.”