With the year winding down and holiday season in full swing, singer and songwriter, David Archuleta is looking to start 2020 off with a bang of a new music, sharing exclusively with PopCulture.com that fans can officially be excited for what’s to come in just a few short months. After releasing his seventh studio album Postcards in the Sky in 2017, the 28-year-old is now gearing up for a fresh chapter of music with his OK, All Right Tour this March.
“I will be releasing something in the beginning of next year actually, so I won’t be wasting too much time,” Archuleta told PopCulture.com exclusively, who is in the middle of his tour for the deluxe edition of his holiday record, Winter in the Air.
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With the former American Idol runner-up all grown up and now living in Nashville, he reveals he’s taken a new direction with his music and songwriting talent. “I’ve been working in London, so several songs will come from there, as well as some music here in Nashville and in L.A.,” he said. “So I’ve just been working different places with different writing camps and looking forward to just releasing some more pop music.”
Adding further that he loves living in Music City, the Utah native shares the Tennessee hub of creative energy, legendary venues and evolving sounds has contributed to his growth as an artist. “I’ve loved it. I mean, almost everything that I do now is in Nashville, as far as writing and stuff,” Archuleta admitted. “Half of the Christmas album, Winter in the Air was done in Nashville with two producers.”
He goes on to detail working with producer, Cason Cooley and songwriter, Dave Barnes on a number of pop tracks over the years as well as several off his Christmas record, including the original holiday song and lead single, “Christmas Every Day,” which he co-wrote alongside the two. “It was fun to have that and that I can live somewhere, and it feels like home,” he said. “You have that communal vibe here, but you can also get work done. It’s nice and then, it’s easy to separate the two as well here. I just like it.”
When it comes to understanding a communal vibe, Archuleta is humbled by everyone he has come across, including those from his Idol family. He goes on to disclose how his friendships with many of them is a solid one, especially when it comes to creatively collaborating.
“What’s funny is I got to work with one of my good friends, who was also an Idol, Danny Gokey. He did a Christmas album this year as well and asked me to sing ‘Silent Night’ in Spanish with him — he did an English version with Kari Jobe and asked if I would do the Spanish one,” Archuleta revealed, adding how it was incredibly fun to work with the Season 8 third-place finalist. “Danny’s always been one of my good friends, but I also love his music and his voice, so that was a really neat collaboration.”
He also shares it was great working with Melinda Doolittle of Idol Season 6, who contributed background vocals to his Christmas album, Winter in the Air. But when it comes to non-seasonal music, Archuleta admits to PopCulture.com that he would love to collaborate with Season 9 Idol semi-finalist, Tori Kelly.
“I would love work with Tori, I think Tori would be great as well to work with sometime because she’s just such a talented musician and singer, vocalist — she’s just crazy good,” he said. “But it would be fun because we’ve known each other since actually I was 12, and she was 10, so we’ve known each other for a long time and it’d be fun to do something now that we’re grown up and still in this music industry and releasing our own music now and all that.”
Archuleta adds that though he has not collaborated with her yet, he talks to his fellow Season 7 alum, Brooke White a lot as she is someone he considers one of his “really good friends,” disclosing he stayed with her and her husband, Dave after their time on Idol. But when thinking back to where it all started at just 16 years old, he has learned a lot from 2008 to now.
“[Idol] has shown me that there’s more that I’m capable of than I thought I was,” Archuleta said. “I felt like I would be just pretty satisfied with, ‘Okay, whatever. I don’t know if I can really accomplish great things in my life. I don’t know if I can reach a lot of people with what I do, but it’d be cool.’ And American Idol was really hard, [but] everything that came after as well was just a lot of catching up and a business that I was just not prepared to be in.”
Humbled he’s here 12 years later in a music industry that has embraced his craft and gracious personality, Archuleta is a lot more confident and eager to push himself after everything he’s been through over the years.
“Now, it’s like, ‘You know what? I feel like okay — I’ve been able to do this. I’ve been able to get through it,’” he said. “And I see that while the big things are really the things that a lot of people see and hear and watch, it’s very exciting and it’s what provides a lot of the opportunities you get.”
The former Idol shares that everything he has learned has been more of an “assist to the things that matter most” to him.
“[It] helped to give me perspective and to balance out many other small little miracles that happen every day in my life and every week, and I think it helps me put that into perspective and value it,” Archuleta said. “It’s like, ‘Okay, these bigger things are awesome and what accomplishments, I didn’t know I could do that.’ But then it’s like the simpler things, just knowing that you have good friends or you can just lift someone’s day just by speaking to them or sharing a thought with them, trying to just be better as a human being and help other people find their value, their purpose on a more personal [level]. I think that’s for me so invaluable.”
Archuleta goes on to say how he wouldn’t have appreciated the value in those moments had it not been for the “bigger ones” to compare them to. “Those simple things that have always brought me joy are still the things that bring me the most joy,” Archuleta said. “But the accomplishments definitely are awesome as well, on TV and an album release or getting to this event, meeting this person and they help fill out life with neat stories to tell.”
Head to his official website for more tour details and updates! Tickets for the spring tour, kicking off March 30, 2020, go on sale Tuesday, Dec. 6.
Ok, all right… the news is finally out! 😁 I’ll be hitting the road again for a brand new tour next spring! And yes, the set list will include new music, too! 🎶 pic.twitter.com/RJTCWPx5ry
— David Archuleta (@DavidArchie) December 3, 2019
Photo credit: Michael Tullberg/Getty Images
