I’m a David Cook fan because he represents the two things that are most important to me musically; substance and passion. While I think his voice is absolutely incredible, the more crucial thing to me is that he writes substantive music. If I like an artist’s music, it has to speak to me lyrically. When I first saw David on AI, I thought he sounded great, but I remained slightly skeptical until I heard his original music. I think David’s music is lyrically brilliant, and I don’t mean because he uses “big” words (I’ve ranted before that I’ve never seen/heard him use a word that any person with a decent education should not at least recognize), but rather it’s because of the way he puts those words together to convey a meaningful message. There’s a huge difference between being able to use the word “redundancy” and writing a line like “So lay me down with the discontent, redundancy that I represent.” His lyrics are articulate, intelligent, and poignant, and he sings them with passion. David feels what he sings, and he knows how to connect with both the song and the listener, in order to transmit that passion to those who hear him. I’m beyond excited for David’s new CD. Every time I hear/see him talk about it, he says all of the things I want to hear about the music I choose to buy; that he is interested in making a cohesive, substantive, quality album that will stand the test of time, one that will represent who he is as a musician, and one that (regardless of it’s success) will be something of which he can be proud. The kind of integrity (as a musician and as a person) that David exhibits is becoming an increasingly rare thing in the music industry. It’s a quality for which I have tremendous admiration, and it will keep me buying David’s music as long as he continues to make it.