What Now? | A blog dedicated to anything and everything under the sun.

I am not really a fan of American Idol. Heck, I can count using the digits on both of my hands the number of episodes I have watched since its debut on June 11, 2002. I was never hooked, not even when fellow Filipino Jasmine Trias (Season 3) became a household name when she landed on the Final 3 of the much talked-about reality TV show. The two or three times I have catched the show lately makes this season my most-watched of all time. Thanks to pretty-boy David Archuleta who piqued my interest on this year’s set, I’ve googled much about this season’s finalists to know them enough even without watching the show regularly, if not at all.

My night changed one fine day when I found David Cook’s name plastered all over Twitterlandia and *gasp* even at my YM contacts’ status messages. I knew much about David Archuleta, how he serenaded the first season’s finalists (yes, Kelly Clarkson!) with the song “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” from the Broadway Musical Dreamgirls, how he had been joining and winning song contests left and right before joining AI (”Star Search”) and how he lost his voice from a virus that left half of his vocal chords paralyzed in his early teens. I also knew about the other David (Hernandez) who worked at a male strip club prior to joining American Idol (See how my antenna works when juicy infos are involved? =D) But this David? I couldn’t even remember that there were three Davids in the contest! Let alone an apparently swoon-worthy David!

So with enough interest on this David girls have been going gaga about, I hopped on to American Idol’s website and looked him up. Now I understood why I overlooked him.

To everyone doubting the powers that a good wardrobe and extra primp and pampering could do, watch how this guy

transformed into this

in a matter of weeks.

Yep. That’s him alright. Albeit a few pounds less and with more facial hair. Now that he’s all dressed up to look like a star, he does look more appealing now than before right?

His dreamy vocals on the song “Always Be My Baby” for the Top 7 tribute to Mariah Carey melted hearts everywhere when he transformed it from pop to rock and made the song his own. Like a testament to how he converted legions of fans around the globe, the studio recording of his song has tens of thousands of plays on Imeem while the video of his AI performance on Youtube has had registered hundreds of thousands of plays. That’s how our used-to-be-on-the-backseat AI hopeful had risen to close-to-stardom.

I know you haven’t had enough of him just yet. Otherwise, you would have long skipped this entry and moved on with your life. So, here’s my little surprise.

Download David Cook’s Studio Recording of “Always Be My Baby” from here: http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/1238870_uqgoc/lwaysBeMyBaby_StudioVersion_.mp3

Now, wasn’t that great?

And while you’re downloading, here are some youtube videos that might tickle your fancy…

Watch David Archuleta wow the finalists from Season 1 with his accapella rendition of “And I am Telling You I’m not Going”.

Or watch David Cook’s live performance of “Always Be My Baby”.

Now, who’s the better David?

David Archuleta does look like a kid side-by-side the more manly David Cook.