I had a great day, spent with family today. Hope you all had a nice day–no matter how you spent it!
Love David Cook’s acoustic version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from today’s Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade.
And so happy he wasn’t forced to lip sync in front of a bunch of dancing puppets. Yay!
Thanks to Jennacarter2003 for the upload. I won’t be able to edit my copy ’til I get back to Boston tomorrow afternoon…
I loved David Cook’s acoustic performance of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Every good performer puts their own twist on the songs they sing. David is no exception. Every song he sings sounds like a David Cook song and I love it. What a lovely Christmas “present”. Thank you for posting.
After hearing the video of this, I left my comment and am just now reading back over the previous posts. There is one thing that Scott posted earlier that I just loved and wanted to comment on. I think you hit the nail on the head exactly when you said that a part of David Cook’s charm is his ability to combine sweet and I might add sentimental, with an edgier rock sound. I love the contrast. From all I know about him through this site and others and because I just love him I read everything I can find, he is really that combination of sweet and edgy in real life that comes through so beautifully in his voice and therefore in his performances. He is a sensitive guy with a great sense of humor and an amazing creative take on everything he sings, with a rock edge. I loved this rendition and always love how into his music he is. He said at his audition that he is versatile vocally, and that is an understatement. I have yet to find a song that he can’t sing and sing well and this one was no exception.
Being on A.I. gives artists an opportunity they would never have otherwise, especially in this tough music business today. Winning the title entitles Cook more media, exposure, thereby more chances to make it to the top. That’s the only perk to winning. Of course the winner gets a record deal but other contestants often get the same record deal. Nobody gets any money for “winning.” It’s more exposure if you perform on television to attract non-A.I. fans. Both of the Davids already have the A.I. fanbase, but they need to expand their fanbase. Both benefited from their exposure. Archie did a great job with his segment when frankly he isn’t great with speaking or the “interview” in the past, but this proved he’s more comfortable now and less nervous. Cook is a natural at public speaking and he’s already done a Disney Commerical and a promo for the upcoming American Idol Experience attraction as has Jordin and Carrie.
reinharv said:
Do we know that for sure? Because I recall during the first Larry King interview of the Top 10 after the season that David Archuleta said something (in response to a question from LK) to the effect that Cook got something and Cook kind of tried to play it down by saying they were taken care of or something like that. (I just rewatched the first 4 segments of that interview (up til Syesha and Jason were interviewed) but couldn’t find the exact segment where Archie said that, but I do have a specific recollection of that exchange.) Anyway, this led me to believe that the winner did get money for winning. Does anyone else recall this?
I think I read that the winner gets an advance for promotion, etc., but that they have to pay it back with the sales of their albums. A record deal is a big deal and as the winner he gets more media and promotion to help him succeed. I am pretty sure he doesn’t get money he can keep. They get royalties from all the iTunes sales of their A.I. performances, of which Cook had close to a million total downloads, and they each get at least $1,000 for every song they perform on the A.I. tour and a portion for the group songs and that again is designed to give them some hard cash in their pockets after A.I.
I am also pretty sure that the reason Cook said they were taken care of is because they are not allowed to say anything about what they get. It’s some big secret but the only reason I know they make money during the tour is because I read last year on another blog that a certain contestant hinted about the money they make for each song they sing during the tour. In the past #1 & #2 got to do 4-5 songs and they made more money while everyone else did one solo. This year it changed for the better as each did at least 3 songs.