Cook Wins 'Idol'

PHOTO: Fox

From USA Today:

David Cook rocks his way to the 'American Idol' title

By Bill Keveney and Ken Barnes, USA TODAY

LOS ANGELES — American Idol crowned its first real rocker Wednesday as David Cook rolled over 17-year-old balladeer David Archuleta to become Idol No. 7.

Cook, 25, cried when his name was read. "You kind of hold that air in for four months, throughout the whole process. To be able to exhale was kind of the ultimate release," Cook said after the show. "Ten-plus years of work I put into wanting to play music has been vindicated all of a sudden."

He didn't expect to win. "It didn't hit me at first. I'd expected the name David Archuleta to be said. But part of what made the moment perfect is I was standing next to him."

The win for Cook, a bartender in Blue Springs, Mo., came as a bit of a surprise, considering Tuesday's performances and the judges' reactions, which swung heavily in Archuleta's favor. Earlier Wednesday, Simon Cowell apologized to Cook, saying his remarks had been "verging on disrespectful. … When I went back home and watched it, it wasn't quite so clear-cut."

Was there a backlash? "I didn't necessarily think that helped (get the vote out)," Cook said. "After Week 2, when I had a little verbal spat with Simon, I took a step back and took it for what it was. It's an opinion. And somewhere in the things he says, there's always constructive criticism."

Archuleta said afterward that he was satisfied with the results. "Cook is such a great guy. I've looked up to him. It's never really gone to his head, and I really admire that. He's had some tough times. And he's always stayed strong. He's proven that to America, and that's why he's the last one standing."

As for his own future, Archuleta said, "I'm so excited to see what it'll be like after all this. It's been months since I've been out of American Idol World. I just want to see what happens to me musically, how everyone's doing at home, and how touring turns out. I'm so excited to keep working on music, and this is opening doors that I've been dreaming about."

Of a record 97.5 million votes, Cook won by 12 million, host Ryan Seacrest announced. The two-hour-plus finale, in which the winner was announced at the 1:59 mark, paraded out not only this season's eliminated contestants but also present and past pros. ZZ Top traded Sharp Dressed Man licks with Cook; OneRepublic performed a duet with Archuleta on Apologize.

Cook came to the Omaha auditions to provide moral support for his brother Andrew; talked into singing, he made the Hollywood rounds while his brother didn't. (That's not to say Cook is an amateur: He has sung in several bands and released an independent album, Analog Heart, in 2006.)

He became one of the first contestants to play electric guitar onstage, and made a specialty of applying rock textures to softer songs such as Lionel Richie's Hello. His penchant for dramatic rearrangements marked him as a mold-breaking contestant.