How to even start this..? I've been watching AI for a little while now. I enjoy watching singers - good AND bad - and getting into the competition of who will stay and who will go. However, I've never attended a concert, and I've never purchased an album put out by a former contestant. So why is David Cook different? That's where I have a hard time explaining. How does one explain a phenomenon?

It took me a little while to completely warm up to him on the show. Maybe because we've had less-than-average 'resident rockers' grace our screens in seasons past, and I unfairly grouped him into this category. But the night that I sat on the couch watching the show with my husband as David Cook took a Lionel Ritchie song and turned it into a rock anthem, my jaw literally and physically dropped. I was floored...and my interest was peaked. I started watching him closer, and after the next two performances, I started spamming everyone on my email contact list to go watch him. I've never seen a contestant THAT full of originality - with that amazing of a stage presence...not to mention a voice that had the ability to give me goosebumps.

And that's only the tip of the iceburg.

Over the next several weeks and months, I became familiar with his pre-idol work...and was instantly in love. I've always been a 'lyrics' type of music-lover, and his writing abilities blew me away. To listen to a 20-something male pour his heart out for everyone to hear was awe-inspiring. To find out that a handful of those lyrics were written before the man could even legally drink...? Mind blowing.

He is an amazing musician, a talented songwriter, a horrible yet hilarious joke-teller, an intelligent rocker, a fun and honest guy, a truly caring person, a great friend, and someone that we all wish we could know better. He makes me want to be a better person, and inspires us all to go out and chase down those things that mean the most to us in life.

He deserves every bit of the recognition, love and support that he has gathered over this last year of his life. I am humbled to be able to be one of the many to say that I am...truly and permanently...a fan.