Once Lee DeWyze took home the “American Idol” crown this past season, Kris Allen was no longer the reigning ruler of the “Idol” kingdom — and he’s completely fine with that.

“It really hasn’t crossed my mind at all [about what sorts of pressures I'm feeling now]. Maybe this is more of a product of being on my own tour and all that stuff that I feel like it’s a little bit separate now from ‘American Idol,’ which is a good thing,” he told MTV News during a recent chat.

But don’t think Allen doesn’t have gratitude for the show that made him a household name. “Obviously, I owe a lot to the show, but the people who have made it successfully off the show have to separate themselves,” he explained. “So I think that’s happening, and that’s a good thing, and now Lee has taken the reins.”

Read more »

A little more than a year ago, Kris Allen was just a regular guy from Arkansas but all of that changed in May of 2009, when he was crowned the season 8 winner of American Idol. He went on to release two successful singles – first, “Live Like We’re Dying” and most recently, “The Truth”. Now, he’s out on the road, playing packed venues around the country and opening up for artists such as Barenaked Ladies and Keith Urban. We caught up with Kris today in an exclusive interview about his music, his tour, and life after Idol.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What were your expectations after winning American Idol? Did your journey afterwards match up with what you were expecting?
A. Kris: I don’t know what I was expecting. I’m one of those people that doesn’t expect a whole lot. It’s exceeded all expectations. When you come off the show, you’re really busy afterwards. You do too many interviews and then you’re on the road with the Idol tour and you’re making an album at the same time. All that time was pretty crazy until the wintertime of last year. We put the band together and started going on the road a little bit and that felt like the most right. That’s been great. When the first single came out, it exceeded all my expectations.

Read more »

Kris appeared on Fox & Friends. Watch his interview below.

Recently, Kris Allen performed in Benton at the Saline Summer Daze festival.  Before the concert, he graciously gave me a few minutes of his time to share his favorite Arkansas venues.  The following is a list of his top ten Arkansas destinations and his top reasons for listing them.

1. Pinnacle Mountain- “Great hike, great view.”

2. Devil’s Den State Park- “Who doesn’t love spelunking?”

3. Downtown Conway- “Great restaurants, shops, and cool loft apartments to live in.

Read more »

Before a sea of screaming teenage girls and soccer moms, Kris Allen took the stage at Remington’s Hunt Club in Hattiesburg Tuesday.

Allen may be best known as last year’s “American Idol” winner but he is slowly starting to distance himself from that title and become known as his own artist.

The singer-songwriter’s track, “Live Like We’re Dying,” recently surpassed 1.4 million digital downloads in the United States, peaking in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100.

I sat down to chat with Allen after his concert to discuss his show in Hattiesburg, his appreciation of Radiohead (Yeah, I was surprised too) and what’s currently playing on his iPod.

Read more »

I’ve always liked Kris Allen. Solid musician, nice guy, perfectly deserving of the “Idol” crown. Scintillating? No. Controversial? Not in the least. Witty? Not especially. Relatable? Absolutely. He has no aggrandized ego or sense of self – just an Arkansas boy made good. Even during a quick interview with me by phone a few moments ago, he never sounds bored. He truly makes an effort to be engaged and answer questions the best he can.

He called in from the Alpharetta AT&T store, where he is now signing autographs and kissing babies. (I”m 600 miles away in Alexandria, Va. and did a phoner.). I hope he gets a good crowd.

Anyway, here are excerpts from the interview:

Q: What did you do for your 25th birthday a few days ago?

A: We actually had a show in Albuquerque. It was real fun. We got a cake on stage, from Coldstone.

Read more »

Kris recently appeared on Fox 17 and did a interview. There are two videos you can watch them by clicking the links below.

Video 1
Video 2

Kris did a interview with CMT Radio Live on June 14th. Check out the interview over at Cody Alan’s facebook page.

One-on-one interview with NBC 17 in Raleigh, NC June 3, 2010.