For his upcoming A Festive Evening tour, which kicks off at Arlington Music Hall on Wednesday, Dec. 10, Archuleta is reconnecting with this particular time of the year that for him was once more closely linked to the church.
“It's my attempt at trying to find that middle ground of how I feel about the holidays now,” Archuleta says. “Christmas and all. A lot of my history with it is very religious, and I'm not in that place anymore. So I'm kind of like ‘How do I go about this?’ Because I still want to be real. I want to be genuine with what I do. So how do I make this an experience where I can still be reminiscent to what Christmas once meant to me and also be real about where I am in life now and what it means to me moving forward? I feel like I've come to peace with that and built a show around that which flows pretty well.”
We first spoke with Archuleta in 2021, ahead of his holiday performance with the Turtle Creek Chorale at First United Methodist Church. At the time, Archuleta had been out for only a few months and was still involved with the church. During that conversation, he revealed that when he was younger, he often tried to pray away his queer desires.
Since coming to terms with his sexuality, Archuleta proudly embraces his queer identity. Earlier this year, he dropped “Hell Together,” a powerful ballad in which he refuses to conform to what the church wants for him.
“My mom, when she decided to walk away from religion, just like I did, she said, ‘If you're going to hell, then we're all going to hell with you,’” Archuleta recalls. “She said it sarcastically, but also saying ‘Who cares what other people think? We know who we are, and people can be judgmental all they want, but we've still got each other.’ We know in our hearts if there is a God, he's the one that's good, and not these judgmental people at church.”
On another song — the raw, guitar-driven “Rather Be Lonely” — Archuleta expresses his frustrations with modern dating as well as the difficulty he has opening up to others.“It's my attempt at trying to find that middle ground of how I feel about the holidays now." – David Archuleta
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“I probably have too much trauma to allow myself to really feel intimate with someone without it feeling like a hostile environment,” Archuleta says. “And even if you find a great person, I still feel like, ‘Nope, this is something I gotta get out of, even though there's nothing apparently wrong here.’ … After that over and over, I was just saying, ‘Man, I'm at this point, I’d rather be lonely.’”
For Archuleta, experiencing sexual attraction comes in tandem with forming an emotional connection to the person. In an interview last month with actor Johnny Sibbily on his Logo Spill platform, the singer self-described as demisexual, someone who feels sexual attraction to another only after developing a strong emotional bond with them. It’s an identifier that has been helpful as he navigates his sexuality, he says.
“I look at my friends and they do not have the same experience,” Archuleta says. “Like, sex is on their mind, and it's not the same for me. I don't think it has to be … Not everyone is like you, and you're not like everyone else. I've been out for almost three and a half years now, and I'm learning myself, still.”
Archuleta opens up about his journey in his upcoming memoir, which is slated for a 2025 release via Dey Street Publishing. At the time of our conversation, he was set to turn in the final draft of the memoir the following day.
“Hopefully there's something for everybody,” Archuleta says, “whether they're Mormon, whether they're Christian, whether they're not religious, whether they're queer or not queer. I feel like everyone has dealt with issues with their family, with their cousins, their aunts, their siblings, and their children. I very much get raw and real and vulnerable with my relationships and my family. And so, hopefully, people realize you don't have to be a perfect family, and you can have some screwed-up things about your family and still, like, rise above it all with compassion for your difficult relatives as well.”
Archuleta plans to release new music next year. His first release is something he says is “more connected to the book” than an upcoming album. And for his next record, he plans to dive into pop and Spanglish music.
For now, Archuleta is excited for the holidays and to explore what the season means to him today.
“For me, it’s kind of like Santa Claus,” Archuleta says about this time of year. “When you're little, Santa has a very different meaning for you as a kid, versus when you're an adult, and I think that's how I have to treat the whole idea of Christmas now. As I've gotten older, it's more about the memory of what it meant to me, and I can still enjoy the wonder and awe that I once felt, but but it's not for the same reason.”
