"I'm content," he told The Salt Lake Tribune. "That's the best way I can describe how I feel right now. I'm so proud of what he's accomplished."

The father of 17-year-old David Archuleta was celebrating the show's season end at an "after-party" on the rooftop of the NOKIA Theatre parking garage. He was ecstatic about what his oldest son had done - even after his David lost the title to Missouri's David Cook on television's biggest series.

Even after volleys of bad press accusing Jeff Archuleta of being a horrible stage dad.

Even after his son turned in his best performance of the season Tuesday and still couldn't win.

"You know what? It doesn't matter," he said. "[David] still won."

And Archuleta said David doesn't feel bad about the way the show ended either, because of the respect he has for David Cook.

While David A. lost the title, music labels already want his son's signature. The teen's song arranger, Richard Parkinson, said "it's just a matter of picking one."

"This is exactly what he wanted," Archuleta said. "It's what he set out to do."

David's mother Lupe, a singer and dancer from Honduras, has been silent during her son's run. (The Fox network is notorious for placing gag orders on contestants and their relatives.) But she also was celebrating the end of David's musical journey.

"I'm very proud of him as his mother," she said. "It's a gift, and our family is very happy for him."