American Idol and The Masked Singer alum David Archuleta emerges with a healing new single “Up”
After competing as the Macaw on the hit show The Masked Singer earlier this year, singer-songwriter David Archuleta is now ready to share new music with the world. To celebrate his newfound confidence, David has released his brand new single, “Up” as well as a lyric video.
“This song is about hitting what we feel is rock bottom in our lives and like there’s nowhere to go,” David said in a press statement. “You feel hopeless. The only thing to do from the bottom is get yourself off the ground and move up. It’s a song about finding the strength you didn’t know you had in you. And replacing any fear and hate with love. Especially self love.”
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“‘Up’ it’s kind of like the prelude. It’s meant to tie where I’m coming from, my past, my history — but it’s also coming from a place where I was at the bottom of that, at the end of that path,” David told Entertainment Weekly.
“This is me saying I’m accepting myself as I am”
“I’ve lived out the end of this, and I don’t know where else to go. This is continuing down a very dark place, and I need to get out of it now,” David shared. “So this is me saying, I’m accepting myself as I am, as a queer person, and letting myself be seen, every aspect of myself. And I’m just letting all of me be seen now. And not being so afraid of hiding myself and being afraid of what people will say if people find out. I’m just like, you know what, now they know! And now it’s just moving up, and I’m gonna have fun. There’s no need to hide anything anymore — just have a good time.”
In addition, David recently joined forces with CG5 a new single & animated music video, “IDONTUNDERSTAND.” Watch HERE.
David came out as queer in 2021
David Archuleta finished American Idol season 8 as the runner-up behind David Cook in 2008. His first single after the show, “Crush”sold more than 2 million digital copies to become double platinum. Three months later, his self-titled album, David Archuleta, sold more than 900,000 copies worldwide.
In 2021, David came out as queer to the LGBTQ community and continues to navigate his identity. During this time, he also had vocal cord surgery, which left him unable to speak much for 3 months, resulting in a period of self-reflection.
In the fall of 2022, David revealed to Good Morning America that he was experiencing a faith crisis and stepping away from the Church of Latter Day Saints, having been a Mormon his whole life.
David’s return to television, The Masked Singer saw the singer spread his wings as the Macaw, a bird known for its exuberant personality. An audience favorite, David came in second place, competing against singers such as Pentatonix and Bishop Briggs.
He also appeared on American Idol this season, where he mentored up and coming singers like he once was.
