Archuleta wows with words and song

RED ALERT! RED ALERT!

David in BLACK SUIT AND TIE!!!! But errrr…with sneakers , LOL!!

*THUDS* & *FAINTINGS* abound, hehe…… more HQ pictures from Deseret News below!

DESERET NEWS

Season 7 runner up, David Archuleta stepped up to the podium today as the keynotespeaker at Senator Orrin Hatch’s 25th Annual Utah Conference for Women inSalt Lake City.Self admittedly not a speaker, Archuleta engaged the crowd for just over 50 minutes.He spoke about his career, remaining optimistic, and added in a little self-deprecatinghumor. After his speech, Archuleta treated the room to an impromptu performance of the holiday classic, “O Holy Night”, which earned him a standing ovation. As David left the stage, Senator Hatch sang his praises, closing with, “Boy, he can have a degree and Ph.D. in philosophy, is all I can say. I have so much admiration for him, not only for his extraordinary talent, but his strong character and example. It’s a tough business to be in.” Photos of David at the conference below via Deseret News

O HOLY NIGHT performance

David Archuleta singing O Holy Night @ Utah Women’s Conference on 10-26-09. He wasn’t planning on singing, but the crowded started yelling, “sing, sing, sing.” He was so funny, at the beginning of the video he is trying to decide what to sing. I love him!

Thanks pattycake04!

DAVID’S SPEECH

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Another article from DESERET NEWS

Link HERE!

David Archuleta had the jitters Monday as he took the microphone at the 25th annual Utah Women’s Conference — podium-clutching, leg-shaking, nervous-laugh-inducing jitters.

He would, he admitted several words into his first-ever keynote address, rather be singing.

“A David Archuleta speech for me is like an oxymoron,” said the Murray High School graduate, who got his start as a finalist on Fox’s “American Idol.” “I’ve never been good at speaking.”

Nonetheless, the 18-year-old pop star managed to enchant — however clumsily — the several hundred mostly middle-aged but still giddy-to-see-David-Archuleta-in-real-life conference-goers.

“I just think he’s adorable,” said LeAnn Hafen, 53, who drove from Santa Clara to attend the Abravanel Hall conference, which was sponsored by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch. “He’s so sincere and he tries so hard.”

Archuleta centered his remarks on doing one’s best despite doubts, fears or setbacks.

“If you really have a desire to do something, you should do it,” he said. “Even if it’s a hard path to take, even if it has big hills and scary trees that might scratch you when you push them out of the way, you should do it. It’s the hard things that make us learn in life.”

Take, for example: David Archuleta.

As a child, first lured into the world of music by a Les Miserables concert DVD, he sang because he loved the sensation of making music. People told him, “you have such a good voice,” but he didn’t believe them.

“I could not stand the sound of my voice,” he said. “As much as I loved singing, if someone would play a recording back for me, I would run out of the room. I hated it. I’d cover my ears and scream.”

The first time Archuleta appeared in a talent competition, he said, “I was so afraid to go on stage I had a panic attack.”

Now, with two albums, a tour and a No. 2 billboard single behind him, Archuleta doesn’t get too nervous when people ask him to sing. He only blushed a little when Monday’s crowd started chanting, “Sing! Sing! Sing!”

“I’m sorry,” he said, laughing as people snapped pictures from the audience. “Cameras intimidate me.”

After a little coaxing and a direct prod from Hatch, Archuleta belted out a silky rendition of “O Holy Night,” which is included on his just-released “Christmas from the Heart” album.

Women scrambled, clapping and hollering, to their feet.

“It was beautiful,” said Heidi Hansen, 46, who lives in Springville. “I just melted.”

Click Salt Lake Tribune for their article – Archuleta’s voice soars at Women’s Conference

Fan Recap

From Brynn (therealnewangel)

1. He wore a suit!!!!!!!! With sneakers (navy and white). White shirt and black tie (I think we’ve seen it somewhere before).
Hair= AI spiky and perfect. Glowing skin…the usual. Smiling almost the entire 50 min. There was an AUDIBLE gasp from the audience when Sen. Hatch introduced him. You could hear & feel it. People leaned forward as he came out. He waved and smiled. HE STOOD ON A STEP TO B tall enough to reach the mic. Oh my heck!!! It was the cutest, funniest thing. He didnt seem to mind. He brought several pages of notes, but we think he didn’t end up using them much. He rambled, but also managed to give a coherent talk and cover several important points such as facing your fears by starting small and just getting started (like public speaking for him), being honest with yourself (he has to drag himself out of bed sometimes to go workout, but he doesn’t want to lie to himself ( cuz lying to yourself leads to lying to others–not good). He talked about writing in his journal and how he’s as proud of that as he is of all the touring and big career stuff that’s happened this year. Helps him organize his thoughts & helps him see how far he’s come. He is grateful for all the scrapbooks people have made and the articles people give him, but he also wants to make sure his kids hear his story from his view too. (He said KIDS!!!!)

Let’s see…what else? He told about how he got started singing. It blew my mind that some in the audience didn’t know about his paralyzed vocal cord (it was a much older crowd in general…)– like, you heard gasps when he told about it. Hello? Are we in UT or not? He told about when he won Star Search and he felt so bad for the girl who lost (b/c she was upset and crying), that HE cried and then the chaperone in charge of him had to try & tell him it would be OK for that girl and then the adult lady started crying!!!! EPIC!!!! He felt like he didn’t deserve to win in the semifinals and the 2 girls competing were better, so he resolved to do his best so they would look good (not sure how to phrase it– looking for a sports analogy. Kind of like you want the team that beats you to go on and win so you don’t look bad for losing to a lame team?? You know? Anyway, yeah. That bit was awesome. He didn’t talk about AI at all (running out of time by then) except to say that he prayed about trying out and although he didn’t think God would care about some 10th grade kid kneeling down in his room, he got an answer and felt really strongly that that was what he was supposed to do. Some people from the audience asked him to sing something and he said he didn’t come prepared to sing… well, the first time he said, “Sing? I’m not done TALKING!” and then the 2nd time at the end, he agreed to do it. Someone (rhymes w/ Cyndy) suggested “How Great Thou Art” and others suggested “Lovely” (?) and “Bubbly” & O Holy Night (he thought it was too early for Christmas stuff). Well, he first asked Sen. Hatch what HE wanted David to sing and Sen. Hatch said, “Whatever you’d like” and David said, “What YOU’D like me to sing is what I’D like to sing” (seriously????) and then he decided on “Angels” and then he said, “See this is something I have a problem with — making a decision. I’m just gonna make a decision here and stick with it!” and then he changed to “O Holy Night” and he closed his eyes and started and you could’ve heard a pin drop and I SWEAR a portal opened up straight to heaven when he sang. IT. WAS. PIERCING. Guh, I can’t describe it, but the concert in Nov. is going to knock everyone out. (OH! Forgot to mention, he talked about service & looking for ways to help people have a better day & how he was nicknamed “smiley boy” in school & a girl told him that him smiling & saying hi in the halls to her little sister really helped her and how he FLIPPIN’ VISITS THE WIDOWS IN HIS NEIGHBORHOOD WHEN HE’S HOME!!!!!!!! (Houston, that’s for you). I mean, tears here. TEARS!!!

So anyway, he sang a verse of “O Holy Night” and then everyone jumped up and gave him an immediate standing ovation. He hugged Sen. Hatch (two arms!) and I think also Mrs. H and then waved a couple of times to the audience and walked off. (Whew!)

more from her after:
He said when he hears people say they think his smiling all the time is fake he thinks that’s funny b/c he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it most of the time. He did lots of cute jogging motions with his arms when he was talking about jogging. He said it’s “refreshing” (hee!) He jumped down off the box at one point to show us how he stood all shaking and nervous when he sang at his first public performance which was the UT talent search. He said he hated the sound of his voice so much he used to run screaming from the room and he thought people were lying to him cuz he was a little kid and they didn’t really like his voice. But, he said his love of music won out over his hatred of his voice and he performed anyway.

Oh! And he talked about singing the national anthem at the women’s conference a few yrs. ago when Patricia Heaton was the featured speaker “But I didn’t speak THAT time” and about how he was just at Abravanel Hall for the Cirque De Symphony thing and he went off on a little thing about that and how cool it was & asked if anyone else in the audience had been there and “wasn’t that cooool? I’d like to find out what their schedule is so I could see them again… Anyway….” Yeah, he got sidetracked a few times, but he did a good job.

He said a lot of really profound things. It was very sweet. He said if you’ve been through some hard times in your past, you can still have a positive life & eventually see how those things have helped shape you into who you are and you can relate to others who have problems and you can be the one who can help others with their challenges. He is very wise. So happy too. Just glowing and happy. I’m so proud.

For all the concerts and things I’ve been to (and no, it hasn’t been THAT many..) I guess I haven’t been close enough or in a quiet enough place to have seen and felt what it was like today. Those of you who’ve been to VIP’s– it would be old hat to you, but just seeing that serene expression on his face & hearing those notes resonate in a place w/ good acoustics like that (and after 45 min. of talking, no less)
it was a sweet experience. We have so much to look forward to, guys. So much.

If you couldn’t be there today, don’t worry. There will come a time… there will come a time…

And yes, I think he threw in the “widows visits” bit just to slay everyone. I mean, REALLY. Was that necessary? Guh. David, you are bad.

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MTV – Sweater Video

From Jim C’s blog  at MTV Newsroom and video HERE.

(Youtube below if you’re unable to watch the video at MTV site)

David Archuleta’s Christmas Sweaters Took Some Convincing

Last week, David Archuleta and I serenaded MTV staffers with Christmas carols in celebration of his new holiday album Christmas from the Heart. Needless to say, Archuleta’s fans were happier than Ryan Seacrest at a tanning salon. Aside from the expected flailing we received from the Archie-Angels, we got a lot of questions about the Christmas sweaters he and I donned during the shoot. Where did they come from? Is he going to wear that on his upcoming Christmas tour? Did you have to twist his arm to play dress up?

So, by popular demand, here’s the sweater song. (Cue Weezer.)

As I mentioned in my recent blog, the “American Idol” runner-up was a sweetheart, but convincing him to wear that silly Christmas sweater involved a little bit of begging.

At the end of our sit-down interview — where we discussed both the Christmas record and his upcoming “more personal” pop album — it was time to get our yule on. Although David knew we were going caroling for the shoot, I’m not so sure he knew it involved props and a specific wardrobe. His defeated “Christmas … sweaters …” says it all. (Note the desperation in my voice mere nanoseconds after he sounded less-than-enthused.)

Being the gracious young man that he is, though, it didn’t take too much cajoling to convince David to play along. He even added a scarf for flair! By the end of the shoot, Archuleta was so comfortable in the itchy old sweater that he almost left the building still wearing it, along with our microphone. Whoops! (Fun semi-related “Idol” journalist trivia: After a recent interview, Kris Allen left Z-100 wearing Entertainment Weekly’s microphone, forcing EW.com’s Michael Slezak to race out of the building and chase down Kris’ car. Now that I think of it, I’m 99 percent sure Slezak did that on purpose to score an extra couple of seconds with the “Idol” winner. Sneaky!)

It pains me to admit it, but the red and green snowflake sweaters are all mine. I received them as a Christmas gift several years ago. Surprisingly, the questionable fashion came from a popular clothing store. (Hint: It rhymes with Sexpress.) I’ve cleaned my closet a half-dozen times since unwrapping the fugly beasts, yet I just can’t part with them. Because you never know when you’ll need a set of Christmas sweaters.

In 2009, they’ve certainly come in handy. Before Archuleta and I harmonized, they were the official wardrobe for Jim and Tim, the asexual twins (played by yours truly) featured on my old MTV recap series “Daily Detox.”

While Archuleta won’t be wearing this particular green snowflake sweater on tour, who knows? Maybe spending 45 minutes singing in itchy wool inspired him to pick up his own Christmas wardrobe before his tour kicks off on November 24 in Salt Lake City!

Uploaded to UTUBE by grace1em!

Wait..There’s more to come???!!!

jambajim commented | 10.26.2009 03:13 PM

Haha. Glad you guys are enjoying these Archuleta videos. We’ll be posting another “outtake” moment tomorrow, where David and I briefly talk about Allison Iraheta. But keep the clicks coming so my boss lets me post more!!