Chasing Dreams, with American Idol Winner Kris Allen – Episode 213 of The Action Catalyst Podcast

Kris Allen, singer/songwriter and the winner of American Idol Season 8, shares his musical start as a classically trained viola player, how he tried out for American Idol because he was bored on the weekend, the relief of winning (because it was over), the car accident that threatened his career and touring in a cast despite it, becoming a better guitar player, and why he’d love to talk to you if you’re not a fan.

About Kris:

Kris Allen was born June 21, 1985, in Jacksonville, Arkansas. He had an early interest in music, which stayed with him through college, church involvement, and missionary work in other countries. In 2009, he became a finalist on the eighth season of American Idol, and triumphed over fellow finalist Adam Lambert in the season finale. He was the first married contestant to win the competition. His talents and soulful voice have given him the opportunity to perform at numerous music venues as well as the chance to share his gifts and faith with many of the underprivileged and oppressed people of the world. His travels to Spain, Morocco, Thailand, Burma, Mozambique and South Africa have influenced his music and inspired him to share it with others.

Learn more at KrisAllenOfficial.com.

The Action Catalyst is presented by the Southwestern Family of Companies. With each episode, the podcast features some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Learn more at TheActionCatalyst.com, subscribe below or wherever you listen to podcasts, and be sure to leave a rating and review!

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(Transcribed using A.I. / May include errors):

Host:
You’re about to hear from Kris Allen, the winner of American Idol back in 2009, singer songwriter from Conway, Arkansas. He has sold millions of records since that time, he’s had several in the Billboard Top 200, Top 100 charts. And Kris, thanks for making some time for us.

Kris Allen:
Yeah, man, thank you for having me on here. I really appreciate it.

Host:
Life pre American Idol, you’re an Arkansas boy. And I think you you spent a little time doing some sales, right? It was something with shoes?

Kris Allen:
It wasn’t all the way shoes, but I sold like sports equipment. So we sold running shoes. And I worked there for a long time. And I was one of those employees that they didn’t want to make all the way full time. So I’d work 39 hours a week, I was selling baseball bats and duffle bags and all sorts of Yeah.

Host:
You almost gave up your singing career before everything happened with the show. Like what was is that right? And like what was going on?

Kris Allen:
I think that’s a little skewed, probably. But everything that happened in the music industry felt like it happened millions of miles away. And I didn’t know exactly how to reach it, or how to get towards it. So this was it was it was a leap of faith. And it was like, you know if this happens, amazing. If it doesn’t happen. I was I was still making music. And I was doing that kind of regionally. So yeah, I wouldn’t say that. I was going to stop making music because I think at my core, that’s what I am. But I think that it was becoming really tough and kind of strain to make that happen on a career basis. Because I was I was about to get married. I was like real life stuff was about to happen. And I was making zero money from making music. I don’t think that music would have stopped definitely would not have. But the pursuit of that as a career may have halted in some way.

Host:
So how did you go from that to go, okay, let’s do the competition.

Kris Allen:
I decided to do it because I didn’t have much else to do that day. It was a weekend. And I was like, I’m not doing anything that weekend. And let’s me and her brother. And another friend of mine took a trip. And we thought we took it as like having fun. Like, this is a trip for us. Let’s have fun. If nothing happens from it, at least we took a trip and it was good. And then life changed because we decided to drive nine hours to Louisville from Little Rock. People probably are so mad at me. That is like, how I wouldn’t dry it out. But that’s just the truth of it.

Host:
So when did you realize this was real?

Kris Allen:
So I will say I will preface all of this with, like, my memories from that time are so blurry, because it all happened so fast. And I think my mind didn’t know how to take it all in. But, you know, there’s there’s like the Hollywood week of everything that happens. I tried out and I had made it to I got my golden tickets and and I went to Hollywood week. And I think after Hollywood week, I was like, Okay, this isn’t like a joke anymore. This isn’t something that is going to end in soon. But it’s going to be that I think I can make something of this, like a lot of people are gonna see me a lot of people are going to see me on TV. And not that I wasn’t trying hard before it was like, Okay, this is this is serious. Millions of people are gonna watch this. And that’s a pretty crazy thing. I was surprised every round. I just saw all the people around me and saw how amazingly talented they were, and how awesome they were. And just probably a lot of them had better. Everyone had a better story than me. I never felt like oh, I’m good TV. And I knew that going out. It’s like this is a TV show first and a singing competition. Second, because that’s TV. So I mean, I don’t know, I think that it was always a surprise to me. I worked really hard and did some really hard things during the show. And Ted, it was a test for myself, you know, coming from a small town and all these things being in LA being in LA was its own thing. I like LA for the most part, but I still had a lot to learn. And I was a young, young, really young person young kind of stupid. There was also like random things such as photo shoots, send interviews, things I’d never done before or video shoots i think i things I’ve never imagined that I would do. And it’s like you’re just thrown into them and you’re doing them every single day. I know those seem easy, but they are still the hardest part of what I do. And they matter. They totally matter. They’re a big part. Like I think all those practical things were were tough for me from the very beginning, where it was like how do you feel about yourself? What do you think about yourself and talking about yourself and that was tough.

Host:
I mean, when you think about what sort of separated you from everybody else, what do you think that was?

Kris Allen:
So I’ve spent my whole life playing music. And starting at eight years old, I was playing viola. And classically trained, and spending hours upon hours upon hours learning how to play songs inside of my room, where no one could hear me playing guitar and singing and, and writing songs. And then even after that, I would go play at bars for hours and hours and hours, playing covers and playing my own songs. I think all that stuff got me ready for that it was, I know, a lot of music. And, and I think that helped me out a lot. And I think I have a certain, I think all those things kind of just lined up. And I will be the first to say I’m, I’m incredibly lucky that this happened to me, and blessed that this did, because I don’t know if this was the trajectory that I was on. So I’m very, I don’t take this for granted. I don’t take me being on that show. And ultimately winning that show. I do not take it for granted one bit. I just think that all that experience, where I was, I didn’t know where it was gonna lead me. It just all kind of led me right there on the show. And I was able to take songs and turn them into myself, and make people believe them coming from me, and not just me singing them, or picking out a song that maybe most people haven’t heard. And they go Oh, that’s cool. That’s, that’s your song now, because I seek out music and I seek out music all the time, especially back then. And I knew that song from from once I knew the the falling slowly song from once. And I don’t know if a lot of people had heard that song even though it was like an Oscar winning song. And so when people go come up to me, they go, Chris, I love your song Falling slowly. I’m like, thank you. I did not write that song. But I’m glad I could introduce it to you. I think all that stuff just led me to that place to that on that stage in front of millions of people. And, and I felt pretty prepared. Most of the time. I really did. I felt incredibly prepared for all those performances, even the night like the finals. Yeah, I mean, I felt prepared and didn’t always turn out the way that I wanted to. Maybe not. But But yeah, even on the finals, I was I wasn’t prepared for making it that far or prepared that I was going to win. But I was prepared for my performances. And that’s all I could. That’s all I had control over. I didn’t have control over votes or anything like that.

Host:
Alright, well, this is the dumbest question ever. But I’m going to ask it. That moment, they announced your name that you have just won American Idol. What’s going through your head? What is your interpretation of everything that’s going on.

Kris Allen:
So everything that happened on the show, and even the times that I wasn’t on camera, it all felt it all felt incredibly surreal. It felt like this isn’t real life, I understand that. But I’m going to work hard at it. And whenever Ryan said my name, I remember. And I think you can see it. I remember being able to breathe. I remember like being able to like exhale, not that Thank God this is over. It’s like, oh, man, like all the pressures of this, of the show are finally done. And all like the waiting to see what’s going to happen every week. It was kind of elation, but kind of just an exhale was just like this is wow, I can go back to like, like me, like they’re, they’re parts of my life. Like me, my wife had just gotten married before I was on the show. And we couldn’t live together when I was on the show. Like, I’m like, I’m going to be able to live with my wife again. Like that. That sounds amazing. And I could kind of and I knew that life was going to change. But it was going to change in a good way. I think different dad, there was just a lot of, okay, this is good. Like this, this happened. And we’re very, very happy that it happened. That like now life can really start to happen. And that was good thing.

Host:
You know, I think a lot of times you go oh, yeah, you know, you win American Idol. And then your life is easy. And the reality of your story is that you have been through some challenges. So what was that? How did you move through that?

Kris Allen:
I could talk for weeks about that. Because that’s the most real thing that’s ever happened to me. Other than my kids being born. That was like the most real crazy thing I got. I got in a car accident. Someone hit me a head on and I passed out and I remember coming to in my wrist was totally, it was insane looking. And my first thought my wife’s in the car with me. My first thought was her she was pregnant and I was like, let’s Are you okay? She was like, I think I’m fine. And I remember getting getting being able to get out of the car and just having to lay on the ground. And my first thought was, I will never play. I’ll never play an instrument I get and that I know that sounds dramatic. But it was like that was real for me at that time. And it wasn’t like, oh, I broke my wrist. It was like, Oh, you like really messed it up? Like I’ve been to doctors, and they go, I’ve never seen them before. Can I use your X ray for my textbook? And I’m like, oh, Otter veins. Absolutely. Yeah. I’m really sorry that happened to you. But do you mind if I use this photo? But yeah, it was I went through three surgeries that year. It so the the wreck actually happened on January 1 of 2004 13. Doesn’t 13 or 14, I can’t remember now. And I remember having surgery on the fourth of January. And I had a whole two month tour plan that started on the eighth January. And I remember going like how can I make this tour happen? And I did. So I did the whole tour with cast on, I couldn’t play. And I was pretty drugged up. And I look back on that, like, maybe I should have rested. But I’m glad I did that. Because that was like my job as a performer is to perform for people. And I was excited. I just put out a record. And I was excited about putting it out for people and excited to play those songs for people. And and it was tough. And it was all that but more than anything, no learning how to play again, has been hard. But I will say I feel like I’m a better guitar player now than I was then. Because it was something that I felt like it was gonna get taken from me. And I go, No, you’re not. Because I care about this so much. And I have spent hours upon hours upon hours of learning not only learning how to play again, but learning how to better and learning that like I was okay back then. But like, if I want to, like show that I can get better, I need to get way better. And I have I have a better understanding of how to play I will say that playing piano was is still not something I’m incredibly comfortable with. Because of this, and maybe it will get there but it’s a it’s a more uncomfortable situation. So I never imagined you feel you feel invincible. Until something like that happens in your life becomes incredibly real. And all your like, physicality becomes incredibly real. It was interesting. It was very interesting.

Host:
Man, what a ride and where do you want people to go Kris, if they want to connect with you, you know, find out about your music and where can they see you and all that stuff.

Kris Allen:
I’m on Instagram, Kris underscore, Allen, I’m on Facebook, you can find me on there. I have a website, KrisAllenOfficial.com. Please, if you want to, like come to a show, check the dates on the website, please come and like come say hey, like, I love talking to fans. So or even if you’re not a fan, even if you aren’t a fan, I’d love to talk to you. Talk about how that’d be great.

Host:
If somebody is out there, and their wildest dream hasn’t come true yet. Or maybe they had a dream come true. And then like you they had something that sort of tried to take it away. How would you encourage that person?

Kris Allen:
I like to tell people that I live in Nashville. And there’s a lot of people in this town that are trying to achieve that dream of music for very, because that’s what they want. I will tell you that like I feel like in searching in, in my experience and in what I’ve done in searching for your dreams, you will find yours. It may not be the one that you think it is. Or it might be but you have to like keep searching for it and you have to keep going after it. Because you will find happiness that way you will not find happiness and settling. My parents have instilled that in to me so hard and so hardcore. My parents never told me that music would not happen for me or something amazing wouldn’t happen for me. He said same thing to my brother. Both have crazy jobs. And so I think them every day for that.

Host:
I appreciate your time and appreciate your story man and being real and we just wish nothing but the best for you guys.

Kris Allen:
Thanks, man. Thanks for having me on. I really really, really appreciate it.