David Cook's Final Six Performance on American Idol

David Cook has been the on-again, off-again favorite to win American Idol for that past several weeks, according to TV Guide's Power Rankings, climbing to the top and vying for that position with the far-too-cute David Archuleta. His smooth grunge vocal stylings have won him a huge fan base and even have Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson telling him he could win the competition. So, when they announced the song choices for the Final Six were going to be taken from the catalog of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, one would think that the versatile rocker might have finally hit the wall.

One would have been wrong.

Taking the coaching tips given him by Sir Andrew himself, David Cook sung "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera nearly to perfection. His performance was by far the best of the night. Going back to the low smoothness that he used in wowing the judges with his rendition of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," David Cook exhibited his vocal range and timing with "Music of the Night." He stood center stage, sans guitar, and belted out that song like he had been doing Broadway for years, confidently, with conviction.

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber had to have been proud.

The judges loved it. As well they should. (Randy told Ellen Degeneres on her syndicated talk show earlier in the day that he believed the final American Idol contest would be between the two Davids.)

With this Final Six performance, David Cook has established himself as the one to beat. And as long as he doesn't have one of those self-indulgent moments like he did during the "inspiration week" (he sang a horrible Our Lady Peace song), he may not even have much trouble defeating the terribly talented and even more terribly handsome David Archuleta.