The Idol Final: Quick recap

So I feel like I was wrong and I was right about the show tonight. Probably the biggest wrong of all was when I ended my last Idol post saying that the show would be average and that nothing lives up to the hype. Not only was that the best final I can remember but it was my favorite show of the season and that never happens. If anything put a damper on the evening it's that Simon decided before the show began that barring major catastrophe David Archuleta would be the winner. More on that to come, since I spent time breaking down what might happen last time here's a quick rundown of what actually did happen

Round 1: Archie gets the coin toss and an enormous advantage. When the show's this close getting the chance to leave the last impression is huge. New wrinkle this year, Clive Davis picks the songs for a Round 1, with Andrew Lloyd Weber helping the contestants find their inner child before they perform ( Sidebar: I'm pretty sure that if Mr. Weber wasn't a world famous composer he would be be the creepiest dude on anyone's block. I have a recurring nightmare where Lord Andrew shows up on my doorstep holding Peaches and saying ,"Pardon, but I seem to have found your kitty. He's a naughty one that kitty. Are you alone? Mind if I come in?" Needless to say seeing him again gave me the willies.)

This round was a whole lot better than expected. I thought Cook would crash and burn on the U2 song, because there is only one Bono and he's not coming on stage unless some sort of African relief is involved. However, Cook was great. He choose the perfect arrangement ( not the standard recording but one U2 often does at live shows) and nailed it. Equally as impressive was young David. Don't let the Sun Go down on Me is an Idol standard, not less than 10 idols have already sang it, but surprisingly that didn't hurt him. He really go into the song and did himself proud. I thought this round was a dead heat and I'm more than a little ticked that Simon gave it to the kid. At this point I felt like the singing order and the judges were on Achuleta's side, Cook has a HUGE mountain to climb, even if he does well.

Round 2: They moved the sappy Idol song to round 2 for some reason and gave them a selection of 10 to choose from. This played right into Cook's hands and he made the most of it, taking a horrible ballad and making it an average rock song. It sounded like Track 8 on a CD where I really like Track 4 and 9, so I accidentally hear a portion of it everyday on my way to my favorite song. This may sound like a criticism, but it was a best case scenario for him. Idol isn't set up to reward rockers. Predictably, Archie gave his horrible ballad all he had and made it sound as good as it possibly could. He won the round easily, but we all knew he'd have an advantage here. I'm still ticked that Simon has it 2-0 Archuleta when I have it 2-1 and a close race.

Round 3: Sing whatever you want round went an interesting direction. Archuleta went to his money song, while Cook when with something from one of his favorite 90's bands. If you want to scroll down and look this exact song choice plays out in David Archuleta's perfect scenario. So at this point I'm ready to close up shop and hand the prize to the mighty Mormon midget. However, I was completely wrong about how good Cook would be. Just a beautiful take on a great Collective Soul song. He didn't what he wasn't able to do all year by picking a new, contemporary song for himself and then knocking it out of the park. It wasn't is absolute best but I really enjoyed it and I think he deserves bonus points for guts on this one. Still. Archie did what he does and sang the heck out of his money song. It's really hard to vote against that. I have this round tied up, with maybe an ever so slight edge to Archuleta.


I couldn't vote tonight. Personally, I'll be fine with either of them winning. Archuleta has the better voice, Cook is the better performer. Archuleta has a huge tween following and is ready to light up that market, Cook is better than Chris Daughtry and we'll here his music on the radio even more ( If that's even possible.). Both win in the end, but tomorrow night Archuleta gets the confetti shower and the chance to sing a horrible song. I'm just glad it was an enjoyable show and that one time Idol lived up to it's hype.