Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta will perform Thursday night on Billboard’s New Year’s Eve Live (11 p.m.-12:30 a.m.) from Las Vegas on FOX.

Allen and Iraheta recently participated in a conference call to promote the event. Following are some of the topics they addressed. this is Part I of II parts of the interview session:

Q: What was some of your favorite music from the past year?

AI: “I have to say Only By the Night, You’ll Have To Take It From Me by Kings of Leon.”

KA: “Yes, I would have to agree and I’m going to throw Mayer’s CD in there, too. Both of those are really good.”

Q: Do you guys have any New Year’s resolutions?

KA: “For me, it’s just work harder on music stuff. Just writing and performing and all that.”

AI: “Wow. You’re going to make my resolution sound like crap. I didn’t have a New Year’s Resolution. My New Year’s resolution was to not have a New Year’s resolution.”

Q: What made you want to be performing live as the clock ticks down for New Year’s?

AI: “Who wouldn’t want to be in Vegas performing? I mean, it’s pretty much an experience of a lifetime for me and for both of us. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

KA: “Yes, I’m excited about it. I’ve never actually been to Vegas.”

Q: Has the whole process of being on American Idol changed any of your musical selections or your musical taste?

AI: “It’s probably opened more doors to new music for me. I’ve been listening to new stuff that I wasn’t listening to back then.”

KA: “Yes, I would say the same. I mean, you meet new people and especially people that like music and we’re meeting new people all the time. We get introduced to a lot of different kinds of music whether it be actually introduced to the actual artist, or new friends that listen to a certain music. So, it happens all the time.”

Q: What is your most memorable New Year’s Eve?

AI: “I don’t know. All of the past New Year’s Eves like, I’ve had, I was just with a huge family eating our faces off till the next morning.”

KA: “For me, last year, I was at a party. We had a party at my house and we had like this small deck on the roof. There was like 45 people at my house or something like that. we all had sparklers and somebody’s pants caught on fire. So, that was pretty scary.”

Q: How do you typically celebrate New Year’s Day?

KA: “I usually go to my mom’s house and she always makes cabbage and black-eyed peas, or something like that. She always makes those things for some reason. It’s supposed to be good luck for the rest of the year.”

AI: “I’m just with the family the whole day ‘til the next day, eating.”

Q: What do you think of American Idol without Paula Abdul?

AI: “Obviously, we’re all going to miss her. I honestly have to say that I’m pretty happy that we got the chance to work with her. Sorry, Season 9!”

KA: “Paula is the one we got to know the best. She is a sweetheart. I think the show will definitely miss her. People tuned in to watch what Paula was going to do. But she was just a nice person to have on there. But Ellen’s going to be … I don’t know of one person that doesn’t like Ellen.”

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