By Ann Donahue
Cook's "The Time of My Life," first performed during the
"American Idol" results show May 21, has since tallied 236,000
downloads, making it No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs
chart and helping to land it the No. 3 spot on the Billboard
Hot 100.
In fact, Cook has 14 songs from the "American Idol" season
on Hot Digital Songs, with "Dream Big" at No. 7 with 110,000
downloads and his version of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What
I'm Looking For" at No. 9 with 98,000 downloads. All told, Cook
sold 888,000 downloads of his songs in one week.
"I loved my time on the show, but I've been looking forward
to just being able to get back to the creative process of
writing and recording," he says. "It's going to be interesting
to be able to play a song and not have to wonder where 'camera
A' is."
For most of June, Cook will focus on rehearsals for the
American Idols Live tour, which features the top 10 finalists
and runs for almost three months. The trek begins July 1 in
Glendale, Arizona, and wraps September 13 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"It's going to be more of a mini-concert for everybody," he
says. "There will be some group numbers (and) some duets, but
for the most part I think everybody gets to do at least three
songs. I've always loved the idea of waking up in a different
city every day, so to be able to do that on this kind of scale
is going to be an experience."
And then, after the tour, comes the transition period from
day-in and day-out "American Idol" mania to establishing a
voice as a musician separate from the show.
"I lucked out in this whole scenario because I knew going
in what kind of artist I wanted to be and what kind of writer I
was," says Cook, whose 19 Recordings/RCA debut is due in the
fall.
"I don't see myself straying too far from what I was doing
before, which is kind of a rock vibe with some catchy pop
choruses. The cool thing now is that I don't have to worry
about taking shortcuts. I have the resources to put together a
record that I'm going to be proud of, I hope, for the rest of
my life."
Reuters/Billboard
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