Channel NewsAsia -- Singapore -- 5/25/09

Interviewer: Christine Ong

Female News Anchor: Now on this day last year, American Idol season seven winner
David Cook broke several Billboard chart records.

Male News Anchor: He had eleven songs debut on the Hot 100 that week, breaking
the previous record set by Miley Cyrus in 2006.

Female News Anchor: And now he's broken new ground with millions of fans in Asia.
Our Philippines correspondent Christine Ong catches up with him after a sellout
concert in Manila.

[clip of David performing "The World I Know"]

Christine: What's the best thing about, you know, so far for the past year, what has
been the best thing about winning American Idol?

David: I think the best thing in the last year for me...I've, I've been able to...set up a
base...you know, for myself back home. I, I, I was able to buy a home...

Christine: Mm-hmm

David: ...and uh...and get a car.

Christine: Mm-hmm

David: And uh, I got a dog. I got a little Scottish Terrier named Dublin. And...

Christine: Wow

David: Um...those were the three things that, that I felt were necessities for me.

Christine: OK

David: And uh...so now that I have that, everything else is just kinda cake.
So...um...I feel like every...thing that I do for myself now is just...I get to treat
myself, which is really cool. You know I, I've been... [pauses] called some of the
nicest things, I've been called some of the meanest things in the last year.
And...um...but to me, the greatest compliment that I think anybody could ever give
to me is, is to... [pauses] come to a show.

Christine: Mm-hmm

David: Or to buy a record. Or...um...to listen on the radio.

Christine: Mm-hmm
David: I mean those are, those are all things that, that allow me to do this. And
um... [pauses] Yeah. So, uh, I don't know. I feel, I feel like my whole job now is to,
like, go on stage and, and...play well enough and play hard enough to say thank you
properly.

[clip of David and The Anthemic performing "Heroes"]

Christine: Now talk about, you know, uh, your music uh...mainly, how do you
describe your, your kind of music?

[David laughs]

Christine: Because I think many people call it differently.

David: Yeah, yeah

Christine: How, how can you describe your music?

David: Ah-- it's music. I don't know. I, I think um... [pauses] I, I've never, I've never
really been interested in, in boxin' it in, and and...ya' know, givin' it a genre. I think
uh...uh, uh, ya' know, a lotta people call it rock music and pop music, so it's
probably that. Um...

Christine: Mm-hmm

David: But I think past that, I, I've never really tried to write any particular kind of
music. I just try to write.

Christine: Mm-hmm

David: And um...and so, yeah. I don't know. If I had to describe it, I would call it
music. Um... [pauses] before all of this, when I was learning to play guitar, my
parents probably woulda called it noise.

[Christine laughs]

David: Um...they may still, I don't know. But uh, I'll just go with music.

[clip of David performing "The World I Know"]

Christine: How do you describe your album? Your album, uh, you know, is pretty
intense, also...

David: Yeah, yeah

Christine: ...to borrow your words.

David: I um...what I love about that record more than anything is that I feel like
each song has its own...life, it's own personality. Um, but I feel like as a record
it...it's cohesive. It works.

Christine: Mm-hmm

David: And uh...um, I like using the term "organized chaos."

Christine: Mm-hmm

David: Cuz I feel like The Record's all over the place...if, if you, if you pick out the
personality on each individual song.

Christine: Mm-hmm

David: But I feel like, you know, I feel like they even each other out.

Christine: Mm-hmm

David: It's like the um...the um... [pauses] dysfunctional family...

[Christine laughs]

David: ...that somehow manages to pull it all together around the holidays. It's like
that.

Christine: Mm-hmm. How-- you, you're, you're a singer...

David: Mm-hmm

Christine: ...you're a composer, so...which is more of you? Or....? Do-- and...is there
anything else that you wanna do?

David: Yeah. Uh, I wanna do anything. Um...

Christine: Mm-hmm

David: [long pause] I, I, I think uh... [long pause] I, I think I'm a songwriter before a
singer.

Christine: Mm-hmm

David: Ya' know? Um...uh, I... [pauses] I, I think past that, um, you know, I'm a
musician first, but I would love to act. Um...you know again, I think just...kinda like I
was saying earlier, I just wanna create. And so...

Christine: Mm-hmm

David: ...wherever that takes me. Whether it's acting, whether it's...um... [pauses] I
don't know, inventing some new kind of toothbrush...
[Christine laughs]

David: ....or some-- I don't know. I just, I, I, I love the idea of...coming up with
something that didn't exist before.

Christine: Mm-hmm

[clip of David and The Anthemic performing "Heroes"]

END OF INTERVIEW