American Idol 7 - Post Mortem
So what happened?
Well, American Idol turned the corner and sold a rock star to America. In convincing fashion too as the results were not close at all. I'm not sure if they will be able to pull this off again next year but what happened this year is significant. Will David Cook lose any street cred being the torch bearer of American Idol? We shall see. I think even David Cook might be worried. But it will be fascinating to watch if American Idol can transform itself from the greatest karaoke show on Earth to a show where real rock and pop stars are marketed and sold. (I don't know -- I kinda like the karaoke). The next task for David Cook is to write as much good music as he can during the Summer, so he hits the ground running by November. I hope he does because that will only be good for the show -- in that it can attract more artists of David Cook, Carly Smithson or Michael John's caliber to risk the American Idol 'stigma' just to reach out to millions they never would have been able to before. Daughtry made it big as a loser (not carrying the actual title "American Idol"), let's see how David Cook will do as a winner.
So did David Archuleta blow it?
I think there is a consensus that his father Mr. Jeff Archuleta played a big role in his son's progress on the show. So if you think that there were any missteps along the way -- and there were -- it is fair to point to the people behind David who made the decisions and gave wrong advice. It is clear that Jeff Archuleta had a lot to do with song choices and even arrangements that we heard David Archuleta perform on the show. My real gripe (and this only after everything came out in the open with Jeff Archuleta getting banned from rehearsals) is that if they allowed American Idol to guide David Archuleta in the way that they have with other favored contestants in the past -- we may have seen more 'knockout' performances from him like we witnessed in the finale. We could have gotten another hit or two after "Imagine". A lot of people are still very impressed with David Archuleta's talents and oh-gosh appeal but he just could not get over roadblocks like "Billie Jean" and "Always Be My Baby" which gave David Cook the fan advantage. A part of that failure was song choice which we know David Archuleta was not entirely responsible for. There was also the "We Can Work It Out" disaster which convinced a lot of people that our wonder kid just wasn't ready for prime time. He never fully recovered from that. Did it happen because of stress from his father's presence? That is still open for debate.
The Finale
It's obvious that American Idol went all out for a David Archuleta in the finale, which may have been a last push to make him win, or an attempt to make the voting close. I was happily surprised that happened and I thought it was incredibly gracious of David Cook to allow Archuleta a chance to shine after he had been given the spotlight the week before; it even seemed that he was stepping aside for the "chosen one" just like Bo Bice and Blake Lewis. Like I wrote yesterday, David Cook did not give in to the Idol machine, and sang the song he wanted to sing and not what others thought he should sing. He came out a better artist because of that.
I'm doubly happy because we also saw a side of David Archuleta we never did before: that of a fighter. Last Tuesday was literally the biggest challenge this kid has ever faced in his life -- and he approached it with the zeal of a gymnast whose been practicing layout Tsukaharas with a half twist all his life who now finally found himself in the Olympics. He left it all on the stage, and I think he learned a lot about life that night. For me that erased the pain of Dadchuleta-gate and all the other controversies surrounding David Archuleta this season. It was the best way to end the season for him win or lose.
Also, I am quite relieved that the dreaded "money shot" of Jeff Archuleta irate and "robbed" did not happen. The Archuletas were very gracious. Young Daniel Archuleta cheering David Cook on when he won was the perfect "money shot".
12 Million Votes
Putting my conspiracy hat on once again, I think that the vote difference was just so great, American Idol simply could not deny David Cook the title. A lot of rare things happened last night for a Finale -- which is a good thing since it will keep us on our toes for the next time:
1. America did not listen to the judges
2. America did not choose the winner of the night's performances, but instead chose the winner of the entire season -- so much for the casual voter theory
3. The person singing last did not win
But most crucial of all:
4. The Fanesha 300 turned their backs on Rickey and chose Cook over Archuleta -- I'm stunned. I knew I should have campaigned, those Faneshas can be so sensitive... LOL -- Why Faneshas? Why??? We were a team!
So all our conventional Idol wisdom went down the drain and it ultimately went down on votes. Who knew right? :)
I will have to revise my conspiracy theories next season. I had about a 60% success rate. I could do better. Here's an early prediction: the winner of American Idol 8 will be a girl!
My Favorites
When David Cook was announced as the winner, it signaled the end of the season, and I immediately reflected on how I felt about all of this. Admittedly, David Archuleta was bittersweet -- I made so many enemies it's scary. But I was loyal to the very end, and I even convinced a lot of people that yes, David Archuleta will win American Idol. For why the fans turned against me, I have a simple explanation: I was just not the fan they wanted me to be. The conflict was inevitable because I will not change who I am for anybody. And when I said that I was the only fan left who believed that David Archuleta will win (when Team Archuleta went negative), some fans hated me more because they could not accept that Rickey was the #1 fan of David Archuleta and not them. I think the fan relations improved over the last couple of days, and I hope it gets better as the Summer Tour approaches. Hopefully I will be able to get as much material as I can during the Summer.
I realized though, in the end, that the person I was most rooting for was Carly Smithson. It's a bit ironic because I don't know how Rickey.org contributed to Carly's early bad press -- we literally owned the "Carly Smithson" keyword on Google for a month. However, I truly did warm up to her, but Simon just refused to give her a break. Maybe I will get another chance to meet her and chit-chat. I wonder what her reaction will be when I tell her that I am "Rickey from Rickey.org".
The Future
Overall, I think it was a good season with enough twists and turns to keep us excited. The dip in the ratings with young audiences was a bummer though, and I don't know if David Cook winning will change that trend. Young people are not tuning out because they think the show is rigged or that the producers are manipulative -- they are just plain not interested. Maybe it's the casting, or that American Idol is no longer "cool" because it is grandmother's favorite show, I don't know. I certainly look forward to what they will do next season.
Okay, thanks for reading. And thanks for joining me this season for American Idol. Until next year. I love you all.