Allen has writing credits on nine of the twelve tracks on the album, including one solo credit for "Red Guitar", a song that he wrote prior to participating in American Idol. "Is It Over" was written by Allen with Cale Mills, who is an Arkansas friend of the Idol champ.[2] According to a preview of the album,[3] the tracks are:
big, widescreen adult-alt-pop records reminiscent of VH1 house bands like Carolina Liar, Maroon 5, or Augustana, all full of huge hooky choruses ridiculously readymade for radio. The album is positively teeming with potential hits, and the folks at 19 will have a tough job selecting a follow-up single for the already-released 'Live Like We're Dying'.
In a break with American Idol tradition, Allen's Idol "coronation song", "No Boundaries", was not included on his major-label debut, becoming only the second Idol winner album to do so after Taylor Hicks' self-titled album. Instead, a newly recorded version of "Heartless", covered by Allen during his run on Idol, was included as a bonus track.[4] There has been speculation that this was because "No Boundaries" was already included on the Walmart-exclusive season 8 compilation album,[5] which is the first time the winning single was included on the season's compilation since Kelly Clarkson in 2002 and is the first new compilation since season five. However, it has been included as part of the deluxe album version via iTunes.
The album was released in the United Kingdom on November 16, 2009,[6] making its official release before that of the United States.
Promotion
Allen previewed three songs from his album "Written All Over My Face", "Can't Stay Away," and "Before We Come Undone" at a Miami Dolphins tailgate party before their game against the New Orleans Saints on October 25, 2009.[7]AOL Music began streaming the full album on November 9, 2009.[8]
Singles
"Live Like We're Dying", a cover of The Script's song, was released digitally via iTunes on September 25, 2009.[9] The music video for the single was released on November 6, 2009, on AOL's PopEater.[10] The song peaked at number eighteen on the Billboard Hot 100, number ten on Pop Songs, twenty-one on Christian Songs, and other Billboard charts. It also charted internationally in Canada and New Zealand.
"The Truth", featuring Patrick Monahan, the lead singer of the Grammy award-winning rock band Train, was released as the CD's second single in May.
On October 6, 2010, Allen revealed on his Twitter account that the third single of the album will be "Alright with Me".[11] He posted an unofficial music video for the song on his website on November 18, 2010, to thank his fans for their support.[12]
Kris Allen was met with "mixed or average" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 52 based on 8 reviews.[13]
In a review for AllMusic, critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Unhip it may be by design, at least Kris Allen delivers the goods: it's tuneful and likeable, melodic enough to merit a close listen, ready to slip into the background at a moment's notice."[14] Writing for The Boston Globe, Ken Capobianco called the album a "polite mix of soft rock with hints of boundary jumping that, unfortunately, never truly come. There's really nothing wrong with the set; it's sweetly executed and produced. Allen sings well but shows little of the expressiveness he needs to give real meaning to the songs of yearning or loss ("The Truth") [...] Allen can and, most likely, will do better, but he has to figure out a musical direction that will help him make his own strong statement."[22]Entertainment Weekly editor Whitney Pastorek wrote that "on his post-Idol debut, the season 8 champion sniffs around a musical identity but never quite curls up in one. Despite scoring writing credits on an impressive nine of these 13 tracks, Kris Allen gets himself stylistically lost [...], while rarely visiting original territory."[16]
Jon Caramanica from The New York Times found that Kris Allen was a "seamless continuation of his Idol run, full of gentle songs that he only rarely tries to rough up. The flattening of the recording process suits him well [...] Allen is still accomplishing more with less."[23] Barry Walters, writing for Rolling Stone felt that the album was "the definition of "not bad": Songs like "Can't Stay Away" and "Before We Come Undone" make no mistakes but are utterly forgettable. The highs on uptempo single "Live Like We're Dying" are heartfelt, but you can't help thinking the track's title is a cruel joke; most of the time Allen's radio-friendly tenor just sounds like it's on autopilot. The likability that helped Allen win last season is so carefully low-key here that it's nearly lost."[18]Los Angeles Times critic Mikael Wood wrote that "most of the material [...] tends toward a flavorless pop-rock sound that doesn't even do much to flatter Allen's appealingly rumpled vocals."[17]Slant Magazine's Jonathan Keefe found that Kris Allen was "another lackluster, characterless Idol debut" and concluded: "Exactly the kind of pleasant and ultimately forgettable album that most of his American Idol performances predicted he would make, Kris Allen is at least a slightly better John Mayer album than the new John Mayer album."[20]
Chart performance
Kris Allen debuted at number eleven on the US Billboard 200, with first weeks sales of 80,000 units.[24] It marked the lowest opening-week sales of any American Idol winner up to then.[24] By September 2012, the album had sold 346,000 domestically.[25]
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