American Idol – Season 7 David vs. David

By Erika Blake Entertainment Hotline Reporter

Photos by Wireimage

So last night it came down to David Cook Vs. David Archuleta. The show opened with a lame boxing analogy that was painful and irritating to sit through and had nothing to do with the competition.

I’ve come to a conclusion after listening to Paula and Randy fall all over themselves over David A’s vocally nice but boring song choices that if Fox wants to shake up the show for next season, they need to boot those 2 as judges and get new people on the panel.

Simon can stay because he’s fair and offers hard as nails opinions/suggestions – what they need though is a panel of judges that not only represent “pop” music, but ALL of American music. Simon can be the representative for pop then they need a country judge and a ROCK judge. Or perhaps bring in a group of judges and rotate them out each week, that way the contestants would always be on their toes and never know who will be judging them week by week. The contestants could benefit then from getting advice from more than just three people.

When David Cook came out and performed his second song “Dream Big” from the moment that he started onthat song I said “#1 hit record” as my toes tapped along and I found the chorus to be really catchy. What did the judges say? They all were blah over it. Seriously? Seriously? It was the best Idol song choice in eons, thanks to it’s rock edge it wasn’t the slightest bit sappy unlike most AI songs. I can forgive Simon and Paula because they’re not rock people. If you mash Cook’s 3 performances from last night together – wham it felt like you were at a rock concert. I also love that Clive chose U2 for him to sing. Bono is HARD AS HELL to sing and Cook not only took a classic and sang it beautifully but he didn’t make it sound the slightest bit karaoke.

Simon got after Cook for not singing “Hello” or “Billie Jean” and Cook responded by stating that he didn’t want to do something that everyone’s already heard (a nice dig at DA, btw who’s second round of “Imagine” now sounded exactly like every other song that he’s done since and lacked the magic of the first time he sang it.) I can also bet that when Cook heard he was to sing “I Still Haven’t found what I’m Looking for” he wanted to further stretch himself since I can be certain that U2 would be a band who’s play-lists he knows inside out and backwards. I loved that David didn’t settle for the status Quo and put himself way out there for the last go around. I thought his rendition of “The World I know” was beautiful, heartfelt, and professional.

I called in for over an hour for Cook – I got in maybe 1 our of 6 times for him when I called in, there were long periods where I just couldn’t get through. I seriously hope that people just got sick of the judges fawning all over David A and give the prize to the one w/ the real talent and range. Wouldn’t it be amazing to actually have an Idol who can go beyond year 1 and make it as a real artist? Isn’t that what this show is supposed to strive for?

If David A wins this is season 2 all over again – how appropriate would it be that Reuben, the judges other prematurely crowned king who’s done SQUAT since winning was there to sing last night? David A will be forgotten and like Clay Aiken, David Cook will have a long career.

I want someone to win who I’ll actually buy an album from. Considering the judges all seem to be looking for the next great “pop” star – yes, Archuleta all of the way wins for that qualification.

If you look at the 2 David’s overall – David Archuleta will succeed so long as people write material for him and force hand him contracts and songs. Once AI is gone, he’s done for unless he suddenly can show that he can write songs or something. The boy’s got great vocals but so far we’ve seen nothing else from him beyond that.

The boy knows nothing about music beyond what he’s learned on the show. He didn’t even know ELVIS PRESLEY songs. I’m sorry but what kind of a hole are you living in if you’ve never even HEARD any of Elvis’s songs? Or the Beatles for that matter? They may be ancient history for today’s young folks, but I’m sorry, growing up I even knew the singers who my grandparents loved when they were young. If you supposedly love singing and music, you listen to everything no matter what your age is.

Archuletta has a great voice but is that enough? Has that been enough for the winners of this competition? Answer…nope. Winning the AI contract is the easy part, it’s proving after you’re out of your AI contract that you can go beyond that. Other than Kelly and Carrie, none of the other winners have had much success because in the end we discovered that they were simply good singers and managed to win a big competition.

Kelly and Carrie are the 2 who’ve broken free because out of all of the winners they’ve got mad vocals, charisma, and talent. What’s funny is that as this season progressed I kept seeing Kelly in Syesha. Everything from her mannerisms, to her vocal style – they were nearly identical. They got the same indifference reactions from the judges too. Unfortunately for Syesha, the 2 boys were better and in any other year she would’ve killed and taken home the big prize and would’ve been on her way to being the next big thing.

So short-run, Archuleta, if he were to win would be the AI star of the year – he’ll likely have a couple of songs to hit the radio, young girls will flock to download his songs – then after his record run is over, he’ll be forgotten.

David Cook on the other hand is the real thing. I can understand why younger fans don’t understand Cook or “get him” but he’s got that “it” factor. He’s original, he’s multi-talented, men and women like him, AND he’s also a songwriter. I read in Entertainment Weekly that he and Michael Johns were looking over David’s songs and they started talking about wanting to one day produce a duet together.

Archuleta is a boy, but Cook is a MAN. He’s got that wonderful, rich gravel to his voice that makes me melt. I don’t necessarily think Cook is hot or anything but I find his voice to be intoxicating, just like Bono gets into my soul whenever I hear him sing. And when Cook’s on the stage – he PERFORMS. I’m sorry but David A stands in one spot and hunches over and over repeatedly – that’s the extent of his performing ability. He looks like he’s got a stomach ache.

David C last night during “I Still haven’t found what I’m looking for” – when he went out and stood in the audience he looked just like Bono, it wasn’t an impression, Cook just had rock star written all over him. The greatest rockers don’t have sugary sweet voices – their vocals are interesting to listen to (Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, etc.) David can sing softly, he can wail, and through it all he almost always stays in key and when he doesn’t it’s because he’s so in the zone that you barely notice he’s gone off because you find yourself completely caught up in the song.

If David A wins tonight – well I’m glad that America made his Dad happy. I’ll be sad that a young man was pushed way too young and peeked too early in life.

A win for David C would be a great vindication for the show that’s produced nothing lately but one-hit wonders because he’s got true star power written all over him. The show needs a winner who’s got long lasting appeal, presence, and talent if it wants to stay on the air. I just don’t see David A as fitting in all of those categories.

If David A wins, oh well, David Cook will get a contract, you could see in Clive’s eyes that he already had big plans for Cook…regardless of what way the public’s votes swing, he’ll be fine. Yet again an Archuleta win will have succeed in proving to the rest of the music industry that AI is a joke, if Cook were to win, perhaps the show might be taken seriously again and maybe next year the viewers will return to watch as well.