We've probably had some sort of Michael Jackson overflow over the past few days, but I think this is one of the more interesting angles I've seen: if not for his songs, Kris Allen wouldn't have won American Idol.

Okay.  Tall order, that one.  Sure, Kris started his bid for votes with an MJ song, and kicked off his Top 13 campaign with a stripped down (and more comfortable, arguably) "Remember the Time", but it was in the middle of the competition when he finally established himself as one with "artistry" and eventually gave him the closely-contested win.  More so, consider that Kris wasn't born when the King of Pop's biggest hits crashed the airwaves and turned him into who he is, for better or worse.


Still, the influence on him is pretty profound.  "Every time you listen to this music you get this feeling and you always feel good," he told Newsweek.  "[As] a kid, that's a captivating thing.   His music was so easy to get lost into.  I remember being 8 years old and dancing in my room to his music.  Trying to dance like him, as well.  It was ugly, but it was fun."

He remembers being around that age when Dangerous came out.  "It kind of stayed in my tape player forever," he said.  "There are so many good ones on that album.  I think that could be said of every one of his albums ... I have the Thriller album.  I have the Off the Wall album.  I have all that stuff now."

Kris also recalled the feeling when he first heard that the singer died, of an alleged cardiac arrest, last Thursday.  "We were at rehearsal for the tour," he said.  "Actually, Adam [Lambert] was on stage.  He was almost done, and I was about to go up.  We heard the news and we stopped everything and we canceled the rehearsal ... I'd like to say [respect] was part of it.  More than anything, it was weird.  The weird thing was he was in the room next to us probably a couple weeks before that.  We all knew people that worked on the tour and everything.  It was just weird.  No one could really feel right."

One regret?  He hasn't met him.  "I haven't heard if he saw our episode or not," he said.  "If I could've found a way [to be on his tour], I would've been there."


- Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Newsweek
(Image courtesy of AmericanIdol.com)