Hey guys! It’s me again. I’m reporting from LA, and have been here for a bunch of meetings. It’s nice to actually be here this week because, as you probably know, the Finale for American Idol was on Tuesday and Wednesday! I got to go both nights, and had a really fun time. Congratulations to Kris! He was really impressive throughout the whole season, and I think he really deserves his success. It’s always good to see good things happen to good people, you know? Adam did exceptionally well too, and I’m sure he has a lot of great things ahead of him with is amaaazing voice and talent that he has. So props to both of them. I’m glad that they both sang the songs they sang for the 1st round, because those were my favorite performances they had performed during the season.
After the Tuesday show, I went backstage and got to see all the AI production crew again! Which is always great haha. I was able to go into the production room, which I was excited about because during the show we were never allowed in there haha. It was good to mingle with all of them.

All right, so Wednesday now: We started with the red carpet, which was crazy enough with all the interviews and seeing everyone around me that was there. It was an exciting show too. They had a lot of great performers like Cyndi Lauper, Jason Mraz, Kiss, and you probably already know who was there haha. But I really enjoyed it. Oh, and Brooke White sat next to me! It’s always good to see her haha. I actually got to hang out with her on Monday, and we got something to eat and just got to catch up. it was a really good time. After the show, I went to all the after party stuff and it was great getting to talk to a whole bunch of people. I hadn’t talked to a lot of them for a long time, and it was also neat getting to meet and talk to new people too. Someone I got to talk to was Tamyra from the first season! I was really surprised she was there, and didn’t recognize her at first because I wasn’t expecting to see her lol. It was good to talk to her and let her know I appreciated what she did for me. For those of you who don’t know, Tamyra’s performance during the 1st season top 30 was one of the most influential performances for me. I had never really WATCHED or studied people perform before, and to see her put so much soul into it was amazing to me. I’m glad I was able to thank her again. But yeah, got to talk to a lot of people haha. I got to talk to Kris Allen’s family and they were all just really really nice people. It made me even happier for Kris, because you could tell he has some great people around him. I hung out with Carly Smithson and Jason Castro afterwards, and I also hung out with Castro after my meetings last night haha. So it’s been great just catching up with everyone! I haven’t been able to talk to all of them for a while, so I was really glad to spend time with all of them. It’s definitely been an American Idol week haha.

Tonight I have a writing session after some more meetings, so hope things go well! I’m still not that great of a writer or anything, but man do I love it. Even if we don’t write a smash hit, it’s great to be able to get the experience, and feel more comfortable writing. You always learn something new with each song you do. So I’m really looking forward to it. WIsh me luck! Well I have to head out now. But I will talk to you guys later. I have some things coming up this next week and I’ll let you know about them in the next blog. If you want to keep up with me in a way that’s updated more often, you can follow me on twitter haha. I need to not spend so much time on there, but my username’s DavidArchie. Well I’m off. Goodbye!

Song for the day: Every Moment - Joy Williams

Source: MySpace.com/DavidArchuleta

Source: David’s Official YouTube

Despite his international fame, “American Idol Season 7″ runner-up David Archuleta still seems unaware of his stature.

“Why are you guys nervous? You’re making me nervous,” the 18-year-old singer-songwriter asked “SIS” hosts Carmina Villaroel and Gelli and Janice De Belen, who seemed to be as overwhelmed as the more than 800 spectators in the GMA Network Studios on Thursday.

With just a smile and an “oh gosh” for every compliment that he got from the trio, Archuleta won over the whole crowd in the studio – the way he did with the American public during his “American Idol” stint.

“It’s so neat just getting to meet kids who look up to you, it’s really cool,” he said.

He did, however, say that he never intended to be a “role model’ for his young fans – who made his first self-titled album No. 2 in the Billboard Top 100 on its first week of release.

“It’s not like I was trying to be a role model or anything, I was just being who I was thinking that it was enough to influence people,” said the international crooner.

He added that he doesn’t even consider himself an adult.

“I’m 18 but I act like I’m 14,” said Archuleta.

Musical roots

According to the “Idol” runner-up, he started singing when he was six – with the first song he ever learned coming from the musical “Les Miserables.”

“The first thing that got me into music was when I watched this tenth anniversary tape of ‘Les Miserables’ when I was six, and I couldn’t stop watching it. The first song I learned was from [it is] called ‘Castle on the Cloud’,” he said.

After this, he said the second most influential thing for him would probably his first encounter with Kelly Clarkson – the 29-year-old American singer-songwriter who was the very first American Idol.

“I think Kelly is way up there. Kelly is one of the people I admire and look up to,” he said.

But he has more idols.

“There were so many people who have had influence and impact on me. I love music,” he said.

He cited Stevie Wonder, Jason Mraz, John Mayer, Michael Jackson, Natasha Bedingfield, Natalie Cole, and Mariah Carey as some of these influences.

Archuleta did, however, pick Jackson as his favorite all-time performer.

“I still think Michael Jackson is amazing, he’s had just so many great songs throughout his career that were really inspiring to me,” he said.

His current favorite song, on the other hand, is “I’m Yours” by Mraz.

“I love Jason. Isn’t he great?” he asked the audience who were more than happy to answer “yes.”

In awe of Filipino talent

But despite always being surrounded by world-class talents, he said he was really amazed at how well Filipinos could sing.

“I can’t believe this. I mean Filipinos are so amazingly talented, goodness, you all sing so well, that’s incredible,” he said after hearing La Divas’ Jonalyn Viray, Aicelle Santos, and Maricris Garcia deliver their version of “The Long and Winding Road” – a song that earned the “American Idol” runner-up rave reviews during his stint in the show.

“That was amazing, you guys sing so beautifully. Wow!” the American singer told the trio.

While at a loss for words, he just said that he wasn’t expecting “that.”

“That was like, I wasn’t expecting that, I wasn’t expecting you’re harmonizing, I was like: Oh, so perfect, perfect harmonizing,” said Archuleta.

R&B Princess Kyla, with her version of “And I Am Telling You,” also managed to charm the international crooner.

“Goodness, oh my gosh, all these singers can sing better than I can,” the “Idol” runner-up told the “SIS” hosts.

Sugar Pop members Pocholo Bismonte and Renzo Almario, on the other hand, showed the American celebrity the great potential of young Filipino singers.

“It’s like a different vibe,” Archuleta told the two after they sang his third single “Touch My Hand.”

But when it was his turn to sing, he said he just couldn’t follow local acts like that.

“I feel dumb going after all those singers. I’m just like blown away by everyone here, this show should be about everyone here,” he said.

He did, however, still wowed the audience with his chart-topping single “Crush.”

On more Filipino things

But the Filipino talent isn’t the only thing that he seems to have taken a liking to in the Philippines.

According to Archuleta, he loves the Filipino mangoes.

“I had two of them this morning,” he said.

In addition, he was fairly intrigued by our jeepneys.

“I’ve seen a lot of those around, I wanna ride one,” he said.

Source: GMANews.TV

Cobra Starship are already honorary members of the “American Idol” family, having worked with judge Kara DioGuardi on a track called “Good Girls Go Bad.” While the band steadfastly denies that they are loyal “Idol” fans — “Hell, no!” frontman Gabe Saporta cries — they did share some strong opinions about the show and its contestants during some downtime on the set of their upcoming music video.

“The first time I met Kara DioGuardi, I was really mad at her, ’cause I thought she replaced Paula Abdul,” Saporta told MTV News. “I’m like, ‘You replaced my girl! Straight up now tell me, are you really gonna love me forever?’ ”

We’re only half-certain he’s joking. “We got offered to work with Kara right as she was becoming an ‘American Idol’ judge,” Saporta explained. “We didn’t know who she was. She didn’t know who we were. We got hooked up with her. I’m like, ‘Who is this person?’ She’s like, ‘Who’s this annoying band?’ But we got in the room, and it was like magic, and we wrote the song in 15 minutes. It’s, like, the best song on our album.”

The “Idol” judge isn’t the only one getting some face time with Cobra. Last season’s diminutive finalist David Archuleta stopped by backstage at a recent show, though at least one bandmember had no clue who he was. “[Guitarist] Ryland [Blackinton] met David Archuleta at our show three weeks ago,” Saporta said. “[He] had no idea who he was. He’s like, ‘Hey there, little guy. How are ya?’ ”

“He looked like a little short-scale Fred Savage,” Blackinton confessed. “He looked like a little man.”

Blackinton quickly backtracked off that touchy statement about the 18-year-old. “I heard his fan club, the Arch Angels, are a pretty gnarly pack of middle-age women,” Blackinton said with a smile. “So, listen: I didn’t mean anything bad by calling him a little guy. It’s just you can’t tell because I’m sitting down — and they make me sit down for all the videos — I’m 7-3. So when I saw him, I didn’t even know. I was like, ‘Hey, stand up and meet me when you have a minute.’ ”

After Archuleta took off from the show, Blackinton said he sent a nervous text to Saporta: “Is that somebody important? Did I just mess up?”

The only one to cop to some “American Idol” love was bassist Alex Suarez. “I didn’t get to meet [Archuleta],” he said. “I was really bummed out when I found out he was at our show and nobody hit me up on Twitter.”

Source: MTV.com

I’m sure you all already know, but the tour dates for Demi Lovato’s summer tour, where David will be an opening act, have been posted on DavidArchuleta.com. You can check them out here and see if David is coming to your town this summer. Luckily for me, this time around he’s stopping by here mid-August and I’ve already got my tickets!

Also, the new site feature is taking a little longer than expected as there have been a few little bumps in the road that have been hit. I’m hoping it’ll be up within the next two or three days for you all so stay tuned for that.