David Cook is the winner of Season 7 of American Idol
Part 2 of the American Idol season finale started with the top 12 finalists performing “Get Ready” along with some of the dancers from So You Think You Can Dance. It was a nice performance that got the audience all riled up and ready for a great finale.
After the commercial break the two Davids sang a duet, “Hero” and in my opinion David Cook just took it over. David A. is so soft and smooth and, dare I say it, a bit feminine in this performance of a song that has such a rough and hard edge.
Next up was a skit with the two Davids meeting with spiritual advisor Guru Pitka (Mike Myers) from the movie “The Love Guru.” Mike Myers is freakin’ hysterical and I laughed like crazy. I hate these long drawn out finals and the time fillers they use but this was worth my time and very funny. It was followed up with Syesha Mercado performing the song “Waiting for You” with Seal. Seal is awesome. Syesha looked good. She has really transformed herself from the beginning of the process and looked very nice.
Jason Castro performed “Hallelujah” after the commercial break. I didn’t care for it the first time he sang the song and I didn’t care for it again tonight. I just don’t get him and why people think he is so hot and great. He’s a talented young man but I don’t think any more of him than that. I’m sure if he makes a record he’ll get all the tween and young teen fans to buy it. Next up is an airing of the finalists Ford commercial and an announcement from Ryan Seacrest – both of the finalists will get a Ford Escape Hybrid. Ryan asks Archuleta if he has his driver’s license. (Is it me or is he looking even younger tonight than usual?)
The top 6 ladies are up next performing several Donna Summer songs – “She works hard for the money” and “Hot Stuff” and then the disco diva herself Ms. Summer comes on stage to sing her new song “Stamp your feet” and a pseudo-duet of “Last Dance” with Syesha. It was interesting that when Syesha was going to sing she was going to use her own microphone but the disco diva passed her the crystal studded mike she was using for herself. Again a nice performance.
After the commercial break Carly Smithson and Michael Johns performed a duet of “The Letter” and let me say this – one of them, if not both of them, should have been in the finals tonight. This ticks me off, that American Idol is a popularity contest first and a talent competition second. Just my opinion. Their performance was awesome.
Jimmy Kimmel did a stand up skit next and I guess he’s open to performing on any reality program – first Dancing With The Stars and now AI. It was hysterical. I loved it when he said that Simon’s parents – Rosemary and Satan Cowell – should be proud of him.
The top 6 guys performed next, the Bryan Adams songs “Summer of ‘69” and “Heaven”. Jason Castro messed up his lyrics. “Summer of ‘69” is one of my favorite songs ever and I couldn’t believe he messed it up – instead of saying “that summer seemed to last forever” he sings “last summer seemed to last forever.” Come on. Maybe it was the dreadlocks that gave him this brain fart. The guys did rock. I love Bryan Adams so I was thrilled to see him on the show tonight.
David Cook performed next with ZZ Top. I can’t believe that just a few months ago this guy was a bartender and now he’s rocking out with one of the best rock groups of all time singing one of their biggest hits “Sharp dressed man.” David seemed so happy up there, having such a good time. Brooke White and Brad Nash did an acoustic version of the classic “Teach your children well” and now I know why I liked her during the season. She is a classic folksy singer and she was great.
The Jonas Brothers were up next, I guess to appeal to the David Archuleta fan base. Boring, boring, boring. No Idol finalist performed with them. I wonder why. Actually, I don’t care why. Waste of time.
We were treated next to a best of the worst tape and a live performance of “I am your brother” by Idol auditionee Renaldo Lapuz. He was accompanied on stage by the USC marching band and cheerleaders and Randy and Paula.
David Archuleta got some spotlight time with One Republic singing their song “Apologize.” It just sounded like every other performance he’s given these past two days. After a visit with the fans in David A.’s hometown the current American Idol, Jordin Sparks, took the stage to perform “One step at a time.”
Next up was a spoof video of an “unknown” audition tape from 1972. In fact it was an old video of Gladys Knight and the Pips doing “Midnight train to Georgia” but instead of the pips it was Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Robert Downey, Jr. All proceeds from downloading the video from iTunes will go to charity. It was hysterical. Following that was a performance by Carrie Underwood of her song “Last Name.” She’s good but I was distracted by how short her dress was. Some of the camera angles were close enough for me to hope that she was wearing underpants under that dress.
The final 12 were up again for a group performance of George Michael songs –“Faith,” “Father Figure,” and “Freedom” and then George Michael himself came out to perform. He looked bad and sounded not like he usually does. I don’t want to come out and say he sounded bad, but yes, he did.
After one hour and 58 minutes of waiting we get to the announcement of the winner of season 7 of American Idol. By 12 million votes David Cook is named American Idol. I’ thrilled.
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