David Archuleta Spreads Holiday Cheer With *NSYNC in ‘Winter in the Air: Deluxe Edition’ Ahead of Christmas Tour (Exclusive)

After first enamoring music lovers more than a decade ago on American Idol with his warm persona and silky voice at just 16, singer and songwriter, David Archuleta is all grown up and ready to spread holiday cheer this season with the deluxe edition of his Christmas record, Winter in the Air. Featuring three new tracks, including a cover of *NSYNC‘s “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays,” the 28-year-old continues to tenderly capture sentiments of the season with a refreshed issue of last year’s record fans will revere as a festive favorite.

And after three incarnations of holiday music stemming from his 2009 release of Christmas From the Heart and no doubt, a growing collection of Christmas cover classics, Archuleta tells PopCulture.com exclusively he is most definitely a big fan of the season.

“I do love Christmas!” Archuleta laughed with PopCulture.com about the continued admiration heard in his holiday catalog, adding how he is also equally excited about heading out on a tour weaving through the likes of Atlanta, Nashville and Portland this winter starting Nov. 23. “It is my favorite holiday and they’re my favorite tours to do as well just because there’s a special feeling to them, the magic of Christmas.”

Archuleta shares how heading out on the holiday tour this month while singing a number of Christmas classics feels a lot like he’s “soaring” when getting the chance to sing such beloved tracks. “Some of [the songs] can feel so divine when you sing them and it’s almost like you’re praising because you’re saying words like ‘Hallelujah,’ and ‘Oh, come let us adore him’ or things like that,” he admitted.

With the music and tour feeling like a “spiritual experience” for the singer-songwriter, the former Idol runner-up shares it’s also why he chose to cover festive music in the first place.

“To get to do that and tie it back into just making a fun show as well [and] with Christmas you can do both — you can make it fun and ‘Holly Jolly,’ but you can also just sing songs like, ‘O, Holy Night’ and just songs that are really powerful and have a powerful message to them,” Archuleta said. “And it’s just so great to do both and people are in Christmas, so they’re all up for it. They’re all about those feelings and that Christmas magic that takes place during the holidays.”

With the deluxe edition now available on all digital retailers and streaming platforms, the Utah native admits he wanted to share the three songs on Winter in the Air during the first release in 2018, but just never had a chance.

“There are just a few songs from last year that I thought would be fun to get to, but I just didn’t have time to last year and I was like, ‘What if I did a deluxe version next of this?’” he said, adding how he finally got a chance to “fit everything in” that he wanted to do, including the Austrian Christmas lullaby, “Still, Still, Still,” which was one of the “biggest” reasons for the deluxe edition.

Through grace and time, it has all worked out for Archuleta in the grand scheme of things with the record finally coming together this holiday season. “I wanted to do an acapella song and I just didn’t get around to doing it, but fortunately it gave me a reason to think of, ‘I’ll just make the album a deluxe next year’ and it’s worked out!” he said.

It has more than worked out for Archuleta, whose latest also features a fun, festive music video alongside *NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick and Lance Bass that came about thanks to one of his team members who worked with the beloved boyband in the past. When it came to working with Kirkpatrick and Bass, he admitted most humbly he was more “self-conscious” than starstruck.

“These guys have a lot of history in *NSYNC and as performers, and they’ve dealt with the fan base and being in the public eye and releasing music and having a lot of success with that,” Archuleta said. “So, it’s neat to get to work with them, and what’s fun about this was it didn’t feel so much like work, it was more just like fun.”

He adds that when it came to producing the music video, everyone on the team and crew were all friends, really laid back and chill, something he was really glad to see come together.

“I was worried that [Chris and Lance] were going to be like, ‘Ugh, we have to do this,’ and I didn’t know if they would feel uncomfortable making a cameo in their own song, but they were just a lot of fun to watch,” he said. “Chris and Lance really played off each other and were just joking around and making us laugh a lot, so it ended up being really fun!”

David Archuleta’s Winter in the Air: Deluxe Edition is now available on digital retailers and online streaming platforms. Visit his official website for more information, including his upcoming tour kicking off Nov. 23 in his home state of Utah.

Stay tuned to PopCulture.com for more with David, including what he thinks about the Idol revival, who he would like to collaborate with next and when fans can expect a brand new record.

Photo credit: Cyrus Pamganiban / Ken Phillips Publicity