The AI Finals

First song:

Clive Davis Pick

• David Cook - “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” by U2
• David Archuleta - “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” by Elton John

I love "I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and David Cook did it well. From the 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, this song along with With or Without You, Where the Streets Have No Name set it number 26 on Rolling Stone magazine's greatest 500 albums ever. Unfortunately, though it's a terrific song, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” is a bigger song musically (not lyrically) and music is what you hear. It was right up Archie's turnpike, and I think he probably took round one.


Second Song

Songwriters Contest

• David Cook - “Dream Big”
• David Archuleta - “In This Moment”

Let's be honest - both songs sucked. Not so much from a performance point of view, but neither is memorable. Neither is big. And both are laden with cheese. Having said that, I thought David Cook had the better performance of the two.


Third Song

Personal Choice

• David Cook - “The World I Know” by Collective Soul
• David Archuleta - “Imagine” by John Lennon
  

I will never like "Imagine". It sounds like Lennon childishly whining out that the world would be perfect if it was only the way HE wanted it to be. It's socialistic drivel, and I don't understand a generation's infatuation with it. I also don't like the fact that Archie reprised it. I have never liked that practice, though I suppose it makes things actually easier for the singer when they don't have to learn a new song. DC did a sweet job with "The World I Know." I've heard only a couple songs from Collective Soul before and that wasn't one of them. But I really liked his performance of it.

Because of this mindless love for "Imagine" Archie probably won the round. I would have picked DC though. His performance was artistry. Archie's was schmaltz.

So in my world the score ends up David Cook 2, David Archuleta 1.

But I've always preferred art over teenage marketability. Guess that's why I'm not rich.