David Archuleta

A fan Carisa says her thoughts on tonight’s performance…

David Archuleta never fails to be as sincere as possible with every song he sings during this American Idol competition. The sweet, 17-year-old dazzled the stage tonight with “Angel” while playing the piano. When this kid chooses a song he loves and truly believes in his voice tells the story to the audience and they become absolutely captivated. He is always himself, but that fact makes it easy to see when he is not enjoying what he is singing.

Such a sweet and honest guy, David has a loving side that just shines through when he sings a song he loves. And tonight was no exception. He should be dubbed as the best performance of the night. It was sweet and sincere from the first word. You could feel the immense emotion … enough that it should have put a huge smile on your face.

David did so extremely well tonight that he made you feel that he WAS identifying with you and any problem you had and then offering you the best advice - love an angel instead. They were certainly loving his amazing voice and humble yet confident spirit. You have to just love this kid to death. Although he seems like a simple young man, he showed tonight the extreme depth of love and faith that resides in his soul. He will definitely NOT be going home tonight.

Watch and listen to David Archuleta singing “Angels” by Robbie Williams during The Top 08 Performances (songs that are inspirational).

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View the episodic stills and screen captures in the gallery.

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Credited to Anonymous -

This is how I see this. Since this season began, Archie has had critics. Clearly, from the beginning he was the front-runner, and, this again, bothered the critics, but, because most of them felt like a minority (which, in all honesty, they are, they just talk-it-up very well) we didn’t hear from them as much. Since Top 10 and on, when the judges decided to send out some mixed signals, specifically give kudos to David Cook, those critics suddenly became ‘ferverous’ David Cook fans. If you look at the numbers before his “Eleanor Rigby” performance, he really wasn’t that popular with the “popular vote”. He was basically on the sidelines. People were focused more on David Hernandez, Danny, Carly, Alaina and Archie. David Cook was never a consideration.

Because David Cook is so dramatically different than Archie, he’s the perfect representation of Archie’s main nemesis for the critics, thus, the proverbial ‘bandwagon’. Now, please understand, I am not saying that every single David Cook fan stays in the Cook-Camp only to detract from Archie, because, it is clear from the beginning of the competition that Cook has definitely had a fan-base, but, in recent weeks, the Cook-camp has evolved into, not only a fan-base, but, an Anti-Archuleta camp, which again, is unfortunate, because I don’t think either David would want to think of it in that way or even identify with that.

I’ve said this over and over, one rule applies to David Cook, another rule to Archie. It’s alright for Cook to sing the same type of song, it’s alright for Cook to stand in one position at his microphone, almost inhale his microphone and grumble a few words and have it relayed as “brilliant”. It’s not okay for Archie to sing a ballad, it’s not alright for Archie to breathe, it’s not alright for Archie to smile, nor is it alright for Archie to move his hands or show the slightest bit of charm or humility. It’s all an act you see.

Archuleta’s critics lack originality. They ride the coat-tails of any comment that the judges, specifically Simon Cowell, make. One week Simon asked him to be careful of not becoming “too gloomy”, so, for weeks after what did we hear? “NOT ANOTHER BALLAD…”. Funny, I didn’t realize “Ballad” and “Gloomy” were of the same descriptor in the dictionary. Then came the infamous “forget the lines of the song” issue. That was just an inferno looking to happen. Then he nailed “The Long and Winding Road”, but again…”IT’S A BALLAD!!”…which brings us to “You’re The Voice”, which, even some critics admitted that he finally proved he could do pop, but that was overshadowed by Simon’s comment about “characters coming out and dancing around…” which, became, as we all know…”Disney-esque”. So now ladies and gentlemen, Archuleta is “Disney” bound. Simon makes one comment and the critics run with it. They forget that Simon told David that he “sang it well enough”, he just didn’t like the song. As for the Walt Disney Corporation, well, Archie could do worse.

It’s interesting how other comments from the judges, and the public alike, are always dismissed by the critics. “Archuleta will win this year” as stated by Simon Cowell to Oprah Winfrey, “you’re destined for superstardom” - a gushing Paula - but, for once, her gush came at the right time. Another comment that’s been swept under the rug, just recently as a matter of a fact - actually, a few days ago - by Randy Jackson - “David Archuleta is back”. The critics didn’t recognize that statement. Gee, I wonder why?

So, to those critics out there - Archie may end up going the ‘Disney’ route, and, if so, that’s alright. If that happens though, I guess that makes David Cook a “Six Flags” contender.

-Thank you, Anonymous, for your insightful observations!! GET READY FOR TUESDAY NIGHT!!!!!

http://www.usmagazine.com/

The poll is located underneath the headline “Water Cooler Polls”.

HAVE FUN!!!!

http://community.tvguide.com/poll.jspa?pollID=800000689

There is the link, Archuleta fans!  Do with it what you will.  Here’s the thing, though…to vote in the poll, you must first register.

DO NOT WORRY about the registration process…it’s free!  Also, if you don’t want to receive any spam or emails or newsletters from TVGuide, you are not required to receive anything from them.  Just register, click arrows if you don’t want to receive anything, and BEGIN VOTING!

David Cook is leading at 44%, and Archuleta is a distant 2nd at 22% (he was at around 16% last week).  It’s time to exert our voting prowess and get Archuleta into the leading position in TVGuide’s power rankings!

View the Top 08 group photoshoot now in high quality…Click the image below:

Next week we all know is ‘Idol Gives Back’. With that are performances of inspiration and hope…I know, sounds cheesy. What will our David Archuleta be able to sing and will he sing another ballad? The Archuletas strive for songs with true meaning and with the upcoming theme, this will be no difficulty. The only question is what song choices are the contestants limited to that can be cleared.

Last season when ‘Idol Gives Back’ was introduced, the contestants were happily bewildered by learning none of them would be eliminated that week; but two the following. I’m pretty certain they will honor what they did last season, by respecting the event and contestants and not letting someone go. It will be an exciting week to come!

Teen Is Favored to Take ‘American Idol’ Crown

David Archuleta, who began singing around age 7, comes from a family of musicians. His father is a trumpeter; his mother is a vocalist and salsa dancer.

The 17-year-old hadn’t yet entered his teenage years when his vocal coach Dean Kaelin recognized his talent six years ago, the “very first time I heard him sing.”

By the time Archuleta turned 12 he already had won the juniors singers’ competition on the televised talent show “Star Search,” but in the process, Archuleta lost half his voice when a virus attacked his vocal chord. It left one chord paralyzed.

“I said, ‘OK turn your head and sing.’ One vocal chord was doing all the work,” Kaelin said.

The shy boy with the big voice had to deal with a medical problem that permanently changed his voice.

It took months of work and vocal training for Archuleta to heal, but Kaelin said the he never fully recovered. Ironically, the damaging illness gave the teen his unique textured sound, which has been much praised and lauded.

Kaelin said Archuleta, who was raised in the Mormon Church, chooses all of his songs on the popular singing show, which reveals facets of his personality.

“What you see is genuine. He’s very honest. He’s very unassuming. He’s very humble,” he said.

Friends said the Murray High School student, who cited Natalie Cole, Stevie Wonder, Kirk Franklin and Bryan Adams as musical influences, is the same whether he is before 35 people or 35 million.

The seemingly gentle demeanor of the shy boy isn’t the only thing attracting attention. Some critics have questioned whether his father, Jeff Archuleta, is pushing his son too hard to be a success.

But, Archuleta’s friends said there’s nothing unusual about the pair’s relationship.

“Like any dad would be supportive and helping him telling him to practice and trying to get him do his best,” said Archuleta’s friend Jessica Judd.

“I really am really grateful for his friendship, not just his stardom that’s gotten me on ‘Good Morning America,’” Judd said.

…source

Watch and listen to David Archuleta singing “Smoky Mountain Memories” during The Top 09 Performances (songs from Dolly Parton).

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View the episodic stills and screen captures in the gallery.

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Tonight David will be singing Dolly Parton’s “Smokey Mountain Memories.” I think David will do this song justice. You can have a listen at her version below: