Kris Allen, winner of the eighth season of American Idol, is known for his pop-rock sound. When he’s not on tour, Allen spends his time with family and friends back home in Arkansas. Allen is a singer-songwriter, which is reflected in his newest album, Horizons. The Bite was able to sit down with Allen to chat about the making of his album before his performance at the Social.
Where did you get your inspiration to make your music?
I was the shy kid playing guitar in my room; no one knew I could sing. So, that’s where everything started for me, and finally I got the confidence to play in front of people, usually by myself, not with a band. I feel like that’s how it all came about, obviously I play with a band now. I think a guy with just his guitar is where it all starts.
Do you have anyone who impacted your music–any big stars?
I would say that it keeps changing throughout my musical history, but starting out I’m a huge Michael Jackson fan. I was a big R&B fan most of my life. In college I started listening to some rock music, but it spans a lot. I love the singer-songwriters John Mayer and Jason Mraz. I feel like [my inspiration] changes all the time.
How do you differ from Jason Mraz and some of the other artists that you get compared to?
There’s a little bit of a southern thing in there mixed in with [singing and songwriting]. I think that’s where it differs.
We know you won American Idol a few years ago. How does performing these regular gigs compare to being on the Idol stage?
[On] the Idol stage, there’s not as many people as you think are really there. They make it seem like huge, but it’s not really.
They always make it seem like the crowd goes so far back! How many people are usually there?
Yeah, it’s a camera trick. There’s like 500 people, which is not a ton. There’s someone behind the stage telling you where to go, and you only have a certain amount of time where you don’t really get to breathe. You don’t feel like you can really exhale and hang out on stage for a bit. Here we’re just hanging out. We can kind of go wherever the night feels like it should go.
You broke your wrist while you were writing Horizons. How would you say that affected your sound?
I think it affected it a lot actually. [Pointing to wrist] This [wrist] doesn’t really move that much, and I was in a cast for so long [that] I had to use my fingers a lot. If you listen to my record, a lot of the guitar playing is finger stuff, which I think made me come up with different ways of playing and kind of different melodies as far as what I was singing and what I was playing on the guitar. I think it made a huge difference as far as the record goes.
Would you say it was a positive affect?
Positive in the fact that there was inspiration. I’m always trying to make things positive.
On your new album, do you think there’s anything that makes it stand out?
I think the focus that we took on this record, as far as me and the producer, was pretty evident. As far as the songs go, as a songwriter I feel like I can span a wide array of events and genres and types of songs, but we try to always focus on breaking it down to the guitar and vocals. We always started there, and we just go around it and try to complement it.
Do you have specific emotions that inspire your music?
It all kind of comes from different places. Sometimes a friend is going through something, good or bad. Sometimes I’m sitting on my porch, and something hilarious comes out and you’re like maybe I should keep writing this song, cause that happened. Then it happened where I’m going to sleep and lyrics and everything start popping in my head.
What are your goals for the future?
I’d like to become better at what I’m doing. I feel like I’m striving to do that, and I’m getting there. But I think as far as the songwriting goes, as a player and as a singer, I still don’t feel like I’ve written the best record I could make, and I want to do that.
