The finale concluded with Blue Springs, Mo.’s favorite son crooning the winning ballad from this year’s Idol songwriting contest, “Time of My Life” by Regie Hamm.
Then, although the homebound audience didn’t see it, the man of the hour was reportedly supposed to shout , “I’m going to Disney World!” when asked what he was going to do next.
In a landslide Wednesday night, David Cook, the pride of Blue Springs, became the newest American Idol.
Although judge Simon Cowell had heaped praise on David Archuleta and predicted that Cook’s song choices for Tuesday night’s final showdown had sunk his chances, voters across the nation saw it differently. The alt-rock style of the 25-year-old bartender overwhelmed the softer approach of the 17-year-old balladeer from Murray, Utah.
For once, the right guy won “American Idol!” David Cook
By a margin of 12 million votes, KC’s DC — David Cook — took home top prize in the singing contest, despite the fact that it was widely assumed he would come in second.
A tearful Cook, gracious even in victory (which is sometimes harder than defeat), put his arm around young David Archuleta, 17, the teen who was supposed to win. He sang the winning song — “Time of My Life” — which was actually not too bad at all this year — a first.
Are you kidding me?!? I'm listening to Entertainment Tonight and they said that last night's American Idol Finale was "Shocking" and "The biggest upset in Idol history". I mean no offense to David A., but David C. is also extremely talented and rightfully earned his win! This was not an upset, it was a tale of two David's who are both very worthy of the title, but very different and it could have gone either way. In my opinion, David C. will sell more records and concert tickets at this point in their careers. It would have been an upset if he lost and another case of where #2 outsells #1. The votes reflected his popularity.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
Are you kidding me?!? I'm listening to Entertainment Tonight and they said that last night's American Idol Finale was "Shocking" and "The biggest upset in Idol history".
I heard that too and was like "Uh...NOT!" Cookie was gonna win from way back in the competition. It was a foregone conclusion. Archie is vocally good, but David is marketable and well, more people loved him. I was shocked they would say something like that but then again they have to be dramatic.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Favorite quote from 2007: Some people are like a Slinky ... not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.
There it was, on a poster in the “American Idol” audience last week, after David Cook belted Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in the Key of Emo. And that slogan — not to mention the woman who hoisted it — speaks to the 25-year-old singer’s popularity with, ahem, women of a certain age.
Maybe it’s his edgy-yet-mainstream appeal, sly grin, sparkling hazel eyes, facial scruff, love for crossword puzzles, love for his mom and brothers. Or perhaps it’s the way he broke down in tears after his final performance, a rock-anthem arrangement of “The World I Know,” which he rebelliously defended from Simon Cowell’s criticism.
David Cook is no professional athlete, but he celebrated like one after winning “American Idol” on Wednesday night.
Cook, the season seven “Idol” champ after beating teen crooner David Archuleta, took a moment to shout “I’m going to Disney World!” during the celebration following his win, Disney said Wednesday. It was a rare off-field exception for those famous promotional words, which have almost always been uttered by sports figures.
Since 1987, Super Bowl, World Series and NBA Finals champs have made the pronouncement as the crowd cheers and confetti flies.
The “Idol” tie-in relates to the new “American Idol” attraction opening at Walt Disney World in Florida in January 2009.
From one Idol to another, Jordin Sparks has some advice to offer the new American Idol champ as he prepares to kickstart his recording career.
“Sleep as much as you can because it’s a year later and I still haven’t gotten a full eight hours of sleep yet!” the singer tells OK! at the finale. “It goes by so fast. Here it is a year later and I’m still like reeling from winning last year. I would say, try to enjoy every moment you have.”
1. “Idol” voters were ready for something different. Archuleta had a good voice, and one that was very much in the vein of previous “Idol” champs. That’s why early on he looked like the favorite. But then Archuleta sang exactly the same way week after week, while Cook offered variety — and a variety that included an ability to sing sweetly at times. So he wasn’t a threat to viewers who preferred traditional sounds. This scenario says that Blake Lewis’s ascent a year ago was a bigger watershed than it seemed once Jordin Sparks won. Lewis’s finishing second said there were still a lot of voters looking for … something. And Cook provided it.
David Cook has been crowned the new American Idol, and it’s time for this year’s kickass rocker to start his kickass rock career. First stop? A sappy little ditty called “Time Of My Life.” This year’s coronation song came once again from the “American Idol” songwriting contest, which proved so successful last year that Jordin Sparks’s “This Is My Now” was the only debut single from an “Idol” winner to miss the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 charts. But it’s really no surprise that “Idol” chose to revisit a song-selection process that was, on the face of it, clearly a failure the last time. In fact, it’s totally in fitting with the rest of the season’s insistence on keeping things that don’t work and fixing what ain’t broke.
David Cook shows what determination and a dream can accomplish
LOS ANGELES | The “American Idol” finale wasn’t a big story out here, especially Wednesday when the Lakers and Spurs launched their own version of a heavyweight fight.
So on the TV news later, there was cursory attention to the big news in Kansas City: David Cook won the seventh “Idol” title in a blowout that was unexpected.
But in spite of its minimal West Coast news value, many in Kansas City will enjoy his success, now and whenever (or if ever) he has a hit song.
After an “Idol”-heavy day at MTV News, we thought we’d close up shop at Newsroom with this quick post, on our favorite pop-culture addict of our grandparents’ generation, one Paulie Martin. After we told you just how super-faithful an “Idol” viewer Paulie is — not one episode missed! –- it was only fair to check back in with the septuagenarian for his reaction to the season finale.
Predictably, he was ecstatic that David Cook won by 12 million votes — but he knew the kid would take the prize all along!
Archie, Paulie said with great finality, “just wasn’t as good.” And you better believe Paulie was ticked off at Simon Cowell’s premature prediction that Archuleta would wipe the floor with Cook. “Simon and his big f—ing mouth,” he said. “I’m so happy the people proved him wrong!”
Are you kidding me?!? I'm listening to Entertainment Tonight and they said that last night's American Idol Finale was "Shocking" and "The biggest upset in Idol history".
I heard that too and was like "Uh...NOT!" Cookie was gonna win from way back in the competition. It was a foregone conclusion. Archie is vocally good, but David is marketable and well, more people loved him. I was shocked they would say something like that but then again they have to be dramatic.
It's obvious that whoever did that report was an Archie fan, and upset.. You know it happens, honestly, ET should have covered the story from two different view points!
He talks about what really went down with Analog Heart, his progression though the weeks of the competition, and breaking down that wall between he and the audience. Containing a mixture of his writing and other songwriters, he hopes to make a solid record that “makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck.”
Here are some highlights:
About Analog Heart, “Analog Heart got released independently in May 2006. I spent a good year playing and promoting that record as much as I could. A lot of people, thank God, bought the record. About midway through the season, I had to have the record pulled, obviously, for fairness issues on the show. And I got it pulled offline. But somebody, I have no idea who, reposted it on Amazon, so while that was going on, I was kind of at a loss. I talked to Amazon about getting it pulled, and there was a bunch of mass confusion about it. I’m extremely appreciative at how well it did. But I was kind of a pawn in that whole game.”
About his progression on the show, “This show has been great for my diet. I’ve lost probably 10 to 15 pounds. There was definitely a progression for me on this show. Early on, I’m talking third, fourth week in, Ken Leverne, our vocal coach, really hit home with me on a particular lesson: I put up a wall, kind of a protective barrier between me and the audience. It was a little bit of a defense mechanism to try to protect myself. He had to force me to break that down.” Toward the end, I started crying a lot. There was a lot of intensity — as far as what was at stake and all the effort that had been put into it. The crying after I won was like an exhale. This whole experience has been about eight months, including the auditions. And I felt like that whole time I was holding my breath. And to be able to just breathe and enjoy the moment was amazing.
Ford Motor Co. is getting some much-needed celebrity endorsement from America’s newest celebrity, David Cook.
The singer, who became the latest “American Idol” Wednesday, told The Detroit News Friday that he can’t wait to get some quiet time behind the wheel of the Ford Escape Hybrid the automaker gave him.
“I love it. It’s nice to have a new car,” said Cook, whose last ride was a 1996 Jeep Cherokee that he admits he ran into the ground. “Ford has been amazing throughout the whole process. I definitely could see this as the start of something.”
Rocker David Cook won the coveted title of American Idol, dealing an unexpected but decisive defeat to a silken-voiced teenager, also named David, on the most popular US television show. Cook, 25, who was tending bar and playing in a band before he auditioned for the singing competition, stood back to applaud rival David Archuleta, 17, and then bent over crying after host Ryan Seacrest said he had won by 12 million votes.
“This is amazing. Thank you,” said the Blue Springs, Missouri, native, who in addition to being crowned this year’s Idol will receive a recording contract.
Belton, Mo. — David Cook may be the most famous person ever from Blue Springs, Mo. And now that the guy who had hopes of his high school band making it big is the newest “American Idol,” he’s being followed by paparazzi and doing a media blitz as the 2008 champion.
But he didn’t forget about his hometown fans, the ones he says got him where he is. The Examiner had 10 minutes via phone to ask him about his experiences and how growing up in Blue Springs prepared him for stardom.
Interview New “American Idol” David Cook on RollingStone.com
Want to ask new American Idol David Cook a question? Wondering what his other favorite Collective Soul songs are? Whether he’ll pull a Daughtry and name his band Cook? If he ever ran into David Archuleta’s dad backstage? What it was like prancing around in his skivvies for that Guitar Hero commercial? We’ll be talking to season seven’s winner next week and we want queries from you. Send us a YouTube video of yourself asking a question to Cook, and the best of the lot will run in a special video Q&A with the singer-guitarist next week. Put that webcam to good use by Monday, May 26th at 11:59 PM EST. Reminder: questions left in the comments won’t be asked — you gotta get us a video to get into Ask a Rock Star.
After watching the final performances of the two finalists —David Cook and David Archuleta—last Wednesday night, and after hearing those putdowns on Cook by Simon Cowell and proclaiming it was a “knock-out” for Archuleta against the other David, everyone anticipated an Archuleta victory.
As predicted in this column Monday last, the Americans, at least the majority of those who voted after the showdown, chose rocker David over balladeer David. It was like a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 in the Richter scale when Ryan Seacrest announced the winner, and it wasn’t Archuleta.
While I had the feeling Cook would be it, I was still hoping my instincts were not telling me right, and my heart reached out for the 17-year-old David.
American Idol winner David Cook and runner-up David Archuleta arrive at a New York City airport and head over to their Big Apple hotel on Monday, Memorial Day.
Cook, 25, recently shared about his upcoming album: “It’ll probably be a rock record. I just want to make a record that’s going to make the hair on your neck stand up. Even if it doesn’t do well commercially, as long as I can put out a record I am proud of, that’s the goal right now. And hopefully the success will follow.”
David Cook goes on date with ex-'Idol' contestant tv-20080527-People.David.Cook
NEW YORK — David Cook says he's dating an "American Idol" alum. The newly crowned "Idol" winner said Tuesday on "Live With Regis and Kelly" that he recently had a dinner date with former "Idol" contestant Kimberly Caldwell.
Cook, 25, said he met Caldwell through the show. When asked if he had a good time, Cook replied: "I did. We'll probably hang out again. So we'll see."
Caldwell, 26, appeared on the second season of the top-rated Fox singing competition.
Cook, from Blue Springs, Mo., defeated 17-year-old David Archuleta last week in a landslide victory. The rocker became the heartthrob of the seventh season around the time he restyled his hair and displayed more confidence onstage.
(I realize the video of this is posted above.. but no one commented on it.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
David Cook Is A Rock-And-Roll Red State, In Bigger Than The Sound
I am going out on a limb here. I am going to predict that there is precisely a 50 percent chance that “American Idol” winner David Cook will be very successful. I am relatively sure about this. Sort of.
Of course, I am also going to predict that he will not amount to much of anything. I am also relatively sure about this, though only about as sure as I am that he might be very successful. Do you follow? Yeah, me neither.
This ambivalence has less to do with my feelings about Cook the person or Cook the performer as it does with my lack of feelings about either. This is probably because I have no idea what is going on in the majority of this country, though it could also be attributed to the fact that A) I am a music journalist living in New York, B) I never listen to rock radio, C) I am sort of an elitist jerk, or D) all of the above.
American Idol winner David Cook has been signed to 19 Recordings / RCA Records and is preparing to start recording his debut album which is due for release in fall 2008.
“‘The Time Of My Life’ has sold 236,024 digital tracks in 4 days, making it the best single debut of an American Idol since season two. Additionally, Cook currently has 17 tracks on the Top 100 Digital Songs Chart, the most ever by any artist.
“The Time Of My Life” is blowing up at radio, coming in as the 1 most added at Hot AC and AC radio right out of the box and 2 most added at Top 40 radio, pulling in over 6 million listeners in less than a week without an official launch. Additionally, it was the biggest single premiere on AOL’s PopEater site, garnering over 1 million streams in 24 hours.
