While some of his fellow 'American Idol' alums have struggled to carve out a successful career after the show, 2008 champion David Cook has made it look easy. The Blue Springs, Mo., singer-songwriter saw his debut album for RCA Records sell well over a million copies while garnering rave reviews from the music literati. In this PopEater exclusive, Cook invited us into Emblem Music recording studios in Calabasas, Calif., where he's working on his eagerly anticipated third album.

"Working with the talented people I did on the last album was really exciting. I definitely learned a lot from the process," Cook tells PopEater. On his yet-to-be titled follow-up album, the singer wrote with everyone from the husband and wife team of Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk to OneRepublic vocalist Ryan Tedder. "I'm very confident in my own ability to write music, but I think anytime you can kind of bounce ideas off of other people -- you know, two heads are better than one, three heads are better than two, etc."