'American Idol' Winner David Cook Interview

American Idol' QA: Cookie Wins!

Are you surprised that you won by 12 million votes?
You know, I think that number is actually really misleading. Within the bubble of 'Idol,' it's hard to get a vibe of what's going on. I thought Archie was a little bit ahead of me, if I'm being honest. As far as the finale goes, there's a lot of conspiracy theories out there. I attribute the finale vote discrepancies to my fans just being awesome. I don't really know how else to explain it. My hat's off to Archie, he handled himself with a lot of grace and more importantly, he's just an amazing, amazing human being. I was just honored to share the stage with him.

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How do you feel about the theory that you're better off not winning, like Chris Daughtry ?
Did it cross my mind at any point in the competition? Sure, but only as an objective point. To go [into 'Idol'] with the idea that you don't want to win is a huge slap in the face to the 103,000 people who auditioned. Daughtry's success is amazing, [but] I'm not trying to be Daughtry. I'm just trying to put out a solid record. Even if it doesn't do well commercially, as long as I can put out a record that I'm proud of, that's the goal. Hopefully ... the success will follow.

Fox

On the show, you said you didn't recognize yourself from the first performance. Why?
Well, this show has been great for my diet -- I've lost probably about 10 to 15 pounds. There was definitely a progression for me on this show. Early on, I'm talking like third or fourth week in, the vocal coach really hit home for me ... Going into this, I had built up a wall, sort of a protective barrier between me and the audience. She forced me to break that down, and I think it helped for my performances.

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Do you think Simon's criticism rallied your fans?
Wow, well, that's not a bad theory. I don't know, all I can hope is that it was based on my own merit. Simon's blunt and he's honest, and that's why they pay him the money that they pay him. The goal of the season for me was just trying to find some constructive criticism in what he was saying, which sometimes was a little tough, but that's part of the show.

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Simon once called you cocky. Then he called you sincere. What changed?
I didn't really change much of anything. I didn't have expectations of what the show was going to do for me or what I was going to do for the show. I just went into it with an opportunity to expose myself musically to a large audience, so my confidence level really never wavered. Maybe that's what got misinterpreted as cocky or arrogant but as the season went on, maybe he saw the work that I was putting in.

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Why did you become so emotional on the show in recent weeks?
Everybody talks about how towards the end I started crying a lot. There was a lot of intensity in the past few weeks, as far as what was at stake and all the work that had been put into it. The crying after I'd won was like an exhale -- this whole experience has been about eight months, including the auditions, and I felt like that whole time I was holding my breath. So, being able to sort of breathe and enjoy the moment was amazing.

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How does your brother, Andrew, feel about your success on the show?
He has been my No. 1 supporter from day one. He really wanted me to audition with him, and I was just hesitant -- not for any negative stigma associated with the show. I didn't really see this as my path for whatever reason. Standing in line ... a producer comes by and interviews my brother and then turns to me. I said, "I'm not auditioning" and he's like, "Well you are now." Life has a weird way of working itself out sometimes.

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What was your song selection process?
There was a short article that Debbie [Williams], our stage manager, hung up about Frank Sinatra and how he would go about the song process. [He'd] tune into what the lyrics were saying ... and then he would go into the music aspect. That was a really eye-opening article. With the Mariah Carey song, I liked that the lyrics had a little bit of longing in them. That was a very natural transition, to slow it down a little bit. That was probably the biggest lesson I learned throughout the show.

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What about 'American Idol' surprised you the most?
When the cameras are on, that's when it's easy. There is so much stuff that goes on in the hours that the show isn't airing. There is a lot, both on the contestants' and production staff's part, that gets completely overlooked -- the lighting, all of it. It's an amazing production.

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What do you think of 'Cook Mania' on the Internet?
It doesn't feel bad. I can't believe the level of support that has come out of doing this crazy TV show, so all I can do is try to embrace it and ... [make] it worthwhile. That's going to start with a record, and hopefully moving down the road, a tour and a lot of success. The sky is the limit right now.

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