Melody Plant

American Idol winner Kris Allen made a special appearance at BB King’s Blues Club at the Mirage Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas this past Wednesday. That marked the first time that the 24-year old singer was able to hit the Sin City’s strip. Kris told the Las Vegas Sun “I’ve never been to Las Vegas before, man. What a time to come, right? New Year’s Eve!” I wonder which party he hit up while he was there. When asked about what his New Year’s resolution is, Kris said “Hmmm … focus more on music. I’m not really a New Year’s resolution kind of guy.” What’s your New Year’s resolution?

Joss Stone must be desperate to promote her latest album because she’s taken to insulting Lily Allen publicly. According to Joss, Lily’s making a big stink about people illegally downloading music because she’s not a real singer. Joss said “She needs to sell records because she’s not a singer, and that’s not an offence to her because I think that she knows that too. I think she’s a performer and she’s more of a personality than she is a singer. But I think when musicians are really making real music people come to the show and that’s what we make our money from, from playing live… So the downloads – she’s not going to win that fight. None of us will win that fight. So let’s just accept it and let’s see it as something that can be beautiful and it might change music for the better. It might sort the weeds from the flowers.”

Kris Allen performed a special concert for Seton High School in Cincinnati, Ohio last Thursday. The school had won a contest and raised over $5000 for breast cancer research. The 24-year old American Idol champ sang his hit single ‘Live Like We’re Dying’ for the first time live and the singer even did a cover of a Britney Spears classic, ‘…Baby One More Time’. Apparently, the song is Kris’ favorite song to sing in the shower. Interesting. I bet a lot of the fan girls suddenly started imagining him in the shower minus singing the Britney song. Am I right?

According to Extra, Adam Lambert’s cover for Rolling Stone was their top selling issue of this year. I guess people were dying for the details about his sexuality after months of speculation. But apart from being a successful cover girl, er, guy, the singer has some work to do on his upcoming release. The American Idol runner up spoke of his new album saying “It’s gonna inspire you, some anthems on there, some emotional….Overall, it’s just gonna feel really sexy.” He better deliver. I’m sure a lot of his fans are expecting the best and hoping that Adam gets to trump Kris Allen.

Allison Iraheta, this year’s American Idol fourth place winner, has also signed with 19 Recordings. The 17-year old singer said in a statement released to Entertainment Weekly saying “I think I’m still in shock that this is happening — getting to record my first album and this whole awesome experience is a dream come true!” Earlier this week, both Kris Allen and Adam Lambert also signed their record deals with 19. I wonder if her album is also going to come out this fall. It will be an all out Idol competition for sales. I also wonder if third place winner Danny Gokey will get a contract.

Kris Allen is still celebrating his American Idol win even after weeks of being announced champion. The singer got into the celebratory spirit once again by singing a song to Minnie Mouse last Friday at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The 23-year old American Idol season 8 winner told the audience that “It feels good, but it hasn’t completely sunk in yet.” That’s probably why he’s still celebrating. Kris was able to meet with fans and also performed the Kanye West song ‘Heartless’ for thousands of theme park goers and was also honored in a celebratory parade through the theme park.

While some people aren’t too happy about Kris Allen winning American Idol over Adam Lambert, experts say that the fans may have gotten it right. If you compare the singing styles of the final two, Kris is clearly a more marketable singer. It’s easier to make a great record out of R&B with a touch of John Mayer and Jason Mraz than an album of rock and roll with a touch of theater. And did you know that with the addition of Kris Allen in the set of winners of American Idol, three quarters of the winners are from the south?

He was called the dark horse of the competition and was clearly the underdog, but in the greatest upset in American Idol history since Chris Daughtry was eliminated, Kris Allen was named as season 8’s winner. When everyone from the judges to the producers to even Kris himself thought that Adam Lambert was going to win, being announced as the winner was a big shock. Heck, I was rooting for Kris to win but I was still shocked when he was announced as the winner. I was already thinking that there was a landslide vote for Adam Lambert.

American Idol champ Carrie Underwood closed out the final performance show of American Idol season 8 on Tuesday night which pitted the acoustic rocker versus the glam rocker. The country singing cutie closed out the show by performing her song ‘Home Sweet Home’ which served as the going home song for each of the booted contestants. Surprisingly enough, it was Adam Lambert who has that song in his head as Kris Allen was announced as the winner of American Idol on Wednesday night! Yes! I was hoping for Kris Allen to win. He’s a much easier singer to market. Check back here for the full recap of the results show tomorrow.

For the second round, Kris Allen gets to sing “What’s going on” by Marvin Gaye… a song that apparently doesn’t fit too well with his style. Kris Allen however stays true to his own way of performing and for this he gets the appreciation of Kara and Paula… but Ryan and especially Simon aren’t so convinced of his performance. The latter said: “It was like three friends in their bedroom, strumming along to Marvin Gaye. You did not… grab hold of the song and make it your version, and I thought it was too laid-back for a night like this.” So it looks like round two goes to Adam Lambert… geez, now wasn’t that so utterly unpredictable?

The final two contestants who will be competing on next week’s American Idol finale have been revealed as the last Idol hopeful to be given the ax was announced to be Danny Gokey. Danny had a pretty emotional journey throughout the competition and a lot of people were rooting for him. Ryan Seacrest even said that there were only just over 1 million votes separating Danny from another contestant. If more fans of his rallied for him, he could have been in the finale. Oh well, it doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s a good singer. The 2-part finale will be on live next week. Who do you think will win, Adam Lambert or Kris Allen?

Another American Idol alum is going to take the stage on tonight’s elimination show and it’s none other than Chris Daughtry. His band and No Doubt will grace the stage to keep the fist pumping energy going on results night. No Doubt is gearing up for a summer tour and putting the finishing touches on an album planned for a 2010 release so I’m not quite sure what song they will be performing. Daughtry will perform ‘No Surprise’, the first single from their upcoming sophomore album. What, no performance from Slash? I also want to know what song the Top 4 will perform tonight too. And I do think that Kris Allen will be the one to go home tonight.
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If you’re wondering which American Idol alum will be going back to the Idol stage as the guest performer for the night, look no further than Taylor Hicks. He’s probably the least successful of all the Idols that have gone back to the stage so far. Heck, this is probably the biggest gig he’s had in years! Mind you, I wouldn’t be watching for his performance but for who’s going to be eliminated. Going on last night’s performances and the trend of voting, it will be Allison Iraheta, Matt Giraud and Kris Allen in the bottom 3. Kris gave a stellar performance but I just don’t think that he’s as popular as Adam Lambert or Danny Gokey.