Kris Allen's rumored single, 'Live Like We're Dying,' leaks! (Idoloonies hold collective breath for 23 seconds!)

A whopping 23 seconds of Kris Allen’s rumored debut single, a cover of The Script’s “Live Like We’re Dying,” has found its way to YouTube, and as with all things pertaining to the American Idol season 8 champ, resistance is futile! I’ve actually been listening to the full version of the track on repeat loop since Tuesday (and have only hyperventilated once or twice) — the good folks at Jive sent a don’t-leak-under-threat-of-death link to one of my colleagues — and Kris, who admitted to me during his Idol tour stop in Albany last month that he loves surprising people with his musical choices, shows a new and impressive level of vocal adroitness on the rapid-fire chorus, without missing an emotional beat in the process. Suddenly, the idea of the nation collectively rolling down its windows and chanting “You’ve only got eighty-six-four-hundred seconds in a day to/ Turn it all around or throw it all away/ Gotta tell ’em that we love ’em while we got the chance to say…” seems not only plausible, but entirely likely. I can’t tell you how stoked I am that an Idol champ, for the first time in too long a time, appears to be releasing a lead single with a legitimate chance to catapult him beyond pop radio’s initial prejudice against the Idol machine and become the star that he really deserves to be. And I’m okay that it’s a cover, because, I mean, that hook! (I don’t remember anyone complaining Sinead O’Connor covered Prince when she released “Nothing Compares 2 u,” right?) Press play below, then share your thoughts on Kris’ version of “Live Like We’re Dying.” (I actually prefer it to the original, which is embedded after the jump, for the uninitiated). Oh, and be sure to follow me on Twitter for all my Idol-related ridiculata @EWMichaelSlezak. [UPDATE: A 19 rep confirms that “Live Like We’re Dying” is indeed Kris’ lead single, and adds that it will officially debut Monday, Sept. 21, at 7:40 a.m. EDT on New York’s Z100.]