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Kris Allen By Brian Campbell  |
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If you are of the group that didn’t know that Kris Allen actually won American Idol, beating out Adam Lambert for the honor, then you are not alone. It’s easy to think Lambert won the reality show. He is quickly becoming a media mainstay, he’s more over-the-top and more flamboyant, meanwhile Allen is the comfortable, cute, all be it safe, alternative. At least he has one thing going for him that Lambert doesn’t, well, besides that whole American Idol thing; he has a good record, something the former can’t say for himself. Allen’s self titled debut is just a personification of his entire mantra – it’s comfortable, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing whatsoever.
Allen wrote most every song on this record, even though he didn’t lend his pen hand to debut single ‘Live Like You Were Dying,’ which is one of the best songs of the outing. His ability to write his own songs allows his persona and his personal touch to be felt throughout the entire work, and truly, you would not know he also didn’t write two other songs (‘Written All Over My Face,’ ‘the Truth’). Speaking of songwriting, Allen brought in some of the best of the best to help out in that aspect, including the Fray’s Joe King (‘Alright With Me’). With this record, Allen shows that he can cut loose and have fun as well, just take a listen to his cover of Kanye West’s ‘Heartless,’ which West himself had a hand in.
Even though it is hard to put much stock in records released by American Idol winners, or anyone else involved with the reality show for that matter, save for a small few, Allen’s self titled disc is somewhat promising. It’s not immediately admissible (although you should eventually get there) because there is something to hang onto, some tracks you can actually take away after you turn the record off, and for any artist, no matter where they came from, that’s a good sign.
Going into this record, anyone who has heard Allen sing before should know what they are getting themselves into. While it may be boring and lag at times, this record is still worthy of a look.
Grade: C
Listen to: ‘Live Like You Were Dying’
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