This just may be my favorite David Cook clip of them all. It starts with a nausea-inducing promo of David once again trying to impress us by admitting he's a "word nerd".
"Crosswords for me, are really just kind of a, for lack of a better term, a break from reality. It's quickly become kind of an addiction, really."
Wow, David, that's deep. Honestly though, I probably rolled my eyes a good 5-6 times during that thirty second spot. Part of my reaction was due to his smugness, part of it was due to his self-serving attempt to look intelligent, and part of it was due to the fact that this video is indisputable evidence that David Cook totally pretending to be something he's not.
Oh, I believe that he loves crossword puzzles. What I don't believe is that he's a legitimate rocker. Real rock stars have that edge to them that says "I don't care what anybody thinks about me, I'm going to do what I want, when I want." That's really what rock 'n roll's about when you get down to its core. Meanwhile, David Cook desperately wants us all to think he's witty and pretty and he's absolutely dying for our attention. That's not the attitude of a rock star. That's the attitude of a nerd.
Face it, David Cook is a nerd. In his "clever", joking manner, he even admitted it himself. I have absolutely no problem him being a nerd.. What I don't like is that David Cook is a nerd who doesn't embrace his nerdiness and tries to pose as some "cool" guy by wearing his rooster-do and painting his fingernails.
This is what David Cook looks like without all that "styling". If you're able to get past the horrendous Photoshop job, (it works better if you sit far back and kind of look at it through your peripheral vision) you'll see that underneath the "cool" haircut is the head of a nerd. This "real" David looks like a guy who isn't trying overly hard to impress anybody. He appears to be happy being himself and if he doesn't stand out in the crowd, "so what?"
The thing is, David Cook is so amazingly talented, that he would still stand out in the crowd even if he did look like this. That's just one of the many things that really bugs me about this guy. David is trying so hard to get our attention with his outlandish style and contrived cleverness, when he could be even more effective and likeable as that semi-large headed guy above. It's just the ultimate irony. If he would just quit the act and embrace the inner nerd, we might really have a national sensation on our hands. Can you imagine if somebody with Brooke White's personality was rocking it out as well as David is? He just needs to stop trying to make us believe he's something that he's not, because it isn't working. In the end, he just comes off as a nerd who's pathetically masking himself with hair gel and eyeliner, instead of an endearing underdog we'd all be rushing to support.
Need further proof? Go to the end of the video where Simon tears into him for his "boring" promo clip. The smugness and contrived cleverness are at an all-time high when David explains to Simon that his opinion doesn't matter because it's the fans' votes that counts. Simon gets justifiably ticked off and then proceeds to say that he's well aware of how the show works and calls David "irritating". Again, is this really the person you want to be your American Idol? Should I even have to ask that?
