Joseph Allen is a talented singer-songwriter currently best known for his breakthrough appearance on America’s Got Talent in 2020. After judge Howie Mandel hit the Golden Buzzer with his foot, Allen went on a wild journey that took him all the way to the quarter-finals of one of the world’s most popular television talent shows. Shortly afterwards, he capitalised on his newfound popularity by appearing on long-running MTV reality show The Challenge, but unfortunately, he was eliminated in the second episode. However, that has had no bearing on the quality of his music and his album Footprints, released just before Christmas 2020, quickly got millions of streams, with the song ‘Footprint’, which he sang on America’s Got Talent, being particularly popular.

Footprints is actually Allen’s fourth album. A prolific artist, he released his debut album, The College Lifestyle, in 2016 and soon followed it up with Lemonade for Sale and College Ruled as well as numerous singles. The story of how he came to songwriting is one of music’s more interesting: he was actually a motorcycle racer and was capable of jumping over 100ft on a bike. This led to him getting injured. Badly. A lot. As a result, he now has several metal plates and nylon ropes to help keep his bones and ligaments together. All of this was too much for his mother, who suggested he might want to get a college education and find a career path that wasn’t going to worry her senseless so often.

As a result of his mom’s intervention, Allen relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, and found that he had a knack for singing and songwriting. He worked a part-time job to earn enough money to build a recording studio in his dorm room. Having learned how to record, mix, and master, he soon began releasing his own material and soon found that he had an audience who instantly connected with his songs. He’s never looked back.