Kylene Wu
The first thing you notice about David Archuleta is his shy trademark smile that brightens up the room instantly.
In fact, a quick search on Google Images reveals only one or two images where he’s not smiling (only because he’s singing on stage).
That’s just David, friendly, happy and endearingly self-deprecating, referring to himself as being “weird” and “a dork” several times during the interview, all done with the huge smile he’s never seen without.
However, the 19-year-old self-proclaimed dork already has three albums to his name, achieved international fame and gone on multiple tours in the US and Canada, all before turning 20.
“I feel like I’ve already done a hundred times more than I thought I was going to do as a teenager,” he laughs, admitting that life has been very fast-paced. “It feels like I’ve been sprinting the whole time, even though at the beginning I thought I can’t keep up with it, but I’ve been able to keep up with it and I’m happy with that. I’ve definitely exceeded my own expectations.”
Thrust into the limelight after participating in the seventh season of American Idol, the then 16-year-oldcharmed judges and home audiences alike with his precocious talent and likeable personality.
However, the stars didn’t align for the young singer and he came in as runner-up to David Cook, who initially thought he had lost the title to Archuleta, praising the young singer for having “nailed it”.
David’s raw talent was obvious since young. Starting out singing from age six, he went on to participate in Star Search when he was 12 and won the Junior Vocal Champion in Star Search 2.
David lights up immediately when we talk about his new album, The Other Side of Down.Co-writing 10 songs, his latest 12-track album is absolutely brimming with positivity from the upbeat melodies and hopeful lyrics to the album title.
“I want this album to be me,” he told UrbanWire, “I want to introduce people to who David is. Everyone has different sides to them so I decided I want to show the fun side, you know, I’ve never really gotten to do that yet.”
When he first started working on the album, David had no idea which direction he was heading in and the people he worked with suggested writing love songs as everyone relates to them. However, the teenage heart throb who had never been in a relationship, admitted honestly that he could not relate and did not want his album to revolve around “teenage make up and break up”.
Unlike his 2008 self-titled debut album, which mainly included typical teenage pop songs about crushes and young love, David had more of a say in the direction and creation of The Other Side of Down.
This time round, his songs are more personal and relatable as compared to the more commercial, radio-friendly songs in David Archuleta.
“It was like, what did I want to say to people? I just want them to know that life is challenging and that there are ups and downs, that’s for sure, but life is good! I just wanted to influence people’s way of thinking, to get people looking at things in a different perspective.”
“Some of the songs,” he added, “also talk about just appreciating what you have in life.”
This is seemingly something David does very well, judging from his humility and constant grin, a quality that endears him very much to his fans.
“I feel there’s so many little blessings in each day, and it’s just a matter of noticing them and putting a little thought to them,” David says.
Listing food as one of the things that makes him happy, David mentions how lucky he is to be able to meet so many people that he constantly learns from as well as the simplest of things like his family, whom he describes as being the most important of all.
Something else that David places an importance on is his relationship with God, which he discusses openly in his memoir, Chords of Strength, which was released earlier this year.
In fact, he dedicated an entire chapter to discussing this very topic.
“I definitely feel like I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for God. I mean, the reason why I auditioned for American Idol was because I decided to pray about it and ask. At first, I was like, why would God care about someone like me?” he earnestly said, “But that’s what’s so amazing, it’s that He cares even for the smallest of people. I feel like if you’re willing to just give your best, He’ll help you.”
Preferring to look on the bright side of life, a refreshing change compared to other teenagers who’re usually filled with angst at his age, David almost seems too mature for his age.
“I just think it’s about appreciating your surroundings and the little things that life gives to you. I mean, there’s a lot of bad things that happen too, you could focus on the bad things that happen every day too but there’s plenty of them there, it’s like if you look you’ll find them but why?”
Wisely said indeed.
https://youtu.be/StY9-hPK4Rw
Check out CTV‘s interview with David Archuleta!
Of course, for the soon to be 20-year-old, life still has much in store for him.
When asked regarding his future, he grins. “You know, the future’s scary, it’s scary for me and it’s confusing. Half the time, I’m like what is going on? But I’m excited. I’m excited about whatever is going to happen and I want other people to be excited about it too.”