Monday February 8, 2010
Up close with Kris Allen
By S. INDRAMALAR
Grab your chance to meet American Idol Kris Allen who will in Kuala Lumpur today.
HE has been dubbed the “most successful underdog” in American Idol history. In the beginning, no one remembered who Kris Allen was – he just managed nine seconds of screen time during the audition stage while his opponent, Adam Lambert, dominated the screen. And yet, he won.
And now, he’s right here in Malaysia!
Right here, right now: Catch Kris Allen at Mid Valley Megmall in KL today. The soft spoken, guitar-playing Arkansas sweetie is in Kuala Lumpur for one day to meet fans, sign autographs and sing in a showcase at the Gardens Ballroom, The Gardens Hotel, today.
Since his mind-blowing win on Idol, Allen’s been on his toes – he’s been on tour with the rest of the American Idol crew (the top 12), he’s had countless TV appearances on American talk shows like The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, The Late show With David Letterman, Access Hollywood, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Live With Regis And Kelly and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and he’s recently released his debut album, Kris Allen.
How’s he been coping?
“It’s been crazy. My life has changed completely. I live in a different place now ... my wife and I just moved into a place in LA and I’m never at home.
“I get to come to the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia ... it’s really been crazy and exciting at the same time,” said Allen in a telephone interview with The Star last Friday.
It certainly has been a whirlwind for Allen. After winning the Idol title last May, he embarked on the Idol tour with his fellow Idol mates (the top 12) and then started work on his self-titled debut album.
“I feel like I should be catching my breath, but sometimes my mind doesn’t allow me to do that,” he said.
Despite the hectic pace, Allen is happy in the direction his career is going.
“I feel pretty good about how everything is happening, you know. I have a lot of creative freedom and that’s great. I’m not saying that I haven’t had help from anyone because I have had a lot of help from a lot of people. I am new to the industry and so, I do need a lot of help,” shared Allen.
Allen’s first single, Live Like We’re Dying (produced by The Script’s Andrew Frampton, Steve Kipner, Danny O’Donoghue and Mark Sheehan) is a catchy track about making the best of the time we have.
The single, Allen explained in an earlier interview, is an indication of the kind of songs he loves to do.
Allen explains: “This first single is a really good introduction to what the rest of the album is going to sound like. It’s raw and has an organic feel. Sometimes we forget that we have one life. This is it. At times, we forget about the nicer things that make life worth living – like relationships or nature. It’s a great message.”
Breaking away from tradition, Allen’s Idol “coronation song”, No Boundaries (written by Idol judge Kara DioGuardi), is not included on his major-label debut. However, a newly recorded version of Kanye West’s Heartless, which he covered on Idol, is included as a bonus track.
Allen has writing credits on nine of the 12 tracks on the album, including one solo credit for Red Guitar, a song that he wrote prior to participating in American Idol.
In an interview with popeater.com Allen shared: “I bought a red guitar for my wife for her birthday and she never played it (laughs), so we ended up sticking it on the wall in our house – it was a horrible guitar, just like a US$50 guitar but it was a good house decoration.
“And one day, I picked it up and tuned it and started playing it, and this song just became kind of a metaphor for how I feel about my wife. It was nice to get that one on the album because it was something from before the Idol stuff and I feel like it’s an amazing song. It shows who I am as a songwriter and as a musician.”
The album, Kris Allen, sold over 80,000 copies in its first week, entering the Billboard 200 at No.11. It has sold around 245,000 copies to date.
On writing his own music, Allen says: “It feels really good. When I tried out for American Idol, my goal was not to win. It was to go out and hopefully do well enough that I could have the opportunity for a music career.”
While there are a slew of artistes he would love to collaborate with, Allen singles out British singer Adele as a top choice, should he be given one.
“It would be fun to write with Adele, actually. She seems like a fun girl to write with. I’m still new in the music business – it was funny, they would be like: ‘You’re going to write and produce with this guy’, and I’d be like, ‘OK!’ I didn’t know who it was, so I would look them up on Wikipedia.
“When I went to work with Mike Elizondo, I had no idea who he was. I went on the Internet and it was like Dr Dre, Eminem, Switchfoot, Maroon 5, Fiona Apple and a bunch of people (associated with him), and I was like, ‘What’s he doing with me?’
“I ended up going to his house many, many times and working on a lot of songs with him,” he told popeater.com.
Allen is also aware that he is still “in competition” with his Idol compatriot Adam Lambert with albums that came up almost back-to-back. However, it’s not something that he is worried about.
“I’m just really happy for Adam and I know he’s happy for me, too. Even on Idol it was never really a competition between the both of us. We were just doing our own thing, you know,” said Allen.
For his Malaysian fans, Allen is looking forward to putting on a great show they’ll remember for a long while.
“In a showcase, it’s really quite hard to show people what a concert of mine will be like, but it will be fun. I’m going to have a little fun and put on a great show.
“I have a great band backing me up and it’s going to be a good show. My fans will have fun,” said the extremely polite Allen.
Meet Kris Allen at the Centre Court (ground floor), Mid Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur, at 6pm today.
RSS
