The Fray's Joe King Got "Good Vibes" From Idol Kris Allen

After Rock Daily reported that Kris Allen would be working with the Fray frontman Joe King in some capacity for the American Idol champ's debut album, King spoke to MTV about how the pair's first two-day studio session at Timbaland's Virginia studio went. While King didn't actually watch this year's season of AI because his band was touring overseas, he said was made aware of Allen's performance of the Fray's version of Kanye West's "Heartless," so when Allen emailed King about possibly collaborating, King simply responded "Yes!"

"It was a very good vibe in the studio. There was no pressure — we just had breakfast, got to know each other. It was all very organic after that," King told MTV. King is currently on tour with the Fray, but he said he's "in the studio mixing the rough demo right now" of his session with Allen. "It doesn't have a title yet. It doesn't even have lyrics — but there is a lot of gibberish," King said.

In that gibberish, however, there is a melody. While Timbaland wasn't present at his studio during the recordings, the producer's brother and his crew were there. "It added this great energy to the session. When the boys heard the track, they started hanging around." King told MTV. "Timbaland's brother said if Timbaland was upstairs and he heard this melody, he'd walk in the studio and say, 'That's a melody.' " King added that the cameras are following Allen's post-Idol progress.

As Rock Daily reported yesterday, Allen will also work with former Evanescence keyboardist Dave Hodges (who is also teaming with Adam Lambert) and Amy Winehouse producer Salaam Remi.

Related Stories:

• Kris Allen Working With Fray Frontman, "Idol" Vets On Debut
• "American Idol" Winner Kris Allen Sets Debut Album
• Kris Allen Still Thinks Adam Lambert Deserved "American Idol" Crown

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Song Stories

“The A Team”

Ed Sheeran | 2011

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.

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