David Cook wants to prove 56 million Americans right.

“I remember hearing that number and just (thinking), ‘My mom must have called 55 million times or something!’” the ‘American Idol’ winner tells PopEater. “Theatre of the absurd, I guess.”

But Cook, who received the most votes in the show’s history, is out with a debut album that he hopes will impress ‘Idol’ fans and rock fans alike.

“What worked for me on the show was that I was able to take these pop songs and make them fit some level of rock mythos,” Cook says. “I don’t feel like I misrepresented myself on the show to where I would have had to make a pop record.”

In addition to growing into his new status as a rock star, Cook is still having a hard time getting used to being a celebrity. He’s just glad he hasn’t reached the point of being unapproachable.

“We’re outside waiting on a car, and this woman in her 50s comes up to me and says, ‘I have to give you a hug!’” Cook says. “And she hugged me, but not in a creepy fashion. I think there was this weird juxtaposition of some sort of celebrity status, but on the flip, I’ve become this accessible person to these people because of ‘Idol.’ These people know things about me I wasn’t 100 percent sure I knew about myself at the time. So the ‘celebrity barrier,’ if you will, is kind of non-existent for me, and it’s great. I get to feel like a normal person as opposed to feeling like a butterfly under glass.”

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