David Archuleta

And the next ” American Idol” is David. But David who? Not everyone agrees on which David will win Wednesday night.

The winner: David Archuleta. There’s no question David Cook is a far more original and versatile performer than his young opponent, but as Randy has told “Archie” so often, “Dude, you can sing the phone book.” Add to that Archie’s devoted legion of prepubescent and postmenopausal fans. And then there’s this year’s coronation song, which is bound to be more syrupy than a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth’s. No one serves up syrup sweeter than Archuleta. We can already imagine his dad saying, “Pour it on.” - Daniel Bubbeo

The winner: David Cook. “Idol” missed its shot with Chris Daughtry two years ago. Sure, 19 Entertainment still makes money off him, but it would have been so much sweeter if the “American Idol,” not the fourth-place finisher, had been the biggest-selling artist in 2007. Cook’s potential CD sales could even overtake Daughtry’s. He’s über-talented and can sing “Phantom of the Opera” with as much ease as Phantom Planet. The stylists have exposed his raw sexuality and - surprise! - he’s also a nice guy. The perfect “Idol” package. Make no mistake, it’ll be Cook singing the assuredly icky “coronation” song Wednesday night. - Ronnie Gill

David Archuleta is a nice, seventeen year old kid with an overbearing father. He has a good singing voice with which, it could be argued, he adds too many runs and vocal gymnastics then need be. He is innocent, naïve, modest to a fault and, as a result of these things, lacks a distinct personality. He is a blank slate, which may actually be a reason for his season long success on American Idol. With no clearly defined persona, David Archuleta can be anything for anyone who watches American Idol. Perhaps you, teenage girls, see him as the perfect boy – talented, cute and pliable. Perhaps you, grandmothers, see him as the boy you wish your grandkids were. Perhaps you, 30 year old hipster, see him as a talented and un-ironic foil to your typical likes. David Archuleta, blessed with a distinctive voice and cursed/blessed with a father who systematically constructed him a path to stardom, is one night of voting away from winning American Idol. These are the reasons why he will emerge triumphant on Wednesday night:

Inevitability

You don’t always need reasoned, logical explanations for things: it just seems right that David Archuleta will win American Idol. It may not be just in your mind, but the sweet air of inevitability is clearly in Archuleta’s corner. For the entire American Idol season, Archuleta has acted and been judged like the golden boy destined to win. It’s felt like this since the Top 12 began, and that feeling has not gone away.

Voting Fanatics

Stories have floated along on the internet tubes for the last couple months regarding David Archuleta’s fans. How the rabid fanatics have had “voting parties” where they text or call in as many times as humanly possible within the voting window. It’s possible that Archuleta has less fans that the voting results might dictate, simply because his fans vote more than any other group of fans. If this is the case, then expect their efforts to peak on the night it matters most next week.

The Judges

If you keep saying something over and over and over and over again, eventually people start to believe it. The American Idol judges anointed Archie the prohibitive favorite early in the season and their enthusiasm continued throughout. Although Simon has taken his foot off the Archuleta praise pedal oh-so slightly, Randy and Paula still blindly sing David’s praises. If I have to hear Randy say “he could sing the phone book” one more time I will puke in my soup. Nonetheless, the judges have conditioned the audience to like all of David’s performances whether they were actually good or not.

He’s Cuter than David Cook

If you don’t think a significant portion of the voting audience doesn’t just vote for who they think is the cutest, you are kidding yourself.

…source @ buddytv

GOOD DAY UTAH - 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
RADIO INTERVIEWS - 9:00 a.m to 10:30 a.m.
AUTOGRAPH SIGNING - 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
DAVID ARCHULETA SPECIAL - 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
MURRAY HIGH SCHOOL PEP RALLY - 4:15 p.m. to 5:30
NATIONAL ANTHEM 7:00 p.m.

It’s official. David Archuleta is coming home on Friday. The Murray teen will be greeted by classmates, politicians and, oh, maybe 20,000 of his new best friends. He’ll sing the national anthem at the Utah Jazz game.

And “American Idol” cameras will be following him the whole time, capturing footage for next week’s episodes of the top-rated Fox show.

Because, as expected, Archuleta advanced to the “Idol” top three after almost 51 million votes were cast by viewers.

Which means it’s homecoming at Murray High for Archuleta on Friday. He’ll be greeted by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon and Murray Mayor Dan Snarr at an elaborate pep rally that begins at 4:15 p.m. in the school’s football stadium. He’ll sing two or three songs.

He’s also planning to sing when he appears at 7 a.m. on local Fox station KSTU-Channel 13’s “Good Day Utah,” and maybe when he goes from there to radio station KZHT-FM 97.1.

Now that Fox, “Idol” producers and the NBA have worked out issues over rights, Archuleta will indeed be singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the Jazz take on the Los Angeles Lakers in Game No. 3 of their playoff series at EnergySolutions Arena.

If you just can’t get enough of Archuleta, KSTU’s myfoxutah.com will be streaming hourly updates. And both the Web site and Channel 13 will cover the pep rally from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

It’s not exactly a surprise that Archuleta was in the top three of the voting this week. After all, “Idol” judge Simon Cowell told the Murray teen that he’d “crushed” the competition on Tuesday night.

But strange things have happened on “American Idol” before. And there’s a bit of a curse associated with the week the final four perform — finalists thought to be safe went home instead of less-talented competitors.

The pattern was set in Season 1 when Tamyra Gray made a shocking exit. That was followed by Josh Gracin in Season 2, LaToya London in Season 3 and Anthony Federov in Season 4, all thought to be at least relatively safe until they were sent home.

Then there was Chris Daughtry’s absolutely astonishing elimination in Season 5. And Lakisha Jones’ exit last season was at least mildly surprising.

Archuleta admitted on Wednesday night that he felt “nervous.”

“No matter how well you do, there’s always a chance” of being voted out,” he told “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest.

“American Idol” doesn’t reveal vote totals and, until it is just a two-person competition, doesn’t reveal who finishes first. But Seacrest said this week’s top three — Archuleta, David Cook and Syesha Mercado — were all within 1 million votes of each other.

After a pair of horrible performances on Tuesday — including one in which he forgot the lyrics — Jason Castro was sent home — only without the big celebration that awaits Archuleta, Cook and Mercado in their hometowns.

After the quick trip back to Utah, Archuleta returns to Los Angeles when he, Cook and Mercado will sing on Tuesday and await the votes on Wednesday.

Utah’s ‘American Idol’ finalist could be singing the national anthem Friday night before the NBA playoff game between the Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers.

David Archuleta, a 17-year-old Murray High School student, has earned rave reviews on the Fox TV show and is among four finalists.

The field will get smaller by Wednesday night.

Archuleta’s appearance at EnergySolutions Arena was announced on the Jazz Web site. But team spokeswoman Linda Luchetti says the NBA still must approve it.

Tuesday night, the final four took on the huge selection of “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.” This was the night that was supposed to be David Cook’s, after all he is the “resident rocker” of the group. Oddly enough, the night was owned by the 17-year-old “pop sensation,” “lil’ David”(as Seacrest likes to call him). Let’s break it down by performances now:

4. Jason Castro

As Simon stated, Jason should pack his suitcase. He tackled two “Bob” songs. The first, “I Shot the Sheriff” by Bob Marley was slightly awkward, especially when he tried to dance amd bob his head. Did anyone else notice that?
His second song, ”Mr. Tambourine Man,” by Bob Dylan, I thought was a better choice. I actually thought he sang it pretty well, but he did commit the ultimate ‘Idol” no-no by forgetting his lyrics. Although, he is the third contestant to do that this year following in the footsteps of Brooke White and David Archuleta. Whoops! It’s hard not to like Jason because he is so charming and laid-back, but he will go home Wednesday.
Grade: D

3. TIE between David Cook and Syesha Mercado

David Cook

Did anyone else expect more out of DC tonight? His first song, as Simon said was a bit of a copycat version of Duran Duran’s ”Hungry Like the Wolf.” He sang it pretty well, but had some trouble hitting those lower notes. He also sang with a more nervous energy than he has in the past few weeks.
However, David seemed more in his element with ”Baba O’Riley” by the Who. I do agree with Randy in that something weird was going on with him tonight. He definitely will survive and I fully expect he will be on his A game next time.
Grade: B

Syesha Mercado

Once again, Syesha has proven why she is the last female standing. She has such a strong, powerful voice that causes one to have goosebumps when she sings.
Her first song ”Proud Mary,” by Tina Turner was quite theatrical, which seems to be her nitch. I don’t know if it was the best choice because she did not get to show that powerful voice.
She definitely redeemed herself with the second song, ”A Change Is Gonna Come,” by Sam Cooke. She truly connected with that song for various reasons as she stated and we saw her completely lose it when Randy told her she tried too hard. Surprisingly, Simon and Paula both loved it and Syesha seemed to calm herself down after hearing Cowell’s approval.
Grade: B

1. David Archuleta

“Lil David” had the best night by a mile or as Simon said “he crushed the competition.” His version of ”Stand by Me” by Ben E. King was excellent because he truly made it his own and connected with the audience by opening his eyes, as Paula pointed out. His vocals were also outstanding.
For his second choice, David sang the more subdued “”Love Me Tender” by Elvis Presley and I don’t think it was quite as good as the first because of the lack of vitality within his vocals.
One slightly negative thing to say about David is that he sometimes chooses songs that may be a bit too mature for a person his age and in the process loses some of his youthfulness. No harm done, though. He definitely rocked and had the best night of the remaining competitors.
Grade: A

I am still thinking that it will be a David vs. David final, but both men better be at the top of their games next week because Syesha is on fire right now.
What do you think? Do you think Jason Castro will be the one packing or do you think there may be a “huge shocker” in store for us?

…source 

It’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame night on American Idol tonight. Which seems oddly appropriate, somehow, in this strangest of Idol seasons — fine one minute, not-so-fine the next — because there’s only one true rocker left in the bunch.

And, no, it ain’t David Archuleta.

Those Idol fans with long memories — long enough to go back, way back, all the way back to this time two years ago — will remember that it was at about this point in Idol’s season that consensus critics’ pick Chris Daughtry was told his Idol journey was over. Daughtry, the sole hard rocker to make the final four that year, exited the stage — and immediately went on to sell a gadzillion CDs. He’s still selling them, to hear the music charts tell it.

This time, music fans, and not just Idol believers, can only hope the same doesn’t happen to David Cook.

But it might.

Right now, this is the other David, David Archuleta’s, Idol to lose. In a terrific — if somewhat angry — post on The Huffington Post, that noted archival site for all things Idol, culture critic Chez Pazienza said as much, noting: “David Archuleta’s going to win American Idol — you may as well get that through your head right now.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Seemingly all of Utah and half of America is rooting for David Archuleta to be the next “American Idol.” But one of the Murray teen’s best friends wouldn’t be completely heartbroken if he’s not. “I miss him a lot, so it’s OK with me if he comes home,” Jessica Judd said, with a laugh.

The signs of how big a deal this is are all over Murray High — literally. Not only is the school Archuleta attends plastered with posters, but they’re selling “I voted for David Archuleta” T-shirts.

And the media have descended on the school to find out what the “Idol” favorite is really like.

(One friend, Mietra Aarabi — the girl who looked so uncomfortable on camera when “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest was teasing Archuleta about the upcoming Murray High prom — said she’s signed an agreement with Fox that prevents her from giving interviews.)

“He’s exactly the way he seems on TV. He’s sort of shy,” said one friend who asked that her name not be used. “But then everyone is surprised the first time they hear him sing.”

Archuleta’s friends use words like “sweet,” “genuine” and “humble” repeatedly — something that comes across on TV but seems too good to be true to some viewers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wouldn’t it be cool if David sang this?

Top picks from the fans…”When You Believe,” “Never Too Far,” & “Make It Through The Rain.”  We’ll see.

I know what David is singing…but do you? The night before another exciting Tuesday, many people are referring to the song choice being “There’s Got To Be a Way.” An unfamiliar song to even Mariah fans, but are they right? Have a listen!

According to Idol’s Musical Director, Michael Orland says, “One of Orland’s picks to wow Cowell & Co. Tuesday night? None other than Idol’s boy wonder, David Archuleta. “It is so natural,” he says of the 17-year-old fan favorite’s vocal talent.”

Will this be another fantastic performance from our David Archuleta?

Update:  Okay to stop confusion, he is NOT singing “There’s Got To Be a Way.”