David Archuleta has got some thinking and re-evaluating to do and he plans to do it away from the world of music and celebrity.

The former American Idol runner up has confirmed that he is stepping out of the spotlight for two years and dedicating his life to becoming a mormon missionary.

The hunky singer revealed that he will carry out his religious duties as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and will abide by their astringent rules, which include isolating himself from friends and family, who he may only speak to on the phone twice a year.

David broke down in tears as he announced:

“I would like to make a special announcement: that I’ve chosen to serve a full-time mission.

“It’s not because someone told me I was supposed to do it and not because I no longer want to do music anymore; it’s because it’s what I feel I need to do next in my life.

“It’s the same feeling that I’ve always tried to follow in my life – the feeling that’s allowed me to have the opportunities I’ve had, the challenges and the blessings, too. And I’ve learned to trust that feeling and answer when it calls. That’s the reason why I know I have to do this in my life.”

Archuleta will give his final gig at Beaver Creek, Colorado later today.

You can watch David making his announcement below.

View the original post American Idol’s David Archuleta to quit music and become a Mormon missionary! on Unreality TV

David Archuleta has admitted that he tries not to worry about his future career in the music industry, because he believes it is being guided by God.

The 20 year old singer shot to fame when he finished as runner up on the seventh season of American Idol and though he was recently dropped by his record label, David claims that he will find his way forward through the power of prayer.

Archuleta said: “To be honest, I always have to say no one is guiding me better than God. He’s been the one guiding me.

“I’ve been saying a lot of prayers and trying to say ‘Okay, what do I need to be doing right now because I could’ve been doing a lot of other things. But what is it that I’m supposed to be doing?’”

He added that sometimes he does get a little scared about where things are heading, but he tries to ‘feel good’ about the decisions he makes.

Archuleta said: “A lot of times that’s scary because, it’s like I can go so many different ways. I could mess this up or who knows what, but there’s just something you feel inside that’s like, ‘you know what, keep going’.

“Even though you’re not sure exactly what’s going to happen, you feel good about what’s going on, you feel good about the decisions you’re making, you feel good about going to take a break and just meet with writers.”

On February 18, 2011 it was announced by Jive Records that David Archuleta had been released from his contract with them. It was also announced on February 17, 2011 that Archuleta left his management Wright Entertainment Group. He has since revealed tbhat he now wants to change the focus of his career and spend more time on writing original material.

View the original post American Idol: David Archuleta isn’t worried about his career…God has it all in hand! on Unreality TV

Former American Idol runner up David Archuleta has debuted two new songs, possibly from his third album.

The 19 year old singer was runner up in the 2008 season of Idol and at a concert in Young University’s Rexburg, Idaho campus last week, he sang two new songs for his fans titled “Not a Very Good Liar” and “Parachutes and Airplanes.”

David is currently working on his third album and while he isn’t 100% certain that these songs will be on it, we think they are certainly good enough to make the cut. He is hoping to release the record in the next year, despite being crazy busy while promoting his new book “Chords of Strength: A Memoir of Soul, Song and the Power of Perseverance.”

David’s full set list included “Touch My Hand”, “Barriers”, “A Little Too Not Over You”, “Somebody Out There”, “Not a Very Good Liar”, “My Hands”, “You Can”, “Works for Me”, “Don’t Let Go”, “Your Eyes Don’t Lie”, “Parachutes and Airplanes”, “Waiting for Yesterday”, “To Be With You”, “Zero Gravity”, “Crush”, “Imagine” and “Be Still My Soul”.

Check out the videos below and let us know what you thought of his new songs.

View the original post American Idol: David Archuleta debuts “Not a Very Good Liar” and “Parachutes and Airplanes” (VIDEO) on Unreality TV

Former American Idol runner up David Archuleta has released a video clip, promoting the release of his new book ‘Chords Of Strength.’

The singer first hit the headlines during the seventh season of “American Idol” and attended his first ever book signing on the 1st June at at Ridgewood, New Jersey. He thanked those who turned up to meet him and called it an ‘amazing experience.’

He also used the clip to give a shout out to fellow “Idol” contestants, season 9 winner Lee DeWyze and runner-up Crystal Bowersox. He congratulated Lee saying ‘congrats to him for winning, he’s such a great guy and such a talent!’

David added: Crystal didn’t win but I’m not worried about her at all. It’ll be great to see what they both do, hopefully I’ll be able to catch one of the ‘Idol’ shows this year.”

On what fans can hope to read in his book ‘Chords Of Strength’, David told Fox 13 Now:

“A lot of people ask me questions. So I thought this is a really good opportunity just to explain to people about why I live the way I live, and my beliefs and the experiences that I have gone through and how I dealt with American Idol and the vocal paralysis.”

Check out his David’s full book signing schedule below as well as his video clip.

* June 1: Bookends, Ridgewood, New Jersey
* June 2: Borders, New York, New York
* June 3: Barnes & Noble, Lake Grove, New York
* June 5: Barnes & Noble (Mall of America), Minneapolis, Minnesota
* June 7: Deseret Books, Salt Lake City, Utah
* June 8: Deseret Books, Orem Utah
* June 17: Deseret Books, Rexburg, Idaho

View the original post American Idol: David Archuleta promotes new book “Chords of Strength” (VIDEO) on Unreality TV

Former American Idol runner up David Archuleta wowed the Idol audience on this week’s results show, with an inspired rendition of the John Lennon classic ‘Imagine.’

Showing just how he got to second place in the 2008 season, David performed the song even better than he did during his own Beatles themed week two years ago.

After his performance the 19-year-old singer caught up with J-14 mag and talked about meeting this year’s contestants backstage. He said:

“They were all really cool people. Lee Dewyze was so friendly! My sister loves him, and I think he’s a really talented guy. I was really impressed with how cool he was and how he treated me.”

On recent comparisons between him and Aaron Kelly he said:

“I feel bad that he gets compared to me! No one wants to be compared to someone all the time. Aaron’s his own person, and I think he has a great voice!”

View the original post American Idol 2010: David Archuleta wows with ‘Imagine’ & loves Lee Dewyze (VIDEO) on Unreality TV

R&B singer Jason Derulo has revealed that he will be performing on this Wednesday’s American Idol results show. He will sing “In My Head” off his self-titled debut album.

“Tune in!” he wrote. “It’s gonna be something special.”

Of course Derulo already has stong “Idol” ties. He was discovered by judge Kara Dioguardi and he has previously praised her as a mentor saying:

“She’s never once tried to butt in, ’cause she’s an amazing songwriter,” he said. “She’s never tried to butt in or change me at all. She’s trusting me to take the reins on this whole thing.”

Along with Derulo, former Idol runner up David Archuleta will also take to the stage. He will sing John Lennon’s “Imagine”, which was the song that made us sit up and take notice of him in season seven so we are looking forward to seeing him sing it this week.

Pop superstar Rihanna will complete the lineup, singing her latest single “Te Amo.”

View the original post American Idol 2010: Jason Derulo, David Archuleta & Rihanna to perform on this week’s results show on Unreality TV

“The advice I’d give for contestants on the next season is just to enjoy every moment of it,” David said.

Last year’s American Idol runner up, David Archuleta, has offered some advice to this year’s auditionees.

The new series of AI kicked off in the States last night and in an interview with MSN David Archuleta said:

“You never know how long it will last. It could end at the first audition or you could keep going until the end, which I sure wasn’t expecting to go to the finale. But it was really cool, and you just have to keep a good attitude about it because if you focus on the stressful things, there are plenty of things to stress out about. But there are also a lot of great things to focus on and look back on.”

David admitted that he is very excited about the addition to the panel this year after Simon hired singer/songwriter Kara DioGuardi as a judge.

“I’m really excited about the new judge because I think Kara is so talented,” David admitted.

He added: “She’s an amazing singer and songwriter so it’ll be a really cool element added to the judging panel. She just has the knowledge and can offer useful advice.

“She’s not afraid to tell it like it is and be herself, so I think it will be really interesting to see what she has to say. I think she’ll be a little more picky than Paula.”

View the original post David Archuleta Gives Advice For American Idol 2009 on Unreality TV

I decided to watch American Idol tonight. We’ve been dipping in and out of it for a few of the live shows, but it’s time to commit! If you’re watching American Idol, drop me a line in the comments and let me know what you thought.

The theme this week seems to be 80′s songs. Here’s my run-down of each performance.

Luke Menard – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go: A good, clean performance from Luke. I like the clarity of his voice, but ironically he couldn’t ‘hit that high’ and frequently lost control of his pitch during the song. Cue Randy Jackson’s favourite comment – it was a little bit pitchy. Paula loved loved loved his interpretation of the song. Simon – predictably – thought it was weak and girly. In his nastiest comment of the night he said he didn’t think Luke would get past the night.

David Archuleta – Another Day In Paradise: David’s a youthful 17 years old, so taking on a Phil Collins song might have been a big mistake! He started off at the piano, then went to standing at the front of the stage. My feeling was that the singing was a bit weak.

Randy didn’t think the song choice showed off David’s vocal range, while Paula fawned over him. Simon’s venerable opinion was that the music was far too gloomy, so he told him to lighten up a little bit.

Danny Noriega – Tainted Love: Could Danny be this year’s Sanjaya? He seems like he’s all hair and mincing around. Randy seemed to pick up on this and noted that he wasn’t vocally confident at the start. Flakey Paula spent as much time critiquing his haircut as reviewing his performance. Lord Cowell called it like we saw it – horrible. Far too camp for my liking.

David Hernandez – It’s All Coming Back To Me Now: Oh yeah! Dudes singing Celine Dion songs – that’s what I’m talking about! David was a tiny bit shouty in his performance – not so much singing as bellowing.

King of Pitch, Randy Jackson pointed out some…pitching problems. Paula said nothing worth repeating. Simon said that he didn’t like it as much as last week, but that he’d secured a place for next week.

Michael Johns – Don’t You Forget About Me: Moderate rocker Michael takes on the Simple Minds classic performed in the style of the dearly departed Michael Hutchence. Not bad at all, if a little pedestrian.

Woo-hoo! Randy did exactly the same comparison to Hutchence. Paula said something, sounded a bit like “blah blah blah”. Simon doesn’t think that he’s found the right song for him yet, but says that he really really likes him. But maybe to stick to soul material rather than act like a wannabe rocker.

David Cook – Hello: Left-handed guitarists freak me out. David is no exception, it’s just not natural dude. After a rough start, David pulls of a sensitive and soulful rendition over a warmly distorted guitar. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Randy quipped that he made a “slightly emo version of an extremely pop Lionel Ritchie song”. Simon loved it. Simple as that. He said he liked it when people took risks. Did I miss a judge? Don’t think so.

Jason Castro – Hallelujah: takes on Leonard Cohen or Jeff Buckley or ‘that song from Shrek’ depending on your age. And he managed it beautifully, and that’s despite the simpering face he kept pulling during the song.

Randy thought he did a great job and a good choice not to come out with the guitar. Paula thought Jason showed great vulnerability and had great phrasing and technique. Simon thinks he’s improving and said it was one of the best performances of the night.

Chikezie – : The no-surnamed Chikezie chooses to play Whitney’s All The Man That I Need. It doesn’t seem to last long at all. A smooth soul performance.

Randy seemed surprised by the end note. Paula complimented Chickezie’s vocals, but Simon said it didn’t work for him and said it was a cabaret performance.

There ya go folks – if you watched American Idol this evening, share your thoughts with us in the comments!

View the original post Watching American Idol Male Performances Tonight on Unreality TV