American Idol Rocker David Cook Takes on Mariah

American Idol in its 7^th season has been one of the most entertaining because of its diversity of talent and creativity. With 7 contestants left in the competition, each note and song choice can mean the difference between moving on and getting voted off. This week, the contestants took on the challenging task of singing songs by perennial R&B pop icon, Mariah Carey. Seemly before the contestants even began to sing, most in the audience and the millions watching at home wonder how the American Idols will attempt to cover Mariah. In past seasons as in this one, contestants that have taken on powerful singers such as Whitney, Celine or Mariah have had a difficult time because of the inevitable comparison with the original hits.

This week added additional challenges. For the women, it involved "making the song their own" and standing out. For the men, it was a challenge to sing songs made popular by a brilliant female singer with such a powerful voice..

A stand out performance of the night was by the "rocker", David Cook from Blue Springs, MO. In an attempt to take "another step outside the box", David's song choice of "Always be my baby", a number one single in 1995 from the album Daydream, was brave choice of song. After the performance was over, with the audience standing in ovation, David's performance was another testament to his talent of singing to his strengths and providing the audience with covers they can only hope will be on his inevitable album release.

Randy said "I've never stood up yet this season, that was most brilliant performance yet..."

Paula said the song "could be on a movie soundtrack right now..."

Simon said David's performance was like "a breath of fresh air" and "it was daring and stood out by a mile..."