If the results were based on tonight’s performances, David Archuleta would win American Idol Season 7. However, with over two hours of votes still to be tabulated, David Cook, who many chose to win (like former Idol runner-up Bo Bice), still has a chance of joining one-namers Kelly, Ruben, Fantasia, Carrie, Taylor, and Jordin as this year’s winner of American Idol.
From top to bottom, David Cook was outsung and shockingly outperformed by the younger, oftentimes called robotic David Archuleta. While I believe Cook consistently performed at a higher level throughout the season, Simon Cowell was spot on when he said that Archuleta’s three performances on the night equaled a “knockout” in the boxing themed night complete with Michael Buffer’s trademark introduction.
When David Cook performed tonight, he was good. When David Archuleta took the mic, it was electric. With Cook heavily favored going into the finale, a subpar night from him paired with Archuleta’s strongest ever night could equal results show that rivals the contest between Clay vs. Ruben.
Cook’s performances all night were pretty good, notably his performance of “Dream Big,” one of the Songwriter competition songs that could potentially be a “winning moment” song. In a rare occurrence, an Idol’s best performance was a “finale song,” which is usually one of the lesser performances on the night (see Blake Lewis performing “This is my now” and looking like he wanted to gouge his eyes out).
“Dream Big” was a good finale song that showed good range from David, but it also felt a little bit ominous that David will have to be extremely careful with his career to walk the line between pop and rock.
While Archuleta closed out the show in the with his Star Search winning song, “Imagine,” David Cook decided to go with a new song for him, “The World I Know,” which I felt like was a poor choice for him to leave as the last memory of him on stage. We’ve come to know David Cook for semi-hard rocking performances like “Billie Jean,” “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” and “Eleanor Rigby,” and this song was really missing those David Cook big note moments.
I respect Cook’s desire to perform new material, but he was going up against Archuleta’s bread and butter song that he’s been winning competitions with for years. It would have been fun to see Cook’s “Billie Jean” face off with Archuleta’s “Imagine.”
From Archuleta’s first performance of “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”, which blew away Cook’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” David showed a stage presence and desire to win that we haven’t seen from him in weeks past. It was a pleasant surprise and one that would make even some Cookies be ok with seeing David Archuleta win tomorrow night.
If David Archuleta wins American Idol on Wednesday, he earned it tonight. It would be tough for anyone to say otherwise and this is coming from a David Cook fan. David A. was passionate on stage, reaching for bigger notes than normal, and there was an “I didn’t come this far to lose” determination in his voice that made you believe that he was ready to join the American Idol winners’ ranks on Wednesday night.
And while Archuleta’s finale song, “In This Moment,” could have easily been renamed “This is my now Part II” and was one of the corniest songs ever performed on AI, he was so on fire that you could picture him performing the song under a shimmering golden curtain of fireworks on Wednesday night. The song was god-awful, but Archuleta made it work and that continued his surprise “Wow” performances all night.
After a performance of his staple “Imagine” that brought the house down, will Archuleta see his moment tomorrow night?
These two have long been front runners in the competition and their diverse talents were on full display on Tuesday night. Archuleta shone brighter, with one of the top performance nights top to bottom in American Idol history, but Cook arguably has more memorable performances from earlier portions of the competition.
Will David Cook “Dream Big?” Or will David Archuleta be crowned the winner “In This Moment” tomorrow night?
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4 responses so far ↓
1 Danielle // May 21, 2008 at 8:28 am
Part of why I don’t think Archuleta to win, I admit, is because I just don’t like the slightly nasal, slightly whiny tone of his voice, but moreover, I just don’t think he makes an interesting public figure. All past Idols had things to say and stories to tell (through their music and in the press), but David just stands silently and grins sheepishly on camera, starstruck even though he’s the one in front of the camera.
2 fiona tan // May 21, 2008 at 11:01 am
I want david cook to win because he has charisma plus the personality of an american idol. Unlike Cook, David Archuleta is not robotic but boring albeit he comes across as sweet.
3 fiona tan // May 21, 2008 at 11:05 am
I want david cook to win because he has charisma plus the personality of an american idol. Unlike Cook, David Archuleta is not only robotic but boring alberit he comes across as sweet. I know he has a strong fan base amongst the teenagers but he cant sing anything else but ballads.
4 aimee gonzales // May 29, 2008 at 2:02 am
always be my baby is a great song performed by david cook
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