A True Idol

Not surprisingly, I am a huge American Idol fan. Not that I'm that into pop music; I haven't bought a pop c.d. in a decade. I do, however, like to see the competition between talented singers who (hopefully) sing in a healthy way. Obviously as we have seen recently with Jordin Sparks (last season's winner), that is not always the case. This season, I picked my favorite immediately: David Archuleta, a teenager from Murray High School. I picked him for a few reasons. Number one, of course, was is unique and beautiful instrument. I also appreciated his technique - I wasn't worried that he would injur himself - and his demeanor. He just seemed like a really nice kid. After hearing him a few times, I decided that he must have had some exposure to jazz because while the inflections he used were very "poppy", the placement of those inflections and overall interpretation were more in line with the way I would approach it than most contestants I've heard. Sure enough, David's Dad is a jazz trumpet player. Then I found out that he was in fact a member of the church. He's from Murray Utah so it wasn't surprising, but these days you really can't assume anything based on that. He has been Simon Cowell's favorite all season, and after the final showdown Tuesday night, the media really had him pegged as the winner. Randy Jackson said he was the most talented singer this season, and Simon said he came out to win, and the end result was a knockout (there was a boxing theme going on all night) after declaring him the winner of all 3 rounds. So I was very excited to finally see my favorite win. Well, he didn't. But in some ways that's acutally better. He will for sure be signed for a record contract, but without American Idol controlling him. Now there is pretty much no way American Idol could keep him from serving a mission, which would have been really sad. I am just so happy to see a true idol out there - I nice kid whose values you can count on and whose face you don't need to worry about seeing in the wrong places. Here is a segment from today's cover story from Meridian Magazine: Brenda Fisher, who dubs herself his number one fan and is the secretary of the Murray High School seminary, says that there is no worry about possible stardom and the love of fans ruining David. “He is the perfect example of an LDS youth,” she says. “He is showing the world what being LDS is all about. As people get to know him, they'll learn the gospel through his words and actions. I've heard him bear his testimony. I've heard him sing his testimony. I don't think his morals will change.”