Why Cook Won! American Idol Season 7!

David Cook is the most original and savvy male finanlist in American Idol history, with his victory a triumph of poise over promise

Wheter you embrace or scorn American Idol, the most efficient star-making phenomenon in entertainment history, can depend on the day. 25 year David Cook's lopsided victory over David Archuleta, 17, was an unexpected triumph of poise and maturity over ingeneousness and promise.

It reversed last season's trend, when Jordin Sparks, an unformed talent with bubbly personality and a big voice, won, and the older, less glamorous but far more talented Melinda Doolittle came in third.

Come to think of it, Cook's triumph might not have been so unexpected. Maybe we were set up during the final performances the night before, when Idol judge Simon Cowell uncharacteristically congratulated Archuleta for scoring a knockout punch with his weepy repeat performance of Imagine.

Several days earlier, the Briton had predicted Cook as the winner. His flip-flopping might have been a cunning, ratings-grabbing manoeuvre to generate suspense in a season when American Idol has been suffering some audiense slippage (though the results show's broadcast on Fox drew 31.7 million viewers, about a million more than last year's finale).

Cook was chastised for choosing for choosing the wrong song, The World I Know by Collective Soul as his final selection. It was considered a misfire presumably because it was quiter and subtler than the usual belt-it-to-the-rafters war horses that win talent shows. I love it.

Throughout the season, Archuleta, whose honeyed voice conveys a boyish sincerity, was encouraged to be shameless. He won my affection early with his joyous Shop Around, but lost it by applying to Neil Diamond's grandiose tub-thumper American the same sugar-coated sob he brought to Imagine.

Because Cook refused to follow the unspoken guidelines for the competition, he emerged as the most original and savvy male finalist in the show's history. The cornerstone of his victory was his inconoclastic rock version earlier in the season of Billie Jean, the magic song that catapulted Michael Jackson to new heights of popularity 25 years ago.

Cook has a strong, flexible voice; when he sings rock, its scuffed edges echo Sam Cooke filtred through Steve Perry. Stylistically he occupies the same broad pop-to-rock territory as Bryan Adams, the results show's guests included Donna Summer and ZZ Top - is an inspired concept that contributes to the comforting fantasy that there exists what the host Ryan Seacrest has called "the American Idol family".

If the two finalists, looking embrassed and mistified, appeared in prizefighting robes with boxing gloves and half-heartedly struck pugnacious stances.

The term "heavyweight title" floated in the air.
Cowell advised them with a straight face: "You've got to hate your opponent".
Rivalries with threads of violence may be commonplace among rappers. But to potray mild-mannered performers like Cook and Archuleta, even humorously, as enemies plays into the prevailing ethos of pop music as a gladiatorial sporting event. The overall quality of music is much the worse for having been turned into spectator sport.

Except for the two Davids, this season's contestants were an uninspiring group of singers whom comedian Jimmy Kimmel, during his brief, pungent roast of the show and it's judges, accurately described as "19 weeks of karaoke".

What's right about American Idol is the way it holds up a mirrir to American mass culture. Not since the heyday of Ed Sullican has a variety show cast such a wide net.

The show reveals the same deep-seated longing for agreement and consensus that can be felt in electoral politics nowadays, underneath that cynical talking-head level.

Because each show ends with a national election in which the audience can override the judges' opinions, it gives power to the people. It may all be bread and circuses, but it is still democracy in action.

Source: The Straits Times 24 May 2008 (By Stephen Holden)