American Idol Latest News 11/11/08

DAVID ARCHULETA “David Archuleta” (19/Jive Records)
He may have entranced millions with his dewy-eyed ballads on “American Idol” - enough to nail the runnerup slot - but the idea of presenting David Archuleta as a contemporary recording star poses, shall we say, problems.

Not since Clay Aiken has the “A.I.” franchise been presented with a singer whose character stands this far from the rough-and-tumble world of contemporary pop. Though Archuleta is actually 17, he looks no more than 12. And, as a personality, he seems innocent enough to make the kids in “High School Musical” look like embittered crack ho’s by comparison. The twinkly singer exudes a presexual purity more appropriate to the puppy love of ’50s pop than anything from today. Meaning his record company can’t have him singing anything too randy or too knowing, or they’d wind up looking like purveyors of kiddie porn. via NY Daily News

Archuleta’s debut album devoid of personality
Banal, blah, dull and flavorless are all synonyms for “bland,” and they’re all applicable to the debut album by seventh season “American Idol” runner-up David Archuleta.

During his “Idol” run, Archuleta was a shy, aw-shucks teenager whose unnaturally powerful voice occasionally cut through the generic songs he preferred to sing. When he was on, he was on, and his undeniably moving version of John Lennon’s “Imagine” was not only the season’s single-best performance, but one of the strongest in “Idol” history.

But the 17-year-old had serious problems connecting with his youth, and he often came off as programmed. His awkward take on Chris Brown’s “With You” — one of the few songs he sang by an artist near his own age — underlined the problem: Archuleta was a geriatric trapped in a teenager’s body. via Detroit News

David Archuletta’s debut is a predictable work of mediocrity
It’s hardly worth getting in a lather over David Archuleta’s major label debut.

But then you remember how aggressively bland and robotic he seemed during the seventh season of American Idol — the 17-year-old finished second to scruffy rocker David Cook, whose own debut drops next week — and how this briskly paced, 12-track album somehow manages to be just as mediocre as expected. Ah, there’s goes the spike in blood pressure. via Star Telegram

David Cook Dedicates Song to Brother
David Cook isn’t lacking for inspiration these days. But while his skyrocketing career is certainly fairy tale fodder, Cook needs to look no further than his own backyard. To that end, the ‘American Idol’ winner wrote a song called ‘Permanent’ — the “poignantly personal” second-to-last track on Cook’s forthcoming debut solo record — for his brother, Adam, who is currently fighting cancer. via Popeater

David Cook: Inside His New CD
Honoring a time-worn rock & roll tradition, David Cook is trying to coax his drummer out of a prone position. ”Hey, I didn’t make you go out and drink last night!” he ribs the reclining stickman. ”You’re at work, bitch! Don’t lie on the couch and look at me like I just killed your dog.” Soon they are all back at it inside Hollywood’s famed SIR rehearsal studios, where hard-rock bands have long given their chops a workout before hitting the road. This afternoon, the hardest and loudest sounds are coming out of Studio 6, where Cook & Co. are running through songs from the American Idol winner’s forthcoming major-label debut. ”Bar Ba Sol,” the heaviest song from the new album, builds from thick, bottom-end-rattling riffs to screaming solos, and Cook is letting loose the kind of grungy wailing that might make less gifted singers bust a corpuscle. The metalheads down the hall must surely be impressed. via Entertainment Weekly