Listen: Kris Allen's self-titled album streamed in its entirety

"Kris Allen"

Among the major releases next Tuesday (Nov. 17), Kris Allen's may be one of the most anticipated. Obviously 19 Recordings/Jive want to sustain the excitement through at least this weekend, so they're currently letting AOL Music stream the album in full.

Click here to check it out.

I mean, HitFix would, like, totally stream it ourselves, but the powerful power of Allen's good-lookin' album cover blazed through one of our servers already.

Critic Melinda Newman will be reviewing the set on her blog as you return to weekday life on Monday, but in the meantime, we can at least tell you this: don't expect too much acoustic sweetness that may have strummed your heartstrings during Season 8 on "American Idol." Allen goes the electric power-pop-rock route on most of the album, his powerful voice keeping up with a lot of medium to medium-fast tempoed tracks.

"Kris Allen" leads off with the single "Live Like We're Dying." Click here to watch the video. Sad to see that the JC Chasez-penned "Build It Back" didn't make the cut. Of course his cover of Kanye West's "Heartless" is on there, with a chorus treatment that reminds us of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight."

This is Allen's second album, but his first for a major label and post-AI. He co-wrote nine of the set's 13 tracks and wrote one on his own, "Red Guitar."

Leona Lewis, John Mayer, OneRepublic, Norah Jones, Paul McCartney and more all have new albums out on Tuesday.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.