KRIS Allen isn’t afraid to show his emotions!

The American Idol winner has revealed that he cried during Jennifer Aniston’s 2008 film Marley & Me.

And it wasn’t because of Aniston’s dreadful acting!

“I was in my hotel room & I started watched Marley & Me again,” Allen said of the last time he burst into tears.

“The first time I watched it, I cried on the plane. Then this time, I was like, ‘I am going to make it through’, But I didn’t! I cried like a little baby.”

Kris, 24, recently admitted he feels like an underdog — despite winning Idol.

“Some people still don’t know how I won the show,” said the hunky star, who released his self-titled debut album this past November.

“Not in an I-need-to-prove-myself way. I’m very understated. It worked out on the show, and I think it’s going to work out in my career, too.”

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Grab your chance to meet American Idol Kris Allen who will in Kuala Lumpur today.

He has been dubbed the “most successful underdog” in American Idol history. In the beginning, no one remembered who Kris Allen was – he just managed nine seconds of screen time during the audition stage while his opponent, Adam Lambert, dominated the screen. And yet, he won.
And now, he’s right here in Malaysia!

The soft spoken, guitar-playing Arkansas sweetie is in Kuala Lumpur for one day to meet fans, sign autographs and sing in a showcase at the Gardens Ballroom, The Gardens Hotel, today.

Since his mind-blowing win on Idol, Allen’s been on his toes – he’s been on tour with the rest of the American Idol crew (the top 12), he’s had countless TV appearances on American talk shows like The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, The Late show With David Letterman, Access Hollywood, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Live With Regis And Kelly and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and he’s recently released his debut album, Kris Allen.

How’s he been coping?
“It’s been crazy. My life has changed completely. I live in a different place now … my wife and I just moved into a place in LA and I’m never at home.
“I get to come to the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia … it’s really been crazy and exciting at the same time,” said Allen in a telephone interview with The Star last Friday.

It certainly has been a whirlwind for Allen. After winning the Idol title last May, he embarked on the Idol tour with his fellow Idol mates (the top 12) and then started work on his self-titled debut album.

“I feel like I should be catching my breath, but sometimes my mind doesn’t allow me to do that,” he said.

Despite the hectic pace, Allen is happy in the direction his career is going.

“I feel pretty good about how everything is happening, you know. I have a lot of creative freedom and that’s great. I’m not saying that I haven’t had help from anyone because I have had a lot of help from a lot of people. I am new to the industry and so, I do need a lot of help,” shared Allen.

Allen’s first single, Live Like We’re Dying (produced by The Script’s Andrew Frampton, Steve Kipner, Danny O’Donoghue and Mark Sheehan) is a catchy track about making the best of the time we have.

The single, Allen explained in an earlier interview, is an indication of the kind of songs he loves to do.

Allen explains: “This first single is a really good introduction to what the rest of the album is going to sound like. It’s raw and has an organic feel. Sometimes we forget that we have one life. This is it. At times, we forget about the nicer things that make life worth living – like relationships or nature. It’s a great message.”

Breaking away from tradition, Allen’s Idol “coronation song”, No Boundaries (written by Idol judge Kara DioGuardi), is not included on his major-label debut. However, a newly recorded version of Kanye West’s Heartless, which he covered on Idol, is included as a bonus track.

Allen has writing credits on nine of the 12 tracks on the album, including one solo credit for Red Guitar, a song that he wrote prior to participating in American Idol.

In an interview with popeater.com Allen shared: “I bought a red guitar for my wife for her birthday and she never played it (laughs), so we ended up sticking it on the wall in our house – it was a horrible guitar, just like a US$50 guitar but it was a good house decoration.

“And one day, I picked it up and tuned it and started playing it, and this song just became kind of a metaphor for how I feel about my wife. It was nice to get that one on the album because it was something from before the Idol stuff and I feel like it’s an amazing song. It shows who I am as a songwriter and as a musician.”

The album, Kris Allen, sold over 80,000 copies in its first week, entering the Billboard 200 at No.11. It has sold around 245,000 copies to date.

On writing his own music, Allen says: “It feels really good. When I tried out for American Idol, my goal was not to win. It was to go out and hopefully do well enough that I could have the opportunity for a music career.”

While there are a slew of artistes he would love to collaborate with, Allen singles out British singer Adele as a top choice, should he be given one.

“It would be fun to write with Adele, actually. She seems like a fun girl to write with. I’m still new in the music business – it was funny, they would be like: ‘You’re going to write and produce with this guy’, and I’d be like, ‘OK!’ I didn’t know who it was, so I would look them up on Wikipedia.

“When I went to work with Mike Elizondo, I had no idea who he was. I went on the Internet and it was like Dr Dre, Eminem, Switchfoot, Maroon 5, Fiona Apple and a bunch of people (associated with him), and I was like, ‘What’s he doing with me?’

“I ended up going to his house many, many times and working on a lot of songs with him,” he told popeater.com.

Allen is also aware that he is still “in competition” with his Idol compatriot Adam Lambert with albums that came up almost back-to-back. However, it’s not something that he is worried about.

“I’m just really happy for Adam and I know he’s happy for me, too. Even on Idol it was never really a competition between the both of us. We were just doing our own thing, you know,” said Allen.

For his Malaysian fans, Allen is looking forward to putting on a great show they’ll remember for a long while.

“In a showcase, it’s really quite hard to show people what a concert of mine will be like, but it will be fun. I’m going to have a little fun and put on a great show.

“I have a great band backing me up and it’s going to be a good show. My fans will have fun,” said the extremely polite Allen.

Meet Kris Allen at the Centre Court (ground floor), Mid Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur, at 6pm today.

Source: star-ecentral.com

Kris Allen and his band wrapped up their second concert in the Philippines a few hours ago. The band performed at the McKinley Hill Concert Grounds in Manilla.

Manila setlist: (same songs as Cebu but he tweaked the order) 1. Heartless / Gangsta’s Paradise; 2. Can’t Stay Away; 3. Written All Over My Face; 4. Before We Come Undone; 5. The Truth; 6. Man in the Mirror; 7. Is It Over; 8. Red Guitar; 9. Falling Slowly / With or Without You; 10. Alright With Me; 11. Live Like We’re Dying; encore 12. ANS; 13. Come Together

After the jump, check out videos from today’s performances: Plus Kris eats Balut! Some awesome HD Videos HERE. More high-quality vids HERE.

Kris eats Balut (duck fetus!)

Heartless/Gangsta’s Paradise

Kris Allen in Manila – Heartless from melvel on Vimeo.

Can’t Stay Away

Kris Allen in Manila – Can’t Stay Away from melvel on Vimeo.

Written All Over My Face

Kris Allen in Manila – Written All Over My Face from melvel on Vimeo.

Before We Come Undone

Kris Allen in Manila – Before We Come Undone from melvel on Vimeo.

The Truth

Kris Allen in Manila – The Truth from melvel on Vimeo.

Man in the Mirror

Kris Allen in Manila- Man in the Mirror from melvel on Vimeo.

Is It Over

Kris Allen in Manila – Is It Over from melvel on Vimeo.

Red Guitar

Kris Allen in Manila – Red Guitar from melvel on Vimeo.

Falling Slowly/With Or Without You

Kris Allen in Manila – Falling Slowly/With Or Without You from melvel on Vimeo.

Alright With Me (Part 1)

Kris Allen in Manila – Alright With Me from melvel on Vimeo.

Live Like We’re Dying

Ain’t No Sunshine

Come Together

8 new avatars made especially for you by Icons World!! They can be used in forums, MSN, twitter, etc.

Hope you enjoy

Kris Allen just wrapped up the first of two concerts he has scheduled in the Philippines. The concert, which took place in Cebu also featured Boyce Avenue and Jabbawockeez. Tomorrow, Kris is headed back to Manila to perform at McKinley Hill Concert Grounds.

Here’s the setlist, put together from various tweets:

1. Heartless, 2. Can’t Stay Away, 3. Before We Come Undone, 4. The Truth, 5. Man in the Mirror, 6. Written All Over My Face, 7. Red Guitar, 8. Is It Over, 9. Falling Slowly, 10. Alright With Me, 11. Live Like We’re Dying, ENCORE: 12. Ain’t No Sunshine, 13. Come Together

Now time for some videos:
001. Heartless

002. Man In The Mirror

003. Falling Slowly

004. Come Together

005. Before We Come Undone

006. Live Like We’re Dying

007. Partial Alright With Me (Kris Invites the Audience on stage!)

008. The Truth

009. News Report

“American Idol” Kris Allen may seem like the quiet unassuming one, especially standing side-by-side a glammed up Adam Lambert during the Season 8 finals, but he does manage to turn up the heat.

As he takes the stage at the press conference for Musicfest 2010 at the Eastwood Mall Open Park on Feb. 3, the excited local fans that turned up on a breezy Wednesday afternoon welcome their idol with all sorts of cameras clicking up in the air.

“It’s definitely warm here,” Allen attempts to joke. Knowing that “American Idol” has a lot of fans in the Philippines, Allen—who visits the country for the first time—says in gratitude, “It feels really good [to be here]. It’s great to see you guys.”

Headlining Musicfest 2010 alongside YouTube sensations-turned-mainstream act Boyce Avenue and the sensational, jaw-dropping dance crew Jabbawockeez, Allen is expected to perform cuts from his 2009 self-titled album.

With some urging from both the media and the fans, the Jackson, Arkansas-born singer/songwriter gives in to doing an a capella demo of what the concert holds in store for attendees. Singing the first few lines from his album’s opening cut, “Live Like We’re Dying,” must have sent those still without tickets on a bee-line to the reception table selling them.

While it seems the Filipinos have openly declared Allen as their new idol, Allen is still just getting used to the idea. “I have a friend that’s Filipino-American… that’s kind of it, though,” he says when he is asked if he’s had any sort of Filipino influence in his life.

We’ll leave it up to the Filipino fans to leave their mark with Allen and his band when they finally take the stage and rock it at Musicfest 2010.

The Kris Allen primer:

It’s not enough to know the tunes. For fans, these little details are just as important. Here are the things we learned during Kris Allen’s short meet with the media and the fans on Feb. 3:

Kris rocks it with his band composed of Cale Mills (guitar/keyboards), Ryeland Steen (drummer), Chris Torres (bass) and Andrew DeRoberts (lead guitars).

During the press conference, Kris jokes about Cale being a Cosmo Bachelor of the Year. A quick search online reveals that Cale has indeed landed on the list of Cosmo Bachelors 2009. His profile even has his email address, so what are you waiting for, girls?

Kris Allen’s dream collaboration: with Sir Paul McCartney. “I’m a huge fan of his,” he says. “But it’s definitely a dream, though. It’s not gonna happen.”

Kris still has no clue on what would be the second single off his album. “But you know what’s funny… I was in a car earlier today [after doing a promotional appearance] and I heard ‘Before We Come Undone’ on the radio and it freaked me out…” Guess Manila’s radio stations beat his label to it!

Gone are the days when pop stars would never reveal that they were married. Kris does not mind discussing it… to an extent. While he reveals music may not have played into starting his relationship with wife, Katy—he says he’s never serenaded her—he does admit that she played violin and he played viola in the same band. “Don’t applaud that, it’s not cool,” he says with a lazy smile.

Kris reveals how his song, “Red Guitar” came about: “I bought a red guitar [for my wife] and hung it on the wall ‘cause she never played it. So I took it and started playing and that’s what came out.”

“Live on TV is the worst thing in the world,” he declares. When press conference host Mo Twister asks how he’s able to concentrate during the “Idol” live shows, Kris replies, “I got in trouble a lot when I didn’t look into the camera when they wanted me to…”

According to band mate Andrew, “Kris would rather get up and play without a set list than make one.” Kris, meanwhile, says he prefers playing shows than being on TV because, during shows, they can do pretty much what they want.

His favorite past “Idol” winner is Kelly Clarkson. “She’s incredible… [She’s] been through a lot of crap thrown her way… it’s incredible. She’s the queen of ‘Idol’…”

When asked to weigh in on Simon Cowell’s announcement that he’s leaving “Idol” soon, Kris says, “It’s going to be sad just because he’s been there since the beginning, but I think the show’s gonna go on…”

And when asked how he thinks he would have fared if Ellen DeGeneres had been a judge during his season: “I would like to think that she’d like me… I think she would be hard on me, though, just because she likes me…”

What he’s got on his music player: “Oh geez… a lot of different things. I listen to MGMT a lot. [I listened to the] Switchfoot record the other day… it’s good.”

The one thing that a fan should never ever do: “I had a girl stick a tongue inside my mouth. That was the craziest… That was a little too much,” he says, shaking his head. The man’s got a wife, people!

Musicfest 2010 featuring Kris Allen, Jabbawockeez and Boyce Avenue happens on Feb. 5, 8 p.m. at the SM Cebu North Open Parking 2 and on Feb. 6, 2010, 8 p.m. at the McKinley Hill Open Grounds.

For Cebu tickets, call Ticketworld at 255-4041. For Manila tickets, call 891-9999.

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