[IMG:L]Following last week’s American Idol finale, David Cook (the champ) and David Archuleta (the runner-up) still had plenty to say about their experience on the country’s most-watched show–even if they were nearly running on empty…
DAVID COOK
On how he changed–or didn’t–throughout the course of the competition:
“You know, I really didn’t change much of anything, as strange as it is. I went into this with kind of a different perspective from everybody else. I didn’t have any expectations as to what the show was going to do for me or what I was going to do for the show. I just went into it as an opportunity to expose myself musically to a large audience. So my confidence level really never wavered and maybe that’s what got misinterpreted as cocky or arrogant.”
On his upcoming first album:
“Well, the ideal release date is as soon as possible, if you’re asking me, but obviously these things take time. As far as the type of record, it’ll probably be a rock record, but I think that’s a pretty vague generalization. I just want to make a record that’s going to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.”
On a possible collaboration with his younger brother Andrew:
“You know, I’ve left the option open. I’m kind of leaving it up to him. It’s however he wants to operate in this whole deal. I know he wants to try to make his own way, so I’ll support him whatever he decides to do. I wouldn’t mind writing with him.”
On the astonishingly wide margin of votes (12 million) separating him and Archuleta in the finale:
“You know, I think that number is actually really misleading. Obviously within the bubble of Idol, it’s hard to kind of get a vibe on what’s going on. I thought Archie [David Archuleta] was probably a little bit ahead of me if I’m being honest. I think as far as the finale goes, there’s a lot of conspiracy theories out there. I attribute the finale vote discrepancy just to my fans just being awesome. I don’t really know how else to explain it. You know, my hats off to Archie for the whole scenario. I mean, he handled himself with a lot of grace. More importantly, he’s just an amazing human being, so I was just honored to share the stage with him.”[PAGEBREAK]
DAVID ARCHULETA
On the “sense of relief” he felt after the finale:
“Each week and as the weeks went on, we had more songs each week to have to learn along with other things. With this final week, it was the busiest of all. It was hard to find time to even rehearse and stuff along with school and everything else going on. So on that Tuesday night I just tried to make sure I didn’t regret anything I did and so I think I did that. It was just such a relief to just feel good about what I did and the fact that that was the last impression I gave on the show. The competition is all over and now it’s time to really focus on music.”
On the negative press his dad received:
“I hadn’t really heard much of it until later on. I tried to stay away from the press and my dad also. He understood that I didn’t like to hear anything going on in the news about me good or bad, just because I didn’t want it to distract me or let it go to my head or anything like that. I just wanted to stay myself and how I was at the beginning of the competition before all this happened. I wanted to keep who I was, the normal teenage David. In interviews and stuff it started coming up and it was just kind of strange because there were really weird things. I heard one thing was, like, he refused to give me water or something like that. That’s the weirdest thing. I mean, I’m 17 and if I want water I’m pretty sure I would just go get it anyway. Another thing was, like, he made me cry during one of the recording studios or something like that. I can’t remember really. Just weird things like that. I’m old enough to have enough control over myself… There isn’t really anything he’s done that’s bad like the things that have been spoken about him.”
On his future non-music plans:
“You know, I kind of change my mind here and there. Lately what I find is really interesting is that [ear, nose, and throat] doctor thing, which I know would take a lot of work and education, but I think it’s just something that really interests me because it’s something that helps people who’ve had the same problems as me with the whole hearing and nose congestion and problems with your voice. It’s just, like, something I can really relate to people with, because it’s like I’ve had so many issues with that stuff, so it’d be great to study into that more and be able to help out with all those problems and also learn about it.”
On the judges’ advice:
“You know, I always really enjoy when they mention the fact that they could feel that I was connecting with the song and that they could feel it, too–like when Paula [Abdul] would say that and when Randy [Jackson] would say, ‘That was the bomb.’… It’s great when people let you know what you could work on, because you can’t do better when you’re not aware of the things you can work on.”
