When David Archuleta answers the phone, he can’t help but acknowledge what’s happening in the world around him. Speaking from his home in Los Angeles, Archuleta is mindful of the protests taking place across the city in response to ICE raids. It calls to mind the protests he witnessed in Chile, where he served as a Mormon missionary for two years from 2012 to 2014, as well as other places he has traveled to, including France and Serbia.
Videos by American Songwriter
“I think a lot of times, the people who are higher up try to distract from why people are in distress and from the responsibility of why people are trying to make a scene and say, ‘We’re frustrated,’” the singer observes. While he admits he doesn’t often incorporate his feelings around political activism into his music (he cites artists such as Mexican-American rapper Snow Tha Product as inspirational figures who speak out politically), he has had a powerful journey of his own that he has translated into song.
Archuleta was raised in Utah, where his family was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His faith was an important part of his identity when he was introduced to the world as a shy, humble 16-year-old when he auditioned for season seven of American Idol, singing John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change.”
He became a beloved contestant with his covers of classics such as “Imagine,” showing off his soulful voice and tender spirit. He came in second place, leading to a solo career with his 2008 self-titled debut album that featured his signature hit, “Crush,” followed by a series of albums, singles, tours, and even a stint on a miniseries in the Philippines, Nandito Ako.
In 2021, Archuleta experienced a personal breakthrough when he came out as queer in an Instagram post during Pride Month and left the Mormon church a year later. He was reintroduced to the world on national television on The Masked Singer in 2023, disguised as Macaw (the national bird of his mother, Lupe’s native Honduras), where he was also named runner-up.
“I was trying to be a good, straight Mormon boy and then to face everybody, it was so exhilarating, but scary, because there’s a part of me that I was mourning and a part of me that was like, ‘I let you all down for not being able to follow the routine that I’d always been told I needed to follow,’” he expresses of how he felt after coming out and appearing on The Masked Singer.“It was also freeing and liberating because I got to take a chance at life of being who I am, instead of trying to be what other people thought I needed to be acceptable.”
Archuleta has been documenting his journey of self-discovery through music ever since, with empowering songs such as “Up,” “Afraid to Love,” and the particularly raw 2024 single, “Hell Together.” The song was inspired by a text Archuleta received from his mother days after he came out. He admits that after her initial resistance (“She was not accepting of it. She was confused,” he recalls of her reaction to his coming out), she soon had a change of heart and also decided to leave the church, proclaiming, “If you’re going to hell, we are all going to hell with you.”
This is reflected in such lyrics as, If they don’t like the way you’re made / Then they’re not any better / If paradise is pressure / Oh, we’ll go to hell together. Archuleta continued to explore vulnerability with “Rather Be Lonely,” a tender ballad about conditional love and how a lack of self-acceptance can breed emotional disconnect.
“Things I was told growing up and also things I told myself, it’s a combination of those things and realizing I was blaming other people in the song, and after the fact, I was like, ‘I may want to blame other people for my problems and the way I am, but I also have to take accountability here, because a lot of the reason why I am and how I am also is because of what I’ve been telling myself and what has been like comfortable for me to do,’” he explains of the song’s meaning.
“‘Rather Be Lonely’ stems from revealing that incorrect belief that I still hold. It feels almost like the remnants of the feelings I still had about myself. You’re so used to pushing people away to protect yourself because you think you need to protect them for what you are, because you’ve been so used to believing that you’re something bad. I’d rather be lonely because it’s so much easier to be alone, because then you don’t have to hide. I’m so used to having to put up a front to feel like I’m acceptable before with other people, and it makes it hard to open up to others and to form relationships.”
Having explored the more vulnerable parts of his story, Archuleta is now finding joy on the other side of the pain with his new EP, Earthly Delights. Across a half dozen songs, Archuleta delves into sensuality, new love, the meaning of home, and more heart-opening topics. The title came from his creative director, Nathan Kim, as they were discussing the next steps in the singer’s artistic journey, which Archuleta describes as “painting a picture for people to follow and a world to step into.
“‘Earthly Delights felt fun because I was coming from a place last year, releasing ‘Hell Together.’ So it’s like, if we’re not going to heaven, then I guess we’re just going to indulge in the earthly delights,” he explains of the EP’s origins.
Earthly Delights was introduced via the lead single “Crème Brulée,” an upbeat dance number in which he enters his “flirty era that I’ve always avoided.” He stays in this sensual energy with “Give You the World” still grappling with his desire for connection that’s clouted by judgment as he sings, I would let you be skin on my skin / But I’d be damned if you ever get in.
“It’s this feeling that you want intimacy, but you don’t know how to fully give yourself. There’s something always holding me back from that,” he notes. Meanwhile, “Can I Call You?” starts off steamy as the singer whispers, Are you up?” at the start of the track, then dissolves into a “wholesome moment” as he takes a shot with someone who is more than a crush. “It’s just enjoying the moment. I don’t even need anything else. I just want to feel like I’m with you because I miss you,” he describes the spirit of the song. “That’s very sweet.”
“Lucky” is a nod to the soul and gospel music he grew up on, while “Dulce Amor” finds him lost in a sweet love story he can’t get enough of.
One of the most personal moments on the EP arrives with “Home,” a piano number that opens with the image of his days growing up in Utah, admitting in the lyrics that, I don’t miss the mountains / They’re not calling out my name / When I drive down these streets / I’m the only thing that’s changed.
“I always felt like I don’t belong here. I think even when you’re a little kid, you can tell what the societal expectation is and that you don’t fit it,” he analyzes, adding that he and his family moved around a lot to various homes throughout his childhood. “I felt uncomfortable with myself. By letting myself date guys and fall in love with them, I was healing a part of my childhood because I never felt like it was okay to love myself. So it’s almost like by loving someone else, you learn how to heal your [inner] child, and that’s why now I can finally learn how to be at ease and feel safe and feel like home is a place of safety.
‘It’s also the people that are there, that’s what really makes a place feel like home is who’s there and brings that warmth.” Archuleta hints that fans can expect to hear a more “outlandish David” on the versatile EP, along with the “sweetness” he’s long been known for since he won the hearts of fans all over the nation during hisIdol days. “It’s the trial and error of trying to figure myself out, but also you’re indulging in these earthly pleasures,” he says. “Then you get to ‘Home’ where I’m like, ‘If this is what people said was hell, that’s fascinating, because this is the most home I’ve ever felt.’ It’s quite a fun landscape to play with.”
The singer is bringing this eclectic mix out on the road with his Earthly Delights Tour, which continues through October 2025, stating that fans can expect to see more dancing and movement from him onstage as he continues to embody his true self, something he’s finding through each song he writes and story he shares.
“I think before I was like, ‘I have to change in order to accept myself and feel comfortable with myself,’” he says. “And now I’ve gotten to the point where I have made a lot of changes in my life that have been good, and I’ve tried to make other changes that weren’t right. So instead of trying to change those parts of me that shouldn’t have been changed to begin with, I’m now just embracing and confidently letting myself sit in, so it’s nice to do that. It’s about feeling sexy, feeling good in my body, things that I never thought were okay. I was like, ‘I can’t feel comfortable in my skin until I change.’ It’s not about changing. It’s about embracing who you are.”
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.