Archuleta Has Knockout Night On "Idol"

(CBS)  David Archuleta gave what judge Simon Cowell called a knockout performance on the "American Idol" season 7 finals Tuesday, with song choices that showed off his voice to best advantage.

In Cowell's opinion - and judge Randy Jackson concurred - Archuleta's opponent David Cook stumbled by not choosing a showstopper to sing in the final round.

The judges, however, don't have a voice in who ultimately wins the competition. That will be up to the "American Idol" viewing audience, whose decision will be revealed on Wednesday's grand finale.

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Photos: "American Idol" Season 7

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Favorites from the beginning of the season, both finalists entered the evening undefeated in "American Idol" terms. Neither of them had ever landed in the dreaded weekly bottom three of lowest-vote getters.

The Fox reality show made full use of the boxing theme throughout Tuesday night's match, which kicked off with ring announcer Michael Buffer crying out his catchphrase "Let's get ready to rumble!" HBO's fight commentator Jim Lampley was shown in clips throughout the show, saying things like "in a three round fight, you want to pace yourself."

The fight analogy only went so far.

"You've gotta have a desire to win and you've got to hate your opponent," judge Simon Cowell advised before the first round of competition.

But the verbal handshake before the fight was a friendly one, with Archuleta saying Cook was "awesome" and Cook responding that Archuleta was the most consistently nice person in the competition.

Archuleta, who won the coin toss prior to the show, had decided to go second in front of the 7,000 people at the Nokia Live Theater in Los Angeles.

In the first round, the singers sang tunes selected for them by record mogul Clive Davis, whose record company, Sony BMG, will hand out a contract to the "American Idol" winner.

Cook kicked off the round with a solid performance of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." All the judges thought he was in fine voice, with Cowell calling his performance phenomenal.

Archuleta followed with Elton John's "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me," which Jackson called flawless.

"Taking everything into account, Round 1 goes to Archuleta," said Cowell.

The singers chose songs from the top 10 songs in the annual "American Idol" songwriting contest.

Cook broke out his electric guitar for "Dream Big" by Emily Shackleton and Archuleta sang the ballad "In This Moment" by Ryan Gillmor. Of the two, Cowell thought Archuleta chose the better song and gave the round to him.

The third round was the decisive one, at least according to Cowell.

Cook decided to go with a song he hadn't sung before, Collective Soul's "The World I Know." He accompanied himself on acoustic guitar for the soulful ballad. Jackson said it was the perfect song for him, but Cowell pointed out it wasn't the kind of showstopper that would win the contest.

"You should have sung 'Hello' or 'Billie Jean'," Cowell said, referring to songs that had won Cook praise earlier in the season.

"It was the wrong choice in the competition," Jackson conceded, "but it's a good song."

"The way that I was looking at it was, why do something I've already done. For the record, I completely understand what you're saying," Cook said.

Archuleta delivered the final blow by singing John Lennon's "Imagine," the song that got him noticed in week 2 of the competition.

"Tonight I think we've witnessed one of the great finals," said Cowell. "Here's the difference in my opinion: you came out here tonight to win and what we have witnessed is a knockout."

The evening wrapped with a live performance of season 2 winner Ruben Studdard singing this season's elimination song, Kenny Loggins' "Celebrate Me Home."

Tomorrow night, after the viewer votes are tallied, Cook and Archuleta will know which one of them will celebrate their win as this season's "American Idol."

By Judy Rosen

[ajaxrose1]

I don''t care which one wins, they''ll both have good careers, just in different genres. I''ve liked David Archuleta from the minute he auditioned. He''s a doll with a tremendous voice and a real ability to connect with the audience and the song he''s singing. David Cook has that "in your face" talent in a Bruce Springsteen way that everyone loves. And since I''m also from Missouri it does my heart good to see a "local" boy making good. (It was cool, there were three from MO in the top 24 this year.) The Davids are both really awesome, talented young men and I''ve enjoyed watching them. They''re going to be around for a long time.

[mecury69]

Sorry guys and gals but the fix was NOT in. Simon Cowell said he wanted David C to win just a day before the finals. He said David C deserved it from his age and background while David A was young and will have plenty of more opportunities.

My wife and I LOVE David C. His cover of Billie Jean was amazing and we were hooked. But honestly, we both looked at each other and admitted David A won the night, the biggest night of them all.

[elkc]

I thought turning a blind eye to the songwriters was in bad taste. At least a pics along with an honorary mention. Archuleta, couldn''t find better cloths to wear for his finest night of singing? The dress down drab was a turn off with all the lights and glitter, the whatever look hosted by cook left something to be desired, like a bic razor. The boxing match opening -korny as in Hee Haw! To the singing, adult contemporary or young adult pop- David Cook. Members of the pedophiliac community and kids under the age of 15- David Archuleta. That being said...Either contestant won depending which age group had the largest voting audience.

[excoachken]

I think both Davids are excellent, but last night Archuletta''s consistent brilliant voice outdid Cook''s solid but at times garbled, lyrics. It was, unexpectedly, the seasoned professional Cook who "choked" and the "green teen" who stayed a cool as a cucumber! I think Cook will have a fine career, perhaps, because of his versatility, even better than Archuletta, who seems to be stuck in one genre, but anyone who claims that Cook was the better performer last night must have mixed something extra into their Kool Aid.

[legalru]

It was SO obvious from the first song last night that both Simon and Paula had joined Randy''s lic*kfest of DavidA. I sure don''t understand it, but it is what it is. Cook was awesome, Archie was his usual key-on, soulful, same-o self.
I don''t agree with Simon that Cook should have repeated a performance even if it was stellar, this was once again his chance to showcase his originality, and impress that DavidA relies on has-already-done-that.
Won''t matter tho'' Randy Jackson has the hots for the boy!!

[lorinkundert]

Archuleta will end up like Jordan Sparks, after all the little girls don''t have the money to buy cd''s.

It was obvious by Simon''s actions who is going to win, so the bosses must have decided who will win, hint: the votes really don''t matter.

[exposed2008]

Thousands and thousands of people paid $10.00 each for a chance to enter the 2008 American Idol Songwriting Contest, And look what they got.......So how many will it take till someone calls this fraud? 1. Top 20 American Idol Songwriting Finalist (Andy Zulla) is an engineer on Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson, Diana DeGarmo CD''s. 2. Top 20 American Idol Songwriting Finalist (Windy Wagner) is a backup singer on the NEW Clay Aiken CD. 3. Top 20 American Idol Songwriting Finalist (Ryan Gillmor) wrote the theme song for the Fox television show "Unhitched". 4. Top 20 American Idol Songwriting Finalist (Dan Yessian) wrote jingles for Ford Motors. 5. Top 20 American Idol Songwriting Finalist (Luke Ebbin) is a producer on Austalian Idol 1st place runner-up Shannon Noll''s CD. 6. Top 20 American Idol Songwriting Finalist (Regie Hamm) (FYI...USAToday . com has named him the Songwriting Winner), is a co-writer on the NEW Clay Aiken CD and he''s also a co-writer of the winner of 2007''s American Idol Songwriting Contest Scott Krippayne......Anybody see a pattern Yet? 3 of the 2008 American Idol Songwriting Contest Top 20 songwriters get credit on Clay Aiken CD''s. Out of thousands and thousands of entries, 3 out of 20 work with Mr. Aiken. and nobody has a problem with this? The 2008 American Idol songwriting winner and 2007 American Idol songwriting winner are song co-writing partners and that''s fine with everybody? If not then please visit ....... americanidolexposed . weebly . com