American Idol judges got it wrong

Last night's final competition between David Cook and David Archuleta left me scratching my head and wondering if the producers of the show aren't trying to sway the vote towards Archuleta. All three judges seemed to concur that David Archuleta was the winner of the night and should win the competition but I completely disagree. Don't get me wrong, Archuleta has a very good voice and did well last night, but to me David Cook showed more versatility, artistry and emotion and I didn't think it was even particularly close. Simon Cowell may not have thought Cook's second song was in the spirit of the finnally but I thought it was one of his strongest songs of the competition and think it would be an instant hit on the radio. It was nice that on a song he got to choose himself, he picked something more upbeat instead of the usual slow ballad about being on top of the world. What surprised me is Cowell is normally one to respect people trying to do something different and less predictable. On the final song, all three of the judges agreed that Cook and chosen the wrong song to end on but again I felt it was one of his strongest and most emotionally packed songs of the season...the perfect way to end.

Then we had the judges praising David Archuleta who to me sounded exactly the same on all three of his songs. To be fair it's a good sound but we've been hearing it all season. Plus, the first song he performed had already been done splendidly in a previous season by Clay Akin and he performed it similarly so it wasn't exactly original. Then Archuleta ended the show with the song "Imagine" which he had done previously this season very well. In fact it was arguably his best song the first time he sang it so it's hard to improve on that. All in all it was just nothing new from Archuleta and if the performances from the two Davids predict what kind of albums they will make it was clear to me that Cook is going to have more hit songs.

Maybe that's the reason the producers and judges seemed to be pushing for Archuleta to win. Win or loose both contestants will produce a high selling record just due to their success on American Idol but I do see Archuleta's winning the show helping his career more then it would help Cook. I think David Cook has the voice and originality to make a lot of really good albums even if he had been voted off the show before now. On the other hand, winning the competition could help David Archuleta's "one style" of song have a longer run of success and maybe give him a more hit records so in a way he needs to win more. That's not to say that he couldn't grow as an artist but he definitely hasn't shown the ability to do that much on this season of Idol. So tonight we'll find out who the winner is. I'm pulling for Cook and according to the results on dialidol.com the rest of the country might agree with me. Maybe it's just to spite the judges but I think David Cook deserves it.