Kris Allen: The Reality Rocks Interview
There are times when I've actually felt a little bad for Kris Allen. Yes, I know that sounds weird: How could anyone feel sorry for the guy who won on the biggest show on TV? But Kris spent the entire eighth American Idol season being labeled the "dark horse" and having to prove himself to Simon Cowell over and over again. And although he was ultimately (and some would say unexpectedly) the winner of this year's Idol, snagging the majority of the finale's whopping 100 million votes, most of the media attention--from Rolling Stone cover stories to 20/20 interviews to (YES, I freely admit it) this very blog--has still focused on the "frontrunner" that Kris beat out, second-placer Adam Lambert.
Despite Kris's constant humility on Idol, whether auditioning (when he declared, "There's probably better singers than me"), winning (when he reacted, unscriptedly, with "Adam deserves this"), or dealing with post-finale Glambertmania, I've always wondered...doesn't he secretly resent this? Doesn't he ever want to get up in people's faces and shout, "Hey, everybody, newsflash: I WON. Not that other guy. ME." Hasn't he ever come close to having some sort of Jan Brady "Marcia Marcia Marcia"-esque meltdown moment?
Surely someone couldn't be that humble and that nice, right? Right?
Except, dear readers...Kris is that nice. He really, really is.
When I interviewed Kris in his dressing room at the Idols Live Tour rehearsals, I tried my darnedest to get him to admit to a little jealousy, or even just assert that he hands-down deserved to win American Idol. But no dice. That's just not Kris's style.
Instead he praised his fellow contestants, spoke glowingly of the Kradam bond, declared "Adam's a winner too," and even over-modestly claimed he can venture out in public unnoticed. (In fact, when I met him, he introduced himself to me by his first and last name--as if I would not recognize him or something. Ha.) I didn't believe him for a moment regarding that last statement, by the way. Just because he doesn't go out in public wearing attention-getting black nail varnish or platform Kiss boots hardly means he doesn't run the risk of being mobbed by fangirls every time he leaves the house without a bodyguard. Puh-leeze. If his laid-back style was enough to win over much of America, it's enough to cause a commotion if he walks into a 7-11.
So I finally realized that Kris's nice-guy act is in fact NOT an act, and that he is indeed one of the nicest guys on the planet; that took up a decent chunk of part 1 of my interview. But we also discussed how Kris is a great role model for Christians (well, of course KRIS doesn't think he is, but I do, and I told him so); why all the political/cultural debate surrounding American Idol this year shouldn't matter; how he's a "rebel" in his own quiet way; and how (despite his humility) he should be proud to represent a really strong, musically diverse Idol season (in my opinion, the best season yet). Here's how the first part of our chat went:
In part 2, we got down to what always mattered most: The music, man. In this section I admit I got a little fangirly myself discussing Kris's genius decision to cover the Once soundtrack's "Falling Slowly" (one of the most musically credible moments of AI 8, and my favorite performance of his), especially when Kris emotionally spoke about the reaction his version elicited from the song's composers, Glen Hansard (of the Frames) and Marketa Irglova.
We also talked about what his debut album will sound like and, perhaps most excitingly, the big singalong number he will be performing on the Idols Live Tour. When you go to the concert make sure to bring your cellphones, kids (or your Bic lighters, if you're old-school), 'cause you're going to want to whip them out and hold them up, high and illuminated, when Kris gets his big, non-humble, victorious stadium moment:
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Stop trying to rationalize your sad attempt at an interview. If you had spent a few minutes looking up information about Kris you could have come up with better questions.
You spent half of your time trying to get Kris to discuss Adam because YOU are a fangurl and have no concept of a professional interview.
Where were the questions about Kris' first album, Brand New Shoes? Where were the questions about what he's currently writing? Where was the focus regarding his arrangements?
Even an Adam fan like myself felt bad that Kris had you for an interviewer. Someone who clearly knows little about him and is clearly uninterested in learning anything new. Dear, I could have answered three quarters of that interview because I've actually read the same questions posed to him over and over again.
Next time watch Sleazak do an interview.
The tween comment was interesting because it was blatantly passive aggressive. Would you like someone to ask Adam as to why he primarily appeals to 'cougars' like you?
Seriously dear, just ackowledge the suckage that's your interview skills and learn from the experience. BTW honey, we've heard him answer the cultural questions for over a month. So stop with the excuses.
I like the Kradam questions. He lights up when talking about Kradam! It makes me all gushy inside. :D
I didn't see Lyndsey spend 50% of her Adam interview trying to subtly (although she isn't talented enough to be subtle) get Adam to discuss Kris. She did spend a third of her David Cook interivew (which was already brief) asking about Adam and this year's AI. Hello, some people actually want to know about Cook and not his reaction to Adam or Kradam but that's another issue.
The reason Lydsey's also getting some negative reaction is because she states "What's interesting to me when you get ready to make your album is that your crowd seemed...the crowd that voted for you or seemed to follow you is VERY young, kind of a tween crowd and I would not expect that of someone who's doing (the music Kris did on AI). Why do you think you had that young fanbase is it just cause your cute, or is it something else?"
Yeah, that's passive aggressive and an idiotic assumption since it's been writtten numerous times that Kris had a broad fanbase. He could not have won with a primary fanbase of tween or as Lydsey writes, 'very young'.
It was a stupid comment to make, especially since it has no basis in any type of calculation as to why Kris won. Both Adam and Kris had a core group of young fans. They wouldn't have gotten as far without them, therefore Lydsey's comment is ridiculous. Kris had no poker face but later noted the Fray concert and fyi, the Fray isn't a band followed primarily by 'tweens thus any reaction by that fanbase to Kris is from a more college based or older fanbase.
Kris never stated that his fanbase is tweens, he correctly informs her that teens are a voting block in AI thus he was concerned about singing Falling Slowly when AI voters include the teens. She's the one who jumped to the tweens thing in what sounded like an attempt to dimish his fanbase and imply he got more votes b/c he got the tweens. It was a fail and some people didn't appreciate the comment.
As an interviewer, I have questions only as a backup for when the person I'm interviewing is very terse or not forthcoming with any personality or dimension. Otherwise, I prefer to ignore the questions and just TALK.
You are GREAT at that and it's obvious you have great passion and background knowledge of the situation and issues. I'm Kradam all the way for all the reasons you were exploring and I believe it is a powerful phenomenon worthy of ongoing discussion.
BTW, that shot of Kris shrugging is BEYOND adorable.
Kradam for the world!
so proud of you
Sometimes I think trolls are posting the venom just to stir up ire as they did during the season. I recently went back to "another site" famous for its HILARIOUS videos and commentary during the season, but it was like a ghetto cockfight going on there. I could only read a few comments before bailing. I thought I'd wandered down the dark alley to end up on Skid Row.
There is huge Kradam love out there. The preponderance of Kradam fan videos on YouTube (and how many times they've been viewed) should be proof of that. Unfortunately, one negative comment can completely obliterate 10 positive ones and that's what we remember. I am an Adam fan who floves Kris Allen!!
He's always got nothing but great things to say not only to Adam but to everyone on idol. He is so humble and generous and thankful for what has happened to him.
And tha'ts what came out of him first when he won.
He's just a guy from a small town who wants to play some music.
He's such an amazing guy and he deserves some respect.