Kris Allen Gives Lee DeWyze Post-‘Idol’ Career Advice

Becky Bain | July 2, 2010 11:40 am

Since Kris Allen has taken to performing edgy songs on his national tour that wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the American Idol stage (e.g. Radiohead and MGMT covers), it’s clear he’s ready to leave behind his reality TV roots. “The people who have made it successfully off the show have to separate themselves,” Kris Allen explained to MTV about his career post-Idol. “So I think that’s happening, and that’s a good thing, and now Lee [DeWyze] has taken the reins.” And what advice did he have for the newly crowned Idol winner?

“I feel like I learned so much during that recording process, but yet I still didn’t know a lot,” Kris tells MTV. “I would just say, ask a lot of questions, especially of those producers and all of those people that you work with. Just ask a lot of questions and figure out stuff, because I feel like I would just sit there and be like, ‘OK, you’re awesome.’ Be humble, but get involved too.”

So basically, Kris’ advice is for Lee to be open to learning the recording process, because basically, you don’t know anything about making an album. So use the incredible access to all the professionals you’re working with in order to learn and become a pro yourself.

To turn the tables, though, Lee could definitely school Kris in how to give the perfect Idol-winning moment.

We gave our own advice to Lee back in May—we think he should get a band, work on a 70s-inspired rock album, tour college campuses, and stay in his limited vocal range (ie. don’t be too ambitious with vocal arrangements). It’ll be some time before we see if Lee follows any of our suggestions or instead decides to rebel against us and record a early 90s-pop record which he then performs in arenas.

So what has Lee done in the last month-or-so since Idol‘s finale? He’s made the talk show circuit, sang the National Anthem, performed a better version of “Beautiful Day” than the one he recorded in the studio, prepped for his Idols Live tour, and had dinner with David Cook. We’ll give him a few more months before we really judge his career trajectory, but for a month’s work… not too shabby!

[MTV]