Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Kris Allen has never been to Las Vegas.

Allison Iraheta has, several times, with her parents.

But both figure they’ll be in for a new experience when they visit Vegas as star performers for Billboard’s New Year’s Eve Live. (FOX, 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.)

“Who wouldn’t want to be in Vegas performing? It’s pretty much the experience of a lifetime. It’ll be fun,” Allison said, during a recent conference call interview with the media.

Each will sing two songs during the show, which will be hosted by Carmen Electra. When they spoke to the media before Christmas, both said they had not decided what they’d be singing.

Chances are, the songs will be off their debut albums. Kris, Idol’s reigning champ, released a self-titled CD last month. Allison, who finished fourth in season eight, released “Just Like You” on Dec. 1.

Allison says she normally spends New Year’s Eve with her huge family, “eating our faces off till the next morning.”

Kris says he spent last New Year’s Eve at his home, which turned out to be quite an adventure.

“We had like this small deck on the roof,” he recalls. “There was like 45 people at my house, or something like that … We all had sparklers, or whatever, and somebody’s pants caught on fire. So, that was pretty scary.”

It’s pretty clear from talking to the duo that they developed a sense of camaraderie during season eight.

They talk about how cool it would be to perform a duet together, perhaps “Don’t Waste the Pretty,” one of the catchier tunes on Allison’s CD.

And when Allison reveals that she’s wearing a zipper dress that’s “going to be pretty sick” for her New Year’s TV appearance, Kris chimes in: “That’s funny. I’m wearing a zipper dress, too.”

Just joking, of course.

As for resolutions, Allison says she doesn’t have one.

But she does have a goal for 2010.

“Maybe get my name out there, that wouldn’t hurt. I mean, don’t get me wrong; getting known as ‘Oh, it’s the red-headed girl from American Idol,’ it’s pretty cool. But I think for people to know who I am and for what I do that would be great.”

As for Kris, he just wants to make good music.

“Like for me, that’s the reason that I tried out for American Idol,” he says. “It wasn’t to go up there and sing a bunch of cover songs for millions of people. It was to hopefully get the chance to make music of my own. and that’s what we’re both getting to do now.”

And Thursday night, they’ll get another golden opportunity to sell themselves to a TV audience, this time, performing their own music.