And so the right David won the seventh season of the reality t.v./karaoke/singing competition American Idol. My favorite contestant David Cook beat the odds and contributed to a picture-perfect finish at the finale earlier this Wednesday night. Despite failing to win over judge Simon with his final three performances to the songs "I Still Haven't Found What I've Been Looking For" (BMG big-wig Clive Davis' choice), "Dream Big" (one of the reject non-winning original songs from this year's songwriting competition...which screamed arena rock), and finally "The World I Know" (David's choice), the audience saw things differently. Indeed, Simon was wrong to say it was a mistake to close with that Counting Crows song, which I thought was a brilliant choice -- very touching and with just enough of an emotional pull to tug at the heartstrings. This guy had to win over the equally credible threat of David Archuleta, the credibly underaged wunderkind who just kinda bored me with every textbook performance.
When announced, Cook was overwhelmed with emotions and the grown man broke down in tears. It was quite a sight to see our rock representative show some emo. He ended the night singing his coronation song "The Time Of My Life", which has already soared to #1 on iTunes.
Although we've had a few close ones (Southern rocker Bo Bice as runner up to Carrie Underwood in 2004, Chris Daughtry placed 4th in 2006), Cook marks the first rocker to win in the show's history. And to boot, he actually is talented. We will surely see big things with David Cook!!
