He may not be the next American Idol, but David Archuleta has big plans. Not only does he want to record an album like “John Mayer and Sara Bareilles,” the 17-year-old wants to finish school and maybe do the “ear, nose, throat doctor thing.” Archuleta spoke to reporters Friday about his future, his fans and all that gossip about his dad.
Now that Idol is over, what is your plan?
I would like to keep trying to do school while I work on music. That’s kind of what I’ve been doing on this show. Everyday I still have to do school. Even after this interview I have to go to school! School is really important and it was my main priority before this because I didn’t know if I would be able to get anywhere with music. Even if music does turn out to go somewhere for me, you never know how long it would last. I want to make sure I have something to back me up on that.
What careers are you interested in?
I change my mind here and there. Lately, what I find most interesting is the ear, nose, throat doctor thing, which I know would take a lot of work and education but it’s something that interests me. It is something that helps people who have had the same problems as me — like the whole hearing and nose congestion and problems with your voice. To be able to help people with that, it’s something I can really relate to people with because I’ve had so many problems with that stuff.
What kind of album do you hope to make?
I like the pop music but I still want to have meaning in my music, so I would like to do some fun stuff along with music that has more meaning in it. John Mayer and Sara Bareilles are examples I use for people that have done the more pop side of the music, but their music has more meaning and depth to it. They are respected as real musicians and artists.
After the finale, you said you felt a sense of relief. Can you elaborate?
Well, since this whole thing has lasted so long — we hadn’t been living at home since February — as the weeks went on, we had more songs we had to learn each week among other things. And with this final week, it was the busiest of all. It was hard to find time even to rehearse and stuff, along with school and everything else, so on that Tuesday night, I just tried not to regret anything I did. It was such a relief to feel good about what I did. That was the last impression I gave on the show, and the competition is all over, and it’s time to focus on music.
What would you say to your fans that say you should have won?
To the people who have been supporting me so, so much, I want to thank them first of all because that means more than anything to know that people are appreciating the hard work that we put into this. I want them to know that I am just feeling great about it. The fact that Cook won, he deserved it so much. He just proved that week after week that he deserved to be the American Idol from early in the competition.
Was it really hard to hear your dad getting criticized?
I hadn’t really heard much of it until later on. I tried to stay away from the press and my dad [did] also. He understood that I didn’t like to hear anything going on in the news about me, good or bad, because I didn’t want it to distract me or let it go to my head or anything like that because I just wanted to stay myself as I was at the beginning of the competition before all this happened. I wanted to keep who I was, the normal, teenage David. But in interviews and stuff it started coming up and it’s kind of strange because there were really weird things. I heard one thing where he refused to give me water or something like that and that’s the weirdest thing. I mean, I am 17 and you know, if I want water, I am pretty sure I would just go get it anyway!
How are you dealing with fan attention?
I don’t think it’s really hit me that I have fans out there for me. It’s such a weird thought to think. I do think of it more as people who have really appreciated what I have done and with all the letters that I have been sent. I’ve tried to read as many as I could. There is more free time now to read those letters that I wasn’t able to catch up on just because it got so busy at the end. More and more letters came the longer you were on the show and all the letters are so unique. I couldn’t believe how many have said thank you for singing certain songs and that my singing was able to inspire them … The fact that people were able to feel what I was trying to give off as I sing is one of the coolest and best feelings ever.
Steve Granitz/WireImage
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