And, as much as I wanted to follow my friends, I stayed in because I liked it. That would have been fine, but it definitely wasn't what I was hoping for. No. Allen has spent the pandemic as many musicians have, listening and recording. Allen's authenticity is reflected in his song choices. What are you talking about? “I forget that I was on the show all the time. "He was a quieter guy. Javascript is required to view shouts on this page. The event will now be a virtual presentation that will include a performance by Allen. It's not that I try to be genuine and authentic, it's just who I am. All rights reserved. A lot of people were like, 'Kris, if you really want to go do this, you need to be in it.' "That was one of the things that I just went wow! It was like, 'I want to do the best that I possibly can do.' And he is still the down-to-earth kid from Jacksonville who just happens to be a gifted singer-songwriter. If I'm singing something that's not for me, I think people can feel it. He's an alumnus of the symphony's youth orchestra. "I don't know how they did it, but they did such a great job," he says. "None of it ever felt real to me. And so, we did. I'm smart enough. And then, I freaked out.”(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Cary Jenkins), COMMENTS - It looks like you're using Internet Explorer, which isn't compatible with our commenting system. If Neil was proud, the state was delirious at the prospect of a native son in the finals of one of the biggest reality TV franchises of 2009. Allen, 35, laughs at the idea of living with the pretension and star-strut of a TV singing competition champion, something that has never fit the soulful kid from Jacksonville. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. "I was really shy. Kris' passion for music began when he taught himself to play the guitar at age 13, and he has since learned the piano, viola and ukulele. College professors were less impressed, at least as far as Allen's academic performance was concerned. Allen says he never reached the point where he wanted to pursue classical music full time, but he was accomplished enough to make the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra all the way through graduating from Wilbur D. Mills High School. "I was just kind of blown away.". And, in a finale that some critics called one of the biggest upsets in the short history of reality show competitions, win he did. If I'm going to show anyone a song first, it's going to be him. I almost got kicked out of college because I was so bad," he says. Some user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. Allen distinguished himself among the cast members for being uncommonly generous and gracious, something his father looks back on with pride. Leave feedback, Kris Allen (Kristopher Neil Allen) (born June 21, 1985 in Jacksonville, Arkansas, US) is the winner of the popular television series 'American Idol' Season 8, from Conway, Arkansas. ", Copyright © 2020, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. There's an old saying that you should never meet your heroes for fear they won't be as advertised, but that doesn't apply to anyone who looks up to Kris Allen. You can walk away and go, 'I did my part.' "I think the environment was really healthy. I'm just going to go out there and try. And, we listened. I saw all of my other friends on the show put all of that weight on it and I was like, 'What are you so worried about?' "Believe me, I've had many humbling experiences with that. "After the show, it got, not bad in any way. "The summer that I was 13, my dad had a guitar. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Kris Allen was born the eldest of two sons to Neil and Kim Allen. Hardly the residue of a hotly contested career-making competition. Happily married and the father of three, he doesn't sing things that he can't personally relate to. I don't deal with the fear of playing in front of crowds of people. But it was definitely, 'This is what I want.' The stage is a great teacher, he found, especially in one humble enough to know how much he didn't know. Please read our Terms of Use or contact us. He was scheduled to be a live performer at the Nov. 7 Opus Ball XXXVI for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. "I knew that I loved it, and I knew that I loved playing. He makes it back to his Pulaski County roots when he can. Scrobbling is when Last.fm tracks the music you listen to and automatically adds it to your music profile. It was competitive, but for the most part, it was competitive with ourselves. I have to shut them down all the time because I just don't connect with it. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. That semester, I made all A's. "They put me in a program where it was like, hey, this is your last shot. And if personal bliss doesn't always translate into chart success, it beats trying to be someone you're not. A new version of Last.fm is available, to keep everything running smoothly, please reload the site. They told us to do whatever we wanted to do and that was incredibly inspiring. He was definitely more talkative on stage, but he would kind of be the guy that maybe you might know for a long time and not even know what he could do.".