Carpe Diem!!!

David Cook is the 7th American Idol

nobody@vox.com(Mairona West) — Thu, 22 May 2008 07:26:56 -0700

Fantastic! As we’ve all wanted David Cook won the 7^th season of American Idol. It was a breathtaking finale with David Archuleta giving it his all. AS Simon Cowell said, Archuleta’s performance was one knockout of a performance. The problem is, although he truly did well in the finale, America will judge on an over-all basis – meaning they will judge from the very start and unfortunately, Cook has had a following from the beginning (and that includes me).

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Why not David Archuleta?

nobody@vox.com(Mairona West) — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:15:29 -0700

The heat is on as American Idol is coming to its end. After so many contestants vying for the title and after so much hard work and voting, American idol has come up with two talents, both named David – David Archuleta and David Cook. I don’t think David Archuleta should win American Idol. Here are the reasons why…

He’s young. Now this is supposedly a plus factor for Archuleta and has been a constant mention by Paula Abdul. Most claim that it is admirable that a boy as young as he is could take the pressure of being in a competition like American Idol. The thing is he’s was raised in this kind of environment. He has been competing since he was a child and has actually won in star search, so being in American Idol is just like a normal day for him. Thus his age should not be a factor in choosing the winner.
His voice. Archuleta without a doubt has a fantastic voice. But a lot of singers have a fantastic voice. So far the songs he has sung have been beautifully rendered but nothing out of the ordinary. What can he offer against other balladeers in the industry? How can he stand out from other singers?

Cook on the other hand has come a long way. He has been a struggling singer who had to bartend to make ends meet. He has a lot to offer. His voice has a lot of character and the manner he sings is unique so much so that he can revamp an old song and make it sound new and original. He has the maturity to survive in the industry as well as the talent, the look and the appeal to back it up. The American Idol has to be David Cook.

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Who’s your favorite third place Idol?

nobody@vox.com(Mairona West) — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:40:54 -0700

We’ve been watching American idol for so long now and currently we are on our last season. We’re finally at the last two, which is what everybody predicted from the very beginning – a fight between David Cook (my favorite) and David Archuleta. However, let us think about the past third place Idol winners. Who amongst them do you like the most?

First Season: Nikki McKibbin. Remember her, she was an obvious rocker and she was actually the first in the show to have a consistent rock repertoire. As to this being an advantage to her or not, well she didn’t reach the finals. But do you like her?

Second Season: Kimberly Locke. Simon Cowell constantly criticized her lack of personality, but hey, she reached the final 3.

Third Season: Jasmine Trias. She got tremendous support from the people in California, New York and her hometown Hawaii. Because of her Filipino origin, she also had the vote of the Filipino community. She’s currently one of the more successful winners of idol.

Fourth Season: Vonzell Solomon. This was her second audition for the show. She initially auditioned for the second season but was cut off.

Fifth Season: Elliot Yamin. Both Stevie Wonder and Simon Cowell saw the potential in Yamin the former stating that he was "potentially the best male vocalist" in the five seasons of Idol. Sure enough, after Idol Yamin reached the Billboard Top 200 with his song Wait for You.

Sixth Season: Melinda Doolittle. It was a surprise that she didn’t make it to the finals.

Seventh Season: Syesha Mercado. Finally, the newest addition to our list of third place winners but how could he possibly compete with the two David’s that are now in the finals.

I love Elliot Yamin. Who’s your choice?

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Who will be the next and the last American Idol?

nobody@vox.com(Mairona West) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:29:03 -0700

What is it with American Idol that people watch it so much? It is currently going on its 7^th season and people claim it to be the last season for American Idol as its popularity is dwindling down. Apart from this, numerous scandals have sprouted from the show and the members, hosts and contestants in its 7 year reign.

The show first started in 2002 and it was a hit with about 50 million people watching the show. On its second season, the popularity of the show increased. The show was having auditions all over America and a total of about 174 million votes were received during the whole duration of the 2^nd season. The third season proved to be more popular as 360 million votes were received in the show. By the 4^th season 500 million votes were received on the show but on the 5^th season, although the votes were still more than that of the previous year, it increased only by 80 million votes. The 6^th season didn’t perform as well as the other seasons, plus the fact that the 6^th season contained the rift between Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell. Honestly, the conflict between Ryan and Simon sounds more of a gimmick to create some buzz to increase the ratings of the show.

The 7^th season has not proven to be any better than the previous season. As a matter of fact, this season has reached the shows lowest viewership even though it has the highest ratings compared to the other reality shows of Fox. That says a lot though…

Despite the consistently decreasing patronage of American Idol, it cannot be doubted that the show has produced some of the best talents in both Hollywood and the music industry. Some of the artists that American Idol has produced are Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood, and Elliot Yamin among others.

Now it’s the 7^th season and it’s the least watched of all the American Idol seasons. Will it be able to produce talent at par with its predecessors?

Recently, Asian contestant Ramiele Malubay was eliminated. It was the Dolly Parton week where the contestants were mentored by Dolly Parton herself and each of them were required to choose one of her songs to sing. This now leaves 8 contestants, namely, Michael Johns, David Archuleta, Carly Smithson, David Cook, Syesha Mercado, Jason Castro, Brooke White and Kristy Lee Cook.

Members of Ibeatyou.com actually puts David Archuleta to be the next American Idol followed by Kristy Lee Cook and finally by Ramiele Malubay. We all know what happened to Malubay which makes me wonder what the members of Ibeatyou.com are thinking. Granted David Archuleta is a very talented 16-year old teenager and for a boy his age, competing in a competition like this is admirable and demands respect. Moreover, for David Archuleta to be able to create the proper audience impact as well as be able to connect to the audience the way he does shows a lot of promise for David Archuleta.

However, David Cook is one fantastic performer and maybe David Archuleta’s strongest competitor. As a matter of fact, David is so comfortable on stage and so confident with his skill that as the judges have claimed, he stretches his ability to the limit making his songs either amazingly wonderful or dreadfully disastrous. The thin line between the two always puts their audience on their toes but David consistently delivers and provides a mind-blowing experience. His rendition of Billy Jean is an example of this marvelous feat.

However, there are still 8 contestant and we are quite unsure as to how it will end. Will the cut-throat competition affect their performances? Will the pressure break them? As usual, like all the other seasons previous to this one, all we can do is wait, watch, get awed and vote. Who will be the next and the last American Idol?

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