David Archuleta

Monday, February 23 2009, 06:28 GMT

By Nick Levine, Music Editor

David Archuleta, for those of you don’t enjoy a weekly dose of Paula Abdul, finished second on the last season of American Idol. He’s young, fresh-faced and as wholesome as a flapjack – a bit like Gareth Gates before we found out about Jordan – and his debut single ‘Crush’ has shifted a whopping 1.5m downloads in the US. As he prepares to release it in the UK, we gave David a call to find out more.

What’s your debut single, ‘Crush’, about?
“It’s about not being sure exactly what you feel for someone. You’re like, ‘Is this real, or is it just one of those normal everyday crushes?’ It’s really about the confused emotions that arise in that situation.”

Do you have a crush on anyone famous at the moment?
“I’ve never had a celebrity crush! I don’t believe in those really. I feel like you have to get to know the person before you start to feel anything like that. People always think they know celebrities, but how can you when you’ve never met them? When I was younger, I was never that into anyone in particular. I’d get really into a song but I didn’t know who it was by a lot of the time.”

What can we expect from your album?
“It’s a pop album and it was really fun to work on. With the Idol artists, they really have to rush the album together and that was hard for me because I was still learning about everything. I didn’t really have time to work on my songwriting, but I did manage to get a couple of my own songs on the album. I’m really excited about that.”

How long did you have to make the album? I remember Jordin Sparks saying she’d put hers together in three weeks.
“Yeah, it was three weeks pretty much! I wasn’t able to be that hands on with the whole project because I was on the Idol tour while I was recording. Whenever I had a day off to write and record, I’d try to fit in as much as I could. It means that I recorded the album all over the country though. I recorded in Minnesota, Oklahoma, Indiana, New York, Maryland…”

You’ve recorded a version of Robbie Williams’s ‘Angels’ for the album – and you sang it on Idol too. Are you a big fan of that song?
“Yes, I think it’s such a powerful song. It’s probably my favourite song to sing actually. I love Take That and Robbie Williams – I actually really want to learn ‘Rule The World’ by Take That because I love that song too.’”

Take That aren’t that well-known in the States. How did you get into them?
“Well, everyone knows that song ‘Whatever I said, whatever I did, I didn’t mean it…’ but they don’t know anything else. It’s weird. Before American Idol and all this stuff I was obsessed with music charts and I used to go online to find out what was popular in other countries. I’d log on to the BBC website and that’s how I found out about artists like Natasha Bedingfield, Daniel Bedingfield and Take That.”

You got to work with Daniel Bedingfield on the album, didn’t you?
“Yeah, he’s quite the character! He was so genuinely concerned for me since I’m pretty new to the industry and everything was happening so fast. He watched out for me and really wanted to make sure I wasn’t taken advantage of. He really made sure my personality came through on the song we worked on, which I really appreciated.”

You suffered from vocal paralysis when you were younger. What happened?
“I’m not really sure what happened. I was really sick for a few months – I had a really bad case of bronchitis, then I had appendicitis and then they think I caught a virus. I was on a show called Star Search at the time and I could barely get through one song without totally wearing my voice out. The more I was singing, the harder it was getting to talk and even breathe. I went to the doctor and apparently one side of my vocal cords wasn’t moving, which really freaked me out because I was only 13 at the time and I didn’t know what that was supposed to mean.”

Are you fully recovered now?
“I feel like it. I mean, I think it’s helped to give me the sound I have now. I still have a pretty gaspy, wheezy breathing issue but I guess that’s just me now. I had to stop singing for a while because my voice couldn’t handle it and that was really frustrating. But I think it just goes to show that if you love something and really want to do it, it all works out if you keep trying. I really feel like Idol has given me a second chance.”

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Video credit: davidarchieismyangel

Kidsday talks with singer David Archuleta

BY JONELLE AFURONG, KATHLEEN EGAN AND JOHN STANCZYK
Kidsday Reporters

We interviewed “American Idol” runner-up David Archuleta at the J-14 Magazine party at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manhattan recently. After he talked to us, we heard him perform, too.

Who are your musical influences?

There are a lot of them. One of them would be Natasha Bedingfield, some Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Natalie Cole, Kirk Franklin, there are a lot of them.

What is your favorite song that you wrote?

I really like the song called “Works for Me.” It is the one song that is on the Wal-Mart edition. What we focused on was showing my personality. I think that worked for me.

Why did you audition for “American Idol”?

You know what is weird is I almost didn’t audition because I was like, I am not good enough. I had a job for the summer. I ran the lights and sounds at this park’s amphitheater. I didn’t want to audition and then not even make it past the first round and then have no job. But I just went for it. Something told me to go and audition and it turned out to be all good. It just shows that you just have to go for it and not give up on things that quickly before you even try.

Was it fun working with the other contestants on “American Idol”?

It was so much fun. I loved them, they were like my family for the six months I was with them and then we all went on tour after the show. I got to spend a lot of time with them. They understood what I was going through because they were going through the same thing. I got to learn a new song every week and have to do all the interviews and have all that pressure of being on TV in front of millions of people. It was just cool to be around people who knew what you were going through.

What past contestant would you like to do a duet with?

I think it would be fun to do it with Jordin Sparks, that would be a lot of fun only because she is a year older than me. She is so nice! She is just one of the nicest people to be around. She is so bubbly and she is an amazing singer.

What is your favorite song out of all of your songs?

I don’t really have a favorite, you know, they are all kind of like your babies, but I guess the ones I connected with the most are the ones that I wrote. There is one called “Don’t Let Go,” that I like. And then “A Little Too Not Over You.” I like a lot of them for different reasons; I really like ‘Crush.”

Do you have any advice for aspiring singers?

I think you just have to keep on working at it, you can never stop because you can keep learning. You have to love what you do. If you love something that will make it easier to work harder for something and work for a long time with it and keep learning and improving things. Always keep working at it and keep a positive attitude.

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