Originally Posted by Jicket  I agree, if you're into soft music, ballads, musicals, Archuleta is your man. He's technically sound and very talented. He took the safe path, with well known, emotional songs, and showed his strong suit, complete with the weepy, wet eyes. Excellent performances tonight - probably enough to win it.
On the other hand, I'd never buy his records. The judges are setting this up to launch a Broadway career. Why else would they save Andrew Lloyd Weber for the final night of competition? I think Archuleta will probably win, but I think David Cook will be picked up by a recording studio and make a LOT of records. He's that good. |
One song was picked for him (and I believe just as good a song was picked for Cook). They both sang crappy songs from the song-writing contest. The last song is typically a reprise of a performance (as you heard Simon say) so Archuleta picked what many felt was HIS best.
For the weepy wet eyes, I'd point out Cook was crying himself.
The soft music is a faux criticism from people who aren't giving him a fair shake. He sang one of the toughest Beatles songs, he sang the heck out of "Shop Around" during the first week which is an upbeat song, he sang the (admittedly bad) "You're the Voice" which was upbeat, but he sang it well.
Most of Cook's great performances were rock-ified covers of popular songs, so unless he's going to be covering other people's music forever, I don't think he's going to be as popular as people claim. Whenever he tried to do straight rock songs, he sounded...well, not that great.