With the two Davids of American Idol Season 7 evenly matched, it’s a close call who will be the winner, writes PHILIP LIM.

THE battle of the two Davids in the American Idol finals begins today. Standing in the Utah corner is 17-year-old high school student David Archuleta who, five years ago, won the Junior Singers Competition.

Young Archuleta has four brothers and sisters, namely Claudia, Amber, Daniel and Jazzy.

He’s immensely popular as evident from video clips of his homecoming in Murray, Utah and naturally his parents think the world of him.

His mother Lupe Marie hails from Honduras, and has taught her son a few Latin dance moves that may come in useful on showdown night.
His dad James Jeffrey Archuleta is a jazz musician. Religion is a big issue in the family because the Archuletas are Mormons.

For this lad to win the Idol contest, he will need to sing his heart out and bring the crowd to their feet with all his numbers.

The fact that he’s already extremely popular among young girls would help in drawing the votes.

Technically, the quality of his voice is about the same as David Cook, even though they both sound very different.

Archuleta’s fans will never admit he’s the underdog in Season 7. The two Davids are evenly matched right now but tonight at the grand finale, anything can happen. Never discount the attack of nerves.

For David Roland Cook, who’s not yet 26 (born on Dec 20), the road to the American Idol final was unplanned.

He was merely accompanying his brother Andrew for the audition in Omaha, Nebraska when destiny intervened. The voting trends have revealed that Cook has enormous appeal across America.

He was raised in Houston, Texas but grew up in Blue Springs, Missouri. He developed an interest in music at the age of two.

Cook graduated with a degree in graphic design in 2006. With a year to go before he has to keep his promise to his family about finding a job, he hit big time with the American Idol.

If Cook wants to be crowned tomorrow, he will need more than great performances, he will need his widening fan base to send in their votes non-stop for two to four hours and also invite Lady Luck to stand on his side.

Meanwhile, Archuleta has already got most American mothers and their daughters rooting for him.

For the showdown to be a humdinger, as Simon Cowell put it, the two Davids must perform above and beyond the call of excellence. By the end of this evening, we shall know who has got a slight edge.

This is the second time in all the seven seasons of the American Idol competition that it is an all-male final.

The first time was in Season 2 when Ruben Studdard met Clay Aiken. David Cook is one of only three American Idol finalists who has never been in either the bottom three or bottom two.

The other two being David Archuleta and Kelly Clarkson (Season 1). Let the show begin.