If we all "Dream big," David Cook may take home the prize

Round 2 is the song-writing competition. This year, instead of making both contestants sing the same song, which can unfairly tip the scales in one direction, they decided to choose 10 finalists and then let the Davids pick the one song they wanted to sing.

David Cook chooses "Dream Big," by Emily Shackelton and David Archuleta chooses "In This Moment" by Ryan Gilmore.

David Cook goes first and this is a perfect example of how a song can make you or break you. I understand that both these songs are new, but the song he chose is just bad. I mean no disrespect to the woman who wrote it and I completely understand why David chose it - it's probably the only song that fit his style of music. But, it's just not a catchy tune - the melody is not very pretty - even the chorus is kind of bland. Maybe I'm speaking to soon - maybe it's a song that needs to grow on you...

OK... I took the time and watched the performance three times and yes, the chorus does grab you a bit more after hearing it a few times. But, still, I don't think this song helped him move any closer to a win. He would have been better off singing a ballad, showing us one more tie how versatile he can be. Oh well - what's done is done.

Randy says the song was just OK but what made it really work was his voice, that he was singing his face off. Paula says some stuff, but I missed it and don't feel like rewinding - I apologize if she decided to choose this moment to say something profound or coherent. Simon, using a boxing analogy, says it was a bit of a lightweight. He thought the end was OK, that he made the most of what he had. He says that bearing in mind that this is supposed to be like a winning song, it didn't feel like a winning moment. He says the good news is that there's a third song and gives him a 61/2 out of 10.


David Archuleta is next and no big surprise here - the song he chose is a ballad. And even worse, you can tell right off the bat, his song is better. I hate to sound biased, but I am biased. I think David Cook is more deserving of this prize and while David Archuleta is great, I'm not convinced he'd sell CDs or concert tickets. But getting back to Archuleta, his song has a very simple, but catchy chorus and he sings it beautifully. He clearly wants to win this competition and is putting absolutely everything he has into tonight.

Randy says again, he wasn't crazy about the song, but he is so in the zone, he could sing the phone book and it would be good, so that was another hot performance. Paula says it was another heartfelt performance, that it's like he's on fire tonight. Simon tells him he loves the egotistical lyrics, how fantastically self-centered. I wasn't really listening to the lyrics - maybe he's talking about the lyrics mentioned before he started singing - something about looking at himself in the mirror and seeing perfection or something like that. I don't know. Anyway, Simon says Archuleta definitely chose the better song, much more in keeping with the night. Round 2 goes to David Archuleta, he says. I agree, but for me, I would rather it be worded Round 2 goes to Archuleta's song.