Kris Allen, 'O Holy Night' (Sessions)

AOL: 'Idol' is a single-driven entity. Is writing and making full records, in a start-to-finish way, important for you?

Kris: That's the most important thing to me and throughout the rest of my career I plan to focus on that completely. Growing up, I remember listening to albums and being like, "wow this album is incredible." Obviously there are great songs on certain albums but for me, I love sitting down and listening straight through to every song. It becomes more of an art when it's like that. It's not just about one song or "is this song gonna be on the radio?" For me, it's always been about that.

AOL: What were some of the records that you listened to?

Kris: Growing up I listened to a lot of R&B, so I remember listening to the Boyz II Men 'II' album and loving it. Also, Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' album. I thought that every song on that was great. Even through high school, I got flipped over the Beatles and started listening to 'Revolver.' I was like "wow, this is nuts. This is what I wanna do." It's just inspiring.

--Michael D. Ayers