RJ here, hanging out with the Young Hollywood studio with David Archuleta. Hi. So, talk to us. I mean, you know, finally the buzz has died down a little bit of all the American Idol craziness. Yeah. Do you have back to normal life a little bit or is it it's still insane? Um I mean it's just, I don't know. It's weird. It's been three years since I auditioned for American Idol and it's weird that people still remember who I am. All these random people will come up to say hi and and it's been cool, you know. I did a pop album and then I did a Christmas album last year, which is really cool. And the Christmas album is probably my favorite thing to do. It was Why was that?

What made that your favorite? I just love Christmas music and I just feel so good singing it and it was my favorite tour I've done. I don't know. I felt like people left feeling better from the music. And I I always felt better after every show because of those songs. They're just so good. Something better than that that breaks your heart but don't give up You got way more involved in the writing now, of your music. So what made that happen? Yeah. I just I just wanted to be able to relate to what I was singing about. I wanted people to understand what kind of person I was and what kind of perspective I had in my life.

And how do you think your sound has changed now between the last couple of albums to the to the new pop album? Um with this pop album I kind of wanted things to be a little quirky because I felt like, you know, I'm a I'm a dork. I'm a I'm this weird, goofy kid. So I want people to get to know me and so in order to do that with the songs, the songs kind of need that dorkiness to them. Not many people would admit what you're saying that you're a dork. You know, most people would like, I'm a pop star. Everyone in America knows who I am but I'm really a dork. No, I'm a dork. I can't. I'm honest, I guess. I can't lie. I mean, it's just I didn't expect music to come this fast.

I always thought maybe 15 years from now if I'm lucky there'll be a chance. Like get to make an album and go maybe on tour when I'm more experienced and then it's like a few months later it completely changed and it just because I thought I think you're ready. I didn't I didn't think I was ready. That's why I didn't think I was going to get very far or that anything was going to happen afterwards because I just thought I'm I'm still just, you know, at the time, I'm 16, 17. Crazy. I felt like I still have a lot more to learn. I don't know anything on the business side of things. But hey, I guess, you know, looking back, it's like, I guess I was ready.

I just had to learn how to, you know, keep up with everything and learn. Sometimes it's like, I'm not ready and life's like, yes, you are. There's so many moments like like where it's like, oh, I could just give up now. I could give up now. I could give up now. I could give up now. Especially on American Idol, it's like I could just quit now or just forget about learning this song or it's just when you got on stage and just got to perform and just, ah, let it all out and release. It's like it was worth it. I mean, it was hard to do, but the end result was so worth it. Getting to sing in front of millions of people, it's just, I don't know.

Sounds like you've learned a lot and you have definitely had an incredible journey. Oh, thanks. And it sounds like the journey's just beginning for you also. We'll see what else happens. We'll see. You never know what can happen, but it's it's cool.