'Idol' Speculation

So here we go!

The “American Idol” performance finale was tonight, and if you’re a fan of the show, you were glued to the tube just like Idol Speculation, watching David Cook and David Archuleta — the rocker and the teen heartthrob — battle it out (the show featured a corny boxing motif, with the Davids robed up and wearing boxing gloves (Archuleta at left in blue, Cook at right in orange,  COURTESY FOX) — if they were to actually fight, would anybody bet on the spindly Archuleta?!!?) for the season 7 “American Idol” crown.

If you missed the show tonight, here is a recap:

The two singers performed three songs apiece tonight: music honcho Clive Davis’ choice, a choice of one of the 10 “AI” songwriting competition finalists and the singers’ own choice of song.

David Cook was up first singing U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” and the singer pulled off one of his patented “slow burn,” post-grunge rock performances. It was to be the singer’s finest moment of the evening, and the judges loved it. Randy Jackson called the performance “hot,” Paula Abdul said to the singer he had “arrived” and Simon Cowell said the performance was “phenomenal.”

David Archuleta followed with Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” a tune that showcased the young singer’s talent for singing ballads. Jackson said the performance was “molten hot” (the judge should spend the “Idol” offseason reading a thesaurus), Abdul said the singer was “stunning” and Cowell said the performance was the best the singer had done “so far” on season 7.

Next up was Cook performing an “AI” songwriting competition contender called “Dream Big.” The song was supposed to be an inspirational rocker but ended up sounding like a cheesy hair metal tune from the ’80s, something that Night Ranger might have concocted. Cook did the best he could with the tune, and judges Jackson and Cowell didn’t like the tune, but they tried not to hold it against the singer. Cowell gave the singer a “6 1/2 out of 10″ and Jackson said Cook “made it work.”

Next up was Archuleta with another songwriting competition hopeful called “In this Moment.” It was a (shocker!) ballad, and Archuleta performed the tune well, and although Jackson didn’t like this song either, he conceded that Archuleta could “sing the phonebook,” and Cowell told the singer he chose the better of the two songs and gave Round 2 to the Utah teenager.

The final song was a tune the singer got to choose, and Cook performed 90s alt-rockers Collective Soul’s “The World I Know.” Jackson said the singer did a “very nice job” and Cowell said the song was “beautiful” but that “it was the wrong song choice” for an extravagant “American Idol” finale.

David Archuleta chose John Lennon’s “Imagine,” a song he performed with great success earlier in season 7. If anything, Archuleta performed the tune even better Tuesday, with Jackson telling the singer he is what “American Idol” is “all about.”Abdul said she was “speechless” and “stunning” and Cowell effused “you came out here trying to win” and that Archuleta scored a “knockout.”

So it’s all over but the voting and Wednesday night’s results show.

Idol Speculation has previously predicted a Cook win, but if the judges’ comments mean anything (and they do) and Archuleta’s screaming teenage fans stay up all night voting, the kid should be crowned the winner tomorrow night.

And he’ll deserve it.

Tune in to “Amercan Idol” tomorrow night to see which David wins the whole shebang, then check in with Idol Speculation as we’ll be posting our final season 7 blog.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.