The problem with what Archie did on the show was that it was depressing and often boring, if well-sung. I often got the idea that he was singing what he was told (by AI or by his father) worked for him, not what would work for him. He looked like he was in hell. Of course, everyone that season looked like they were in hell, but Archuleta in particular.

There aren't going to be a lot of older people who are going to buy his material, especially if it was similar to what he did on Idol. His best chance is to produce more fun or uptempo music (maybe mixed with one ballad) which will move singles. At best he might have a smaller scale of success than Jordin, strong single sales and decent album sales.

Cook is where I'm more baffled. People outside of his diehard fans aren't going to care about his talent. They will want the David Cook they knew on American Idol -- the man who took old, cheesy pop songs and made them fresh. Obviously Cook couldn't produce an album of covers, but the image which gained him success on Idol is not the image of him which is now being pushed -- a knockoff of Daughtry, who was a knockoff of Nickelback.

I'm sure that Cook will do fine, and outsell Archuleta, but I think the marketing is wrong and also very self-important. People watch Idol for entertainment, and they liked David Cook when he was sold as someone who didn't take himself too seriously. Yet the way his post-Idol image has been spun is the exact opposite.