When we heard that angel-voiced American Idol runner-up David Archuleta had signed to Jive Records a couple of months back, our excitement was tempered somewhat by the news that his debut album wouldn’t be released until after the one from his pitchy, balding nemesis, Idol winner David Cook. This morning, though, with still no word yet on a new record from Cook (supposedly it’s coming out in November, maybe), Archuleta stopped by New York’s Z100 for the radio premiere of his wonderful first single “Crush†(hear it above). While we don’t have a definitive release date for Archuleta’s album, the fact that Idol’s producers are allowing him to promote it already sort of implies that his will come out first.
And while a runner-up’s album beating the victor’s to stores isn’t unheard of, it usually only seems to happen when producers are trying to sweep an Idol winner under a rug (sorry, Cook, no pun intended) — Clay Aiken’s record came out before Ruben Studdard’s, and Chris Daughtry’s was released before Taylor Hicks’s. Cook is reportedly hard at work on music with songwriters from Collective Soul and Our Lady Peace (so you know it’ll be good), but does this latest development mean someone behind the scenes secretly doubts its commercial viability? We’re pretty sure we’re not going to buy it!