Kris Allen - Kris Allen Review

Kris Allen – Kris Allen

3.5/5

1. Live Like We're Dying

2. Before We Come Undone

3. Can't Stay Away

4. The Truth

5. Written All Over My Face

6. Bring It Back

7. Red Guitar

8. Is It Over

9. Let It Rain

10. Alright With Me

11. Lifetime

12. I Need To Know

13. Heartless

Kris Allen is the unexpected American Idol 8 winner. Most people expected Adam Lambert to win, but either most Adam’s fans are too overconfident or Kris is actually more popular than Adam remains unknown. But let’s forget what happened 6 months ago and focus on the now.

Kris released his debut album on November 17th. And what a release date, that is! Packed with the likes of John Mayer, Norah Jones, OneRepublic, UK sensation Leona Lewis, 50 Cent, teen prodigy Justin Bieber, popular Christian band Casting Crowns will seriously hurt his album sales, but still he’s the American Idol champion, and the release date had been set long time ago by the record label.

Okay, on with the review. Seriously, when I heard the album sampler, I was like, “wow, this album will suck” because the songs just aren’t strong enough. I really like his first single, Live Like We’re Dying, so I expect more of the same in his album, and from the sampler, I just couldn’t find one.

However, sampler and the real thing is a really different thing. Having given it a first listen, the album sounds great, if not awesome. Every song in the album is a strong candidate for the next single. There are up-tempo Before We Come Undone, Maroon-5-esque Can’t Stay Away, awesome ballads The Truth and Bring It Back, another The Script’s cover Written All Over My Face, Kris’ self-penned track Red Guitar, poppy acoustic Alright With Me, or the massive album closer I Need To Know. All of them have the potential to be the next single.

Kris’ strong point in this album is he stays true to his music, which is soft pop rock. All of the songs, except the ridiculously-arranged Heartless can be played with a guitar or piano, which suits him really well. Not to mention his great vocal. And mind you, Live Like We’re Dying is quite a difficult song to pull off because of the long consecutive chorus, and if you’re not impressed with how he copes with the song brilliantly when he sings it live, I don’t know anymore what you’re looking for in a singer.

There are drawbacks in the album, inevitably. Heartless should be left acoustic, Is It Over sounds like a bland rock song. The bridge of Lifetime is brilliant with “Living doesn't come first try, It takes a lifetime getting it right”, I just don’t understand why they chose to write the ridiculous cliché line “It takes a lifetime to learn how to sing, To find my place in the world symphony, To become the melody, The man I know I could be”.

Early predictions predict his album will sell 75-85K a week, making him the lowest selling Idol winner. The number is quite good considering the massive competition in the release date, though I start to doubt if his album will crack even 500K mark.

Final Verdict : A slow burner, give it a couple of listens to make it grow into you.

(WHAT DID YOU THINK? COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED)