I've never been a religious follower of reality TV, though I do enjoy regular doses of *cough* America's Next Top Model, and sporadic views of others like American Idol, Amazing Race, Hell's Kitchen and Project Runway. So anyway, a few weeks back I caught some of this season's American Idol (AI), and got a bit hooked. I've kinda lost track of AI, only briefly aware of the winners once it's all over.
Anyway, I was deeply interested in one of the participants - David Cook. Yup, the dude who went on to be crowned the Idol title last Thursday. I watched the grand finale this week between the two Davids - Cook and Archuleta. A nail-biting and grand contest between a boy wonder of crooning ballads and a mature rocker.
Frankly, I can't see the fuss over Archulete - he's a great singer, I grant him that. But he's just a really good pop/ballad teen prodigy. Compare this with D. Cook who proves himself beyond a rocker. I mean, c'mon, any guy who can pull off a brilliant cover of a Mariah Carey song gets top marks in my books. Check out his performance here:
I didn't watch the actual episode for the Mariah Carey week, but some information net-prowling revealed that apparently the girls had a tougher time. I can sorta understand, it's a tad tough to match the diva's legendary sixteen-octave range. Most girls (and guys too) chose her power ballads, and well D. Archuleta chose When You Believe. It was quite good, but predictable and boring; and doesn't hold a candle to D. Cook's performance. He was smart enough to realise he couldn't match Archuleta's vocals, so he picked one of MC's most pop-ish song, rearranged it and came up with something totally awesome. And as Simon said, being really brave about it too, as usually most people would pick songs that allow them to show off their long breaths and glass-breaking voices. Like in the finale, D. Archuleta performed 2 ballads, and for individual choice, chose to perform 'Imagine" which he did a few weeks back. D. Cook started off with a crowd-rousing pop-rock "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2, followed by a power rock song, and finally for individual choice; chose a totally new song and performed an acoustic version of it. His choice song was panned by Simon Cowell, but thankfully it did not influence the voters much.
And as to proof himself that he's not a flash-in-the-pan, check out D. Cook's rendition of a song from Phantom of the Opera. Not that I'm music expert, but I think he has excellent vocal control. He sounds breathier and craggy during the rocks songs, and yet can sound polished and soaring for musicals. Just compare the craggy screech he did for Always Be My Baby and the rich, soaring vocals reverberating in Music Of The Night. I find it refreshing to see a singing contestant who exercises control and not try to shatter eardrums at every chance.
A more than deserving winner of American Idol; with proven versatility and star quality beyond that of just a singer. And I'll be keeping an eye out for this dude in the future.
p/s: Try checking his other renditions of Billie Jean and Hello too.
Anyway, I was deeply interested in one of the participants - David Cook. Yup, the dude who went on to be crowned the Idol title last Thursday. I watched the grand finale this week between the two Davids - Cook and Archuleta. A nail-biting and grand contest between a boy wonder of crooning ballads and a mature rocker.
Frankly, I can't see the fuss over Archulete - he's a great singer, I grant him that. But he's just a really good pop/ballad teen prodigy. Compare this with D. Cook who proves himself beyond a rocker. I mean, c'mon, any guy who can pull off a brilliant cover of a Mariah Carey song gets top marks in my books. Check out his performance here:
I didn't watch the actual episode for the Mariah Carey week, but some information net-prowling revealed that apparently the girls had a tougher time. I can sorta understand, it's a tad tough to match the diva's legendary sixteen-octave range. Most girls (and guys too) chose her power ballads, and well D. Archuleta chose When You Believe. It was quite good, but predictable and boring; and doesn't hold a candle to D. Cook's performance. He was smart enough to realise he couldn't match Archuleta's vocals, so he picked one of MC's most pop-ish song, rearranged it and came up with something totally awesome. And as Simon said, being really brave about it too, as usually most people would pick songs that allow them to show off their long breaths and glass-breaking voices. Like in the finale, D. Archuleta performed 2 ballads, and for individual choice, chose to perform 'Imagine" which he did a few weeks back. D. Cook started off with a crowd-rousing pop-rock "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2, followed by a power rock song, and finally for individual choice; chose a totally new song and performed an acoustic version of it. His choice song was panned by Simon Cowell, but thankfully it did not influence the voters much.
And as to proof himself that he's not a flash-in-the-pan, check out D. Cook's rendition of a song from Phantom of the Opera. Not that I'm music expert, but I think he has excellent vocal control. He sounds breathier and craggy during the rocks songs, and yet can sound polished and soaring for musicals. Just compare the craggy screech he did for Always Be My Baby and the rich, soaring vocals reverberating in Music Of The Night. I find it refreshing to see a singing contestant who exercises control and not try to shatter eardrums at every chance.
A more than deserving winner of American Idol; with proven versatility and star quality beyond that of just a singer. And I'll be keeping an eye out for this dude in the future.
p/s: Try checking his other renditions of Billie Jean and Hello too.
hey, I didn't catch the title of the song in the video clip. What's it again?
ReplyDeleteIt's Always Be My Baby by Mariah Carey. By the way, you can always click on embedded YouTube videos, and it will link you to the actual page of the video on YouTube's website.
ReplyDelete