Conway, Arkansas native and American Idol's eighth season winner, Kris Allen, will go down as one of the most underwhelming Idol winners. Its unfair really. His schlocky debut single "No Boundries", stalled at No. 13, but he didn't pick that song, and his album sold only 80,000 copies in its first week (compare that with runner-up Adam Lambert who shifted 198,000 copies in his first week).Critics and A.I. fans have labeled Allen's self titled debut boring and bland, but its really not that bad. What's its missing is a lead single that dominates radio and drives consumers to the store. What would Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway been without "Since U Been Gone"? That's all Kris Allen is really missing.
Instead, Allen gets "Live Like We're Dying", written by Irish band The Script. Its fine, but its not exactly burning up the charts. "The Truth" wouldn't either, but its an extremely powerful ballad as Allen sings, "Trying to be perfect, trying not to let you down. Honesty is honestly the hardest thing for me right now".
"Written All Over My Face" is one of the highlights, and it would have fit in perfectly on Breakaway. Same with "Let It Rain" and "I Need To Know". All three are MOR pop songs that are well crafted and catchy. Once again, if only they had a strong lead single.
If only Allen wrote Kanye West's "Heartless". West's tune has seen several reincarnations, and Allen's is one of the best, dragging out the pain and emotion of the pop hit. In all honesty, I like his version better, and that's coming from a huge Kanye fan.
Keeping working Allen. You don't have to sell out, but you need at least one Max Martin song.
Rating: 7/10
Must download: "The Truth", "Written All Over My Face", and "Heartless"
2 comments:
I found your review helpful it almost makes me wanna run out and get the cd. I dont buy cd's but if I did I would buy his. He did a great version of Heartless. :)
Buy it!
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