The last contestant/winner I really loved was Fantasia Barrino back in 2004, so it's nice to care again, especially as I only start watching once the show is down to the top twelve contestants (or less).
My father once said that you have to be at least partly insane to want to be President (maybe all crazy in a certain current instance?) so it's nice to have a guy running who got youthful craziness, i.e. idealism, and it's interesting that David Cook did not expect to even audition for American Idol, he just showed up to support his brother and got roped in by the producers. Last night, in the final sing-off, he said that he didn't even think of it as a competition anymore, he thought they were just there to have fun, and when the judges spoke they came the evening to young Archuleta walking away.
Not insane.
One of the reasons Simon Cowell cited for saying so was that Cook had chosen to present a song he had not sung before to close the show, rather than the traditional reprise of an earlier favorite or showstopper, while Archuleta sang his celebrated version of John Lennon's "Imagine". Cook responded that since he saw the whole season as a progression for him, he didn't want to go backwards at the end, hence the Collective Soul cover new to the audience.
While Archuleta's choice seemed smarter on the surface, and his more traditional Idol-esque delivery with more obviously soaring climaxes throughout the evening may have impressed on first pass, it was Cook's performance which wears better -- when I ran his last number a second time, there was actually more to get out of it, well-beyond the usual contestant number:
So the more complicated adult (25-years-old), the game-changer, beat the gifted but safe bet kid (17-years-old) in a completely unexpected landslide (56-44%).
Maybe America is ready for a little nuance after all.
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