Dear David--

Hopefully you've had a few days now to get a little sleep, and start to decompress a little from the recent (however fantastic) ordeal of winning American Idol. You've still got the tour ahead of you, of course, and how much fun that will be to hang out with "the gang" for a few months (cue Dan Akroyd "We're putting the band back together" clip here).

Of course, thoughts will also start to turn towards doing an album, and what it will contain. We've all heard you insist it not be "lightweight" and aimed only at striking while the iron is hot. I'm sure we all support you in that, while recognizing (possibly even a bit more than you do, yet) that you're liable to find yourself in a struggle with the record company to make that happen. We all wish you luck with defending your artistic integrity, for sure, and hope as well that you make reasonable compromises to keep everybody happy and the project moving forward.

Being a bit older, perhaps (40's) than a lot of your fans, in addition to writing to congratulate you, I also wanted to make a few comments on "The David Cook Sound", as I've come to call it. Or "Emo Rock", as I've also seen it called. It seems to me, that there are a lot of roots of the 70's Power Ballad there, updated for a new generation, and a bit edgier/rocker. "Hello" encapsulated it, but I think you'd be equally comfortable with the best (non-bubble-gummy) of Manilow or Dennis DeYoung of Styx.

Of course, *any* new star must make his/her name with new material to have a successful long-term career, but I hope you won't be afraid to continue to cover a few of the older classics and give them the benefit of "the David Cook Sound". Successful coverings/updatings of classics has long been an important part of very successful careers (heck, think Whitney doing Dolly Parton), and while it can't be your staple, it absolutely should stay in your repetoire, both for touring and albums. We all understand that you've just come through a very long period of singing other people's music, and must be eager to try something new. By all means do so --just don't leave the covers behind entirely, because it should be very clear to everyone they are one of your strengths and you should continue to leverage that.

The song I've been hearing in my head lately that I think "Man, I'd like to hear David's take on that" is Manilow's "Weekend in New England". I bet you'd kill that. Anyway, that's just a suggestion that, even if you don't take it, I hope you will take to heart the generic suggestion that there's a whole world out there of older classics that could really be fabulous with "the David Cook Sound" applied to them and you shouldn't shrink away from doing covers just because the AI experience has come to an end.

Cordially--

Geo