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Song will be available on iTunes with proceeds going to earthquake relief By Gil Kaufman with additional reporting by Jim Cantiello Kris Allen Photo MTV News Last year s American Idol champ Kris Allen paid a return visit to his old haunt Thursday night February 25 to discuss his recent trip to earthquake ravaged Haiti and perform on the show without being judged for the first time since his surprise win last year Allen visited Haiti last week with the United Nations Foundation and upon his return he recorded a cover of the legendary Beatles ballad Let It Be which he performed Thursday in front of footage from his trip T

ere s a lot of devastation a lot of destruction but there s a lot of hope there s a lot of organizations there that are building things back and I think it s going to be better than it was Allen said about the conditions on the island One of the big concerns now Allen said is the upcoming rainy season The rainy season is actually bad because it comes and there s not a lot of shelter now and the shelter they do have is not very waterproof he said And with water comes diseases and all that stuff it s really bad So they need a lot of help for sure Allen s performance of Let It Be was immediately available on iTunes after the show with all proceeds going to Haiti relief Viewers were also encouraged to go to AmericanIdol com to make credit card donations or to text the word Idol to 20222 and reply yes when prompted to donate 10 Over footage of the destruction in Haiti and his time spent helping children on the island Allen stood in a stark spotlight center stage strumming his acoustic guitar and singing an emotional cover of the iconic rock ballad to the accompaniment of a grand piano Before taking the stage Allen talked to MTV News about how he hit upon covering the Beatles classic for the project It was actually because we were looking through my album and we were like What song could we sing We can t sing Live Like We re Dying he explained of the single from his debut album And I didn t feel like I connected with anything else that would inspire people to give something So I was like What can I do that would be moving to somebody And my friend Cale who played piano with Allen during the performance actually was like What if you did Let It Be I feel like it would be a really moving kind of thing Allen said the song has always touched him whether it was the 1970 original from the band s final studio album or the version in the 2007 Beatles tribute movie Across the Universe That song has so much power he said Continued here Kris Allen Sings Let It Be On American Idol For Haiti Tags allison iraheta america child Hollywood janell wheeler Mtv performance Pink time TMZ