Fall TV Blog

He’s the winner! Just 48 hours after becoming the newest American Idol, David Cook spoke to reporters about recording a rock record, winning by 12 million votes, and losing “10 to 15 pounds” on the show.

At the beginning of the season, Simon called you cocky, but on Wednesday he called you one of the most sincere contestants he’s ever met. Did you change?
What a journey, huh? You know, I didn’t really change much of anything, as strange as it is. I went into this with a different perspective from everybody else. I didn’t have any expectations of what this show was going to do for me, or what I was going to do for the show. I just went to it as an opportunity to expose myself musically to a large audience, and so my confidence level really never wavered, and maybe that’s what got misinterpreted as cocky or arrogant. As the season went on, maybe [Simon] saw the work I was putting in — not just on my own stuff, but really just to try to make it a positive working environment for everybody.

You’ve said you don’t recognize yourself in earlier performances. You must have changed somehow, right?
This show has been great for my diet! I’ve lost probably 10 to 15 pounds throughout this season, but there is definitely progression for me for on this show. Early on, I’m talking third or fourth week in, vocal coach Debra Byrd really hit home on me on a particular lesson. Going in to it, I put up a protective wall, a protective barrier between me and the audience, just to protect myself, a defense mechanism and she forced me to break it down. It helped in the performances and towards the end I started crying a lot. There was a lot of intensity in terms of what was at stake and what I put into it. The crying after I won was like an exhale. This whole experience has been eight months including auditions. I felt like that whole time I was holding my breath. And just to be able to breathe and enjoy the moment was amazing.

Did you work hard on the last song? Did you think you had a chance of winning?
I worked as hard as time would allow on the last song. You’ve got to hope for the best and prepare for the best but expect the worst. That’s pretty much how I operate. I made sure I was prepared to win but Archie did a great job and I’ve said it this whole time, I definitely thought if you are basing it off of Tuesday, he deserved to win. He came out and did three amazing songs.

Did you know that you were running away with the votes? There were 12 million votes between you and David Archuleta.
That number is actually really misleading. Within the bubble of Idol, it’s hard to kind of get a vibe on what’s going on. I thought Archie was probably a little bit ahead of me if I’m being honest. There are 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. But my hat’s off to Archie for the whole scenario. He handled the whole thing with such grace, but more important than that, he’s just an amazing human being. And so I was just honored to share the stage with him.

There is a theory that not winning Idol might be better for your career in the long run. Did you think about that?
The theory is there and did it cross my mind at any point in the competition? Sure, but only as an objective point. But I didn’t go into this with the idea that I didn’t want to win. That would be a slap in the face to the 103,000 people who auditioned this season that really wanted to win. I definitely went into this wanting to win it. As far as having more success by not being a winner, I think that is something that will get played out over the coming years.

Tell us about your first album. What kind of songs are going to be on it? Are you going to write a lot of it?
It’s going to be a mixture of my writing and hopefully writing with some other people. Bottom line is I just want to come out of the gate with a solid record. If I can do that, I’ll be happy. The ideal release date is as soon as possible if you are asking me, but obviously these things take time. As far as a type of record, it will probably be a rock record but 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.

How is it that you’re still single?
Well, I have no idea!

Kathy Hutchins/Hutchins Photo