American Idol 7: Why David Archuleta Lost

This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. The script from the beginning of the show said David Archuleta was going to win – he was going to be the 2008 American Idol. But then something happened. Even though David Archuleta had an awesome finale, he still was 12 million votes short! Why did David Archuleta lose?

Even though it was the final vote of the season, we still handle this question the same way as we have since the first four were voted off in the semi-finals – by looking back at What ‘American Idol 7’ Contestants Need to Know. So let’s get to it.

First and foremost is the rule that tells contestants to sing and perform well. Looking at the finale, David Archuleta did a great job with this. Those three performances were, quite frankly, among his best of the entire season. Actually, they weren’t just among his best, they were among the best. His voice shone through every song, and it was clear why he had been anointed as the winner months ago. Indeed, based on those performances, many of us picked him as the winner again – even though I, for one, had picked David Cook in my pre-show prediction article with Sting7. Those performances overwhelmed what I had thought were good reasons David Cook would take the prize.

Another factor that was apparently in David Archuleta’s favor was his song choice. The first song, picked by Clive Davis, was perfect for David. The second song, which he chose from among the top ten within the Idol song contest, was similarly perfect for him. And then he returned to one of his earlier best performances with “Imagine.”

It seemed like a perfect combination. It seemed like a winning combination.

But interestingly enough, David had problems with the third rule. That one says to be consistent and able to sing different genres. We usually only focus on the first part of this rule, consistency. And I do want to mention it first. In that regard, David was good. Indeed, for a few weeks I thought David might have been a bit too consistent, which might have led to an earlier demise along the lines of Melinda Doolittle. He made it through, but I do wonder if that could have contributed to his loss here.

To quote from the rule, “Last season, Blake taught us an interesting lesson that I think could be useful for future Idol wannabes. Rather than sing solidly throughout, Blake took chances. Sometimes those risks paid off. Sometimes not. But when they did, they really did, and outweighed the issue of consistency. … While it is certainly important to be consistently good, there is something to be said for going out on that limb from time to time.” David Archuleta rarely, if ever, went out on that limb. He was ever so consistent, with a few minor flops along the way.

But in those flops, he also demonstrated a problem with the second part of the rule. He had been categorized as the ballad singer. Give him a good ballad and he could absolutely kill the audience with it. Give him something else, though, and… well, it was a bit of a crapshoot. Indeed, looking at the three finale songs he chose, all of them were ballads – all of them were right in his comfort zone.

It’s not horrible to keep songs in your comfort zone, but there is a reason so many people (myself included) kept saying, “David Archuleta has a great voice, but I wouldn’t buy his CD.” Why? Because I’m simply not a ballad type of guy. There is no way I would ever pay money to hear him sing his Idol contest song. But I’d certainly pay to download the one David Cook sang. Apparently, enough people felt similarly when it came to dialing, rather than paying.

The fourth rule tells singers to be unique. David Archuleta certainly didn’t have a problem here. Even if you didn’t already know him from his Star Search days, he was the cute kid who was all aw-shucks throughout the entire competition, and who had an amazing voice.

Indeed, David stood out from the get-go. He was not only unique, but highly memorable as well, thus doing equally well according to the fifth rule. Indeed, I remember David Archuleta sticking in my mind long before Cook did.

David Archuleta also presented himself as a good package. Like I said, the aw-shucks kid with the amazing voice. But I have to admit, some parts of the David Archuleta did get a little old. For example, even after he had been praised to high heaven, he would appear shocked that he was sent to the safe couch – as if he had ever been in any danger. Did that cost him any votes or fans? Eh, probably not much. But if it bothered me a little bit, it probably bothered other people a bit too.

Certainly David didn’t have any problems with the seventh rule, which says not to argue with the judges. So that brings us to a key point – the eighth rule’s focus on creating a fan base.