Well, David Cook did it, he beat out David A for the title of American Idol. It is a bit upsetting to me, I mean I think that David C is a very good singer and entertainer, but I really thought that David A. should have won. I mean he definitely is more naturally vocally talented than David C but he did always seem a little timid on stage. I really thought however, that immediately following those performances on the last night, that David A looked awesome, and David C looked a little weak in comparison.
I actually got to learn a little bit about the behind the scenes at AI when I went to see Colton Berry in person. I got to see him perform live, and he also talked a lot about the AI experience. In case you don't know who Colton Berry is, he was one of the guys who made it to the top 20 but then got taken off soon after. He told things about AI that just amazed me.
He talked about his first audition where they filled an entire stadium with American Idol wanna bes and called each one down one at a time to sing. When you got down to sing in front of several producers they only let you sing a few notes and then they said whether you were in or out. He sang a few notes, and after he did they said they weren't sure on him and that he would have to audition in front of Nigel Lythgoe (From So You Think You Can Dance). Apparently, he is one of the producers of AI as well. Well, he said that he sang in front of him an entire song, and when he finished Nigel said that he really couldn't sing, but he had great hair so he was putting him through. I thought that was really interesting.
He said then he got to come back a few weeks later, and audition in front of the judges. The whole time, he couldn't let anyone know that he was going to be on American Idol. Then he went back and made it through with the judges, and then he had to go home again, and still couldn't say anything to anyone. Then each time he went back to AI he couldn't tell anyone when he came home that he was progressing, and eventually just lied to people and told him that he was going out of town for a while to visit friends. He said that he began this process in August, but that the shows didn't actually start to air until December, so he said it was a very long/secretive process. He said that he became really good friends with the other contestants, and said he still keeps in touch with them. He also said that the one guy who didn't make it into the top 20, you know the guy who was living in his car, actually has since gotten a recording contract and is doing fine. He also talked about how small the set on AI is, he said it looks really big on TV but it is like being in a cardboard box. And he said that the microphones that they hold actually don't do anything, they are just for show.
For a big AI fan like me, it was a real treat to get to hear about someone's first hand experiences with the show. I really enjoyed getting the inside scoop.