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David Archuleta - David Archuleta
- In a rush to capitalize on the ending season of American Idol, runner-up David Archuleta has released an album. The self-titled album is a clearly rushed album where Archuleta didn’t have much time to make solid decisions on tracks. The tracks are all kid friendly, pop/R&B hybrids that any fan of Archuleta will eat up instantly.
There is a mix of the maturity levels on Archuleta’s album. The album hovers the line between teen-oriented and adult contemporary album. The balance between the two shows two things: 1) David’s production team wanted an album that would cover all of his fans and 2) It shows that David is still quite young and has the potential to grow into a powerhouse. Hopefully, Archuleta will have a more unified sound by his second album.
The poppy tracks like “Crush” and “Touch My Hand” are sung well, but there is just something silly about listening to tracks about wanting to get the girl and just trying to get the chance to talk to the girl. Looking at his fan base, most girls probably don’t want an image of a meek classmate as their idol. “A Little Too Not Over You” has a horrible title and is childish, but it at least doesn’t have the gender problem that a song like “Crush.”
There is a degree of overproduction to several tracks on the album. The use of echo and background singers on “Barriers” was detrimental to Archuleta. The yelling at the chorus is hokey and seems out of place. Then out of nowhere a synthesizer starts playing on the track for no reason and then disappears. The song “My Hands” sounds similar to Jordin Sparks’ “Tattoo” and it has become almost formulaic instead of original when Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” came out. “Running” has too many elements playing at the same time. If the track removed two instruments (especially the hand clap), then it wouldn’t be that bad. There should be acoustic versions to help showcase Archuleta’s voice instead of the shoddy production.
One song that has the right balance of production and lyrical style is “You Can.” If the song “A Little Too Not Over You” didn’t have that lyric and title, it would have been a great top 100 pop song. The tracks that really showcase Archuleta’s voice are “To Be With You” and “Angels.” We can finally ignore the horrible Jessica Simpson version of “Angels” now. The two songs are clean, silly-smooth, and are the most reminiscent of his Idol days. The best overproduced track is “Desperate.” No matter how cheesy the synthesizers are playing behind Archuleta, his one saving grace is his voice.
It’s a shame that this album didn’t have his version of “Imagine” which was showcased on So You Think You Can Dance? this summer or “In This Moment” which was the song he picked from the writers challenge in the last week of American Idol. Both songs could have showcased Archuleta’s talent without too much instrumentation behind him.
One can’t fault David Archuleta for having a good voice. Unfortunately for him, he really is under the grasp of American Idol, his production team, and his father. When he has the opportunity to make more decisions for himself, Archuleta will be able to steer in one clear direction. For now, his album is a cornucopia of different sounds that have some hits and some misses.
Reviewer: Michael Pascua
new
Reviewer's Rating: 7.5
Reader's Rating: 9.62
Reader's Votes: 78
Added: 26-Dec-2008
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