>I haven’t always been a fan of David Cook.  But somewhere between Michael John’s accent and Jason Castro’s  hair I became a fan.  A huge fan.  So you can imagine my excitement for tonight’s American Idol finale when David Cook took on my own personal rival David Archuleta. Earlier in the day Simon Cowell was on Ellen and declared that Cook would easily walk away with the title.  So I ran to the grocery store, got me some Lays Wavy Original chips and chocolate milk, put on my sweats and  nestled into my couch to watch the assassination of Archuleta.
Well it didn’t really go down that way.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I think David Cook did an amazing job.  I absolutely loved his version of U2’s “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” but not has much as I cheered for his rendition of “The World I Know“.  Even the dreadful American Idol winning song wasn’t even that dreadful which is really saying something.  I was actually really nervous for a sabotage in the vein of poor Blake Lewis’ unfortunate demise at last year’s finale  (Side note: His CD is still on my regular rotation).
So what was the problem? Â The American Idol crown isn’t meant for David Cook. Â Cook is one of the most well rounded finalists we’ve ever had. Â The way he carries the stage, the way he rowels up the crowd, the way he takes controls of the songs. Â And unfortunately that is not what American’s are looking for while they were voting after tonight’s show. Â Not to take any thing away from David Archuleta. Â While I admit I’ve never been a fan of him, I think my problems with him extend beyond things that are within his control (yeah I’m talking about Papa Archuleta). Archuleta can sing but that is about it. Â He has about as much personality as my couch on which I sit and criticize him every week.
On Tuesday night David Cook sang the songs that he wanted too. Â More impressive he sang them the way he wanted to. Â While there were no big Kelly Clarkson-type moments he made the strategic choice to go the more subdued route. Â I felt like he was saying: “Hey, this is the CD I’m going to put out, I don’t really have to win this thing, so these are the songs I like.” Â I agreed with Simon when he said that it was enough to take down Archuleta but I think Cook was OK with that. Â He did his thing and there is no shame in that.
So the crown will go to David Archuleta and we can finally put this season behind us.  Up next?  Canadian Idol starts in a few weeks and since that show has yet to produce any artist that has been able to produce a 2nd successful CD (aside from Hedley) I keep my fingers crossed that this year might be a little different.
—side note— To the sneaky american idol producers who flashed a picture of Daughtry in your montage of winners, I’m on to you. Â Chris didn’t win, he actually only got 5th place. Â Don’t mess with me or TIVO it will always come back to bite you!
