"I always felt like I was trying to keep up with life." - David Archuleta
David Archuleta was the runner up in the seventh edition of American Idol. It's crazy to think the Utah native went through the auditions and made it at age 16. Archuleta (age 19) released a book titled "Chords of Strength" in the Spring of 2010.
I interviewed Archuleta this evening and found Archuleta to be extremely camera shy. I also found him to be a humble Mormon. For becoming famous overnight, he hasn't lost roots with his values. And while it's probably standard, he gave me a free copy of his book and signed it.
Video Interview Here.
Archuleta told me that his book focused on "soul searching," and over coming typical teenager struggles while dealing with fame. He explained that despite criticism levied against him for basically writing an autobiography at age 19, he defends that even young people go through trials and have a story to tell.
"A lot of people say, you're just 19! And it's like, at first I thought I'm 19 and what could I say. Don't people do that later in life? But people say that age is just a number. It doesn't change that people that are younger they still go through things, they still go through challenges, and they still learn and grow," said Archuleta.
I could spend a lot of time talking about Archuleta's journey to stardom, but I'd rather tell you the small things you won't get anywhere else. Archuleta is fluent in Spanish, and he and his mother speak to each other in that language, at least when I was with them.
Camera Shy
You already read that I said he was camera shy, but I'll give more detail to that now. It took him 2 minutes to work up the gall to sing a line from a song for me upon request. He was blushing and all embarrassed about it. As a reporter I thought for sure an American Idol contestant would not only expect the request, but be ready for it on the fly. Instead he sang quiet at first, then louder. Granted we were in a Deseret Book store, but still. Maybe I'm being hard on a 19-year-old interviewee, but I'm only his elder by 4 years, so.
"I always felt like I was trying to keep up with life. And so it's like here it is, and then all of a sudden SWOOSH... WAIT FOR ME! That's how it felt. It's been good, because it's helped me push myself farther than I would have pushed myself," explained Archuleta.
Right before our interview I was introduced to him in the backroom as he was munching down a chocolate chip cookie. I have advise to anyone who is about to go on camera, sugar is not your friend. If anything, just drink water. I don't really think the cookie affected the interview, but just some words of advise to any of you would be interviewees.
"I just share experiences that I've gone through about American Idol, the vocal process, and why music is so important to me. I'm hoping that will just motivate people and help encourage them. I've had some issues with confidence," said Archuleta.
Archuleta explained to me that writing his book was not his own idea. In fact a publisher had approached him about it. Smart publisher if you ask me, but the book Archuleta came up with is a best seller. I really never would have guessed that he would have struggled with confidence issues, I mean the guy has some serious vocal talent. He's definitely going to continue to go places.