Lyndsey Parker of Yahoo Music got the chance to preview 7 new songs from Kris Allen’s upcoming self-titled album. (read it HERE)
She describes the songs as “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 ready-made for radio.”
She believes the album is ” positively teeming with potential hits, ” and thinks 19 will have a difficult time picking the next single.
Of the 7 songs she heard, 5 were written or co-written by Kris. In fact, Kris had a hand in writing 9 of the album’s 12 tracks!
Here’s a little tidbit–Kris took vocal lessons after he appeared on Idol. Lyndsey reports that Kris is stretching his vocal range like never before on big, anthemic choruses.
Interestingly, there’s lots of songwriting from peeps who’ve written for females, like Duffy, Adele, Lilly, Kylie and Christina. But, Lyndsey promises “Dudes will dig it too.”
Reading through Lyndsey’s descriptions, I’m most excited to hear the power-poppy “Before We Come Undone”, the ballad, “Bring it Back” (his London collab with Eg White), “Let the Rain” (Kris’s song about compromising with TPTB) and, of course, “Red Guitar”, a song Kris wrote pre-Idol.
The funky “Can’t Stay Away” sounds promising. Since I’m a fan of “Live Like We’re Dying” I expect to like the Script-penned “Written All Over My Face” too.
And I fully expect to be on the same page with Lyndsey regarding the mid-tempo ballad, “The Truth”. The song was Lyndsey’s least favorite. I’m not a big fan of mid-tempo ballads, especially if they’re written by anybody from Train.
After the jump, the songs and who wrote ’em. Make sure to read Lyndsey’s full review HERE.
- “Before We Come Undone” – Kris Allen, Lindy Robbins (various Idols, Lisa Loeb, Faith Hill, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez), and Greg Kurstin (Lily Allen, the Bird & The Bee, the Flaming Lips, Kylie Minogue) – an “Uptempo Power-pop rocker”
- “Can’t Stay Away” – Kris Allen with Mike Elizondo (a Dr. Dre protg who’s penned songs for Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Mary J. Blige, and 50 Cent, as well as alt-country chanteuse Shelby Lynne and singer-songstress Poe) Elizondo co-wrote “Cowboy Casanova” with Carrie Underwood – Kris gets “Fresh and Funky…blue eyed soul”
- “The Truth” – Pat Monahan of Train and Pat Gadd…NOT co-written by Kris. Lindsey’s least favorite of the 7, a “mid-tempo ballad”
- “Written All Over My Face” – Penned by two Scriptmates along with Andrew Frampton (Natasha Bedingfield, Kylie, Delta Goodrem) and Steve Kipner (produced Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” and Christina Aguilera’s “Genie In A Bottle” ). Fans of “Live Like We’re Dying” will like this.
- “Bring It Back” – Kris Allen co-wrote it in London with Eg White (Adele, Duffy, James Morrison, and Sam Sparro) “a ballad, hearkening back to the understated Kris America fell in love with…more heartland soft-rocking than brit-poppy)
- “Let The Rain” – Kris Allen with Tobias Karlsson (an affiliate of Carolina Liar) – The lyrics “grapple with Kris’s sometimes frustrating experience of…having to compromise with the powers that be at Jive and 19”. Lindsey calls it one of the stronger songs. She calls it “single potential”.
- “Red Guitar” – Kris Allen – A song he wrote a year and a half ago! “…fits in perfectly with the other songs, following the album’s failsafe soft-verse/exploding-pop-chorus formula to a T.”
