American Idol 2008 – Top 2 Performance Finale Recap (5/20/08)

And so we’ve finally reached the ending that we all knew would eventually come – a showdown between the two Davids. David Cook and David Archuleta met on stage last night as the final two contestants of American Idol 2008, Season 7.

It’s been a long fourteen weeks of live performances and here at Pop Critics we’ve brought you the blow by blow, note by note of every single performance of every single week. It almost seems a little surreal that it’s finally about to end. Last night’s battle for “King of the Nokia” as Randy dubbed it turned out to be rather anti-climactic as all three judges openly picked the person to win who we all knew they were secretly rooting for all season long.

Like last week, I will once again break this week up according to the way they did the song choices. Each contestant got to sing three songs this week after which the judges gushed over David Archuleta critiqued them on their performance.

First Song – Clive Davis’ Choice

• David Cook – “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” – Cook started the show saddled with a song choice that seemed like a no-win. He’d have to sing a U2 song on the show (something that’s never been done before) and try not to be compared to Bono while doing it. What do you know. He pulled it off. It’s not the best he’s ever sounded, but Cook managed to infuse the song with just enough of his own style as to not sound like a cheap imitation and yet make the song close enough to the original that everything we like about it was still there. Nice start to the night.
  
  

  David Cook – “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”

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• David Archuleta – “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” – Archuleta may have been coasting a lot throughout this competition (I’m not going to argue with you if you’re an Archie lover), but the little fella sang his heart out on this song. Truth be told, this was his best performance of the competition. He actually looked like a real live boy there for a few minutes with emotions and everything. He upped the ante on Cook and challenged him to a real throw down. As good as I felt Cook was on his song, the first round had to go to little Davy Archuleta.
  
  

  David Archuleta – “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”

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Songwriter’s Contest Choice

• David Cook – “Dream Big” – Well, the producers finally used some common sense and didn’t make the contestants sing the same stupid fluff song. Instead, they gave them the top 10 songs in the American Idol Songwriting Competition (I’m not sure who made them the top 10) and the contestants got to choose. Cook chose the one I’ve hated the least from every season so far. It actually wasn’t that bad although there are literally thousands of songs he could have sang that would have been better. He did the song in his usual style and it was slightly catchy. Not bad, but I’m not sure it was up to the level of Archuleta’s last song. Cook needs a showstopper on his last song to pull this thing off.
  
  

  David Cook – “Dream Big”

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• David Archuleta – “In This Moment” – Archuleta did the opposite of Cook and chose the most listless, lifeless, and boring of the top 10 song choices. I hated it immediately. Archie doesn’t seem to like it much more than I do. He actually looked like he was in slight pain while hitting some of the notes. This isn’t as good as Cook’s more interesting song choice, but it’s the more traditional choice and the judges can’t help but kiss the hand of the already crowned boy king when he finishes singing. Randy, who I was working my way up to respecting, has lost all credibility with his “lava hot” and “you can sing the phonebook” rants.
  
  

  David Archuleta – “In This Moment”

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Contestant’s Choice

• David Cook – “The World I Know” – Although I understand Cook’s desire to sing something new on the show, this song was a huge mistake. Simon was absolutely right when he said Cook should have sang “Hello” or “Billie Jean.” Both of those songs had the “wow” factor earlier in the season and both have been talked about since then. If Cook had come out and did one of them and did really well he could have made a statement. Instead, he came out and did an understated take on a Collective Soul song that most people under the age of 25 won’t even remember. It was good if you like the song, but it wasn’t big enough, flashy enough, showy enough…it just wasn’t enough.
  
  

  David Cook – “The World I Know”

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• David Archuleta – “Imagine” – Archuleta went the predictable, safe way and performed his most popular song of the season. Since he’s practically a robot he was able to mimic his former performance in every way, once again proving he can sing folk ballads with canned emotion like nobody else. And if we had any doubt as to who we thought might have done better tonight the judges made sure we knew that Archuleta took this one in a “knockout.”
  
  

  David Archuleta – “Imagine”

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Who Will Win American Idol 2008, Season 7?

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m a fan of David Cook. I enjoy his music much more than I do the musical stylings of David Archuleta. I cannot even imagine what kind of album Archuleta might put out that would entice me to buy it. I just don’t think he can. On the other hand, I would pretty much purchase anything David Cook puts out tomorrow.

Now, having labeled myself a David Cook fan, I’m still perfectly capable of seeing the performances for what they were and knowing whether or not someone did well or poorly. Unfortunately, David Cook did not do very well on the one night of the competition that he needed to blow away his competition. Most of agree that Cook sang circles around Archuleta all season long, but this wasn’t the case last night. Archuleta, for all of his faults, really does have an unnaturally gifted voice which he used to his advantage last night. He didn’t do anything flashy or special even, but he did what he needed to do while David Cook didn’t. It’s as simple as that.

At the same time, I couldn’t help but be perplexed and perturbed at the judges who seem to think young David Archuleta is the second coming of Christ. I can only assume he sounds much better in person than he does on television. How else to explain their fanatical desire to see him win? They’ve clearly wanted him in the finals from day one and they’ve clearly been rooting for him to win it all for a while now. Randy has all but turned Michael Jackson on us with the boy. Even Simon seems to have fallen under his spell declaring him the “winner” in a “knockout” last night. I’d like to think it was a little closer than that. Maybe Simon is tricking us all and he was trying to mobilize the David Cook fans to vote? I didn’t really get that impression, though.

Clearly I have no choice but to say that I think David Archuleta will win American Idol this year. I’m not sure there’s been a clearer favorite since Fantasia won over the girl whose name no one can even remember now. The only condolence I can offer is my opinion that David Cook albums will end up outselling David Archuleta albums in the long run. Hope that helps you make it through the two hour finale tonight.

The American Idol Top 2

• David Archuleta, 17, Murray, UT
• David Cook, 25, Tulsa, OK
• Syesha Mercado, 21, Miami, FL (Top 3)
• Jason Castro, 20, Rockwall, TX (Top 4)
• Brooke White, 24, Van Nuys, CA (Top 5)
• Carly Smithson, San Diego, CA (Top 6)
• Kristy Lee Cook, 24, Selma, OR (Top 7)
• Michael Johns, 29, Los Angeles, CA (Top 8)
• Ramiele Malubay, 20, Miramar, FL (Top 9)
• Chikezie Eze, 22, Inglewood, CA (Top 10)
• Amanda Overmyer, 23, Mulberry, IN (Top 11)
• David Hernandez, 24, Glendale, AZ (Top 12)