David Archuleta - Part 2

The media-swell of David Archuleta's top 20 performance singing John Lennon's "Imagine" has slowed down some since late last week, but the fan support continues in earnest for season seven's most promising contestant yet. Several myspace "fansites" created by many different users have popped up in support of David; not to mention the plethora of myspace groups devoted to David that have also appeared out of thin air. Hundreds of David's performances on Idol have appeared on YouTube with some of the most popular videos registering over two millions views and thousands of comments. The viewer ratings on almost all of the videos are at four in a half stars, with a couple more at a perfect five stars. The majority of the users who leave comments are mostly positive - but there are a few who love to wreck the spirit of the comment posting section by saying negative things about David; things they have no proof are true and draw the ire of all David fans. The minority group who leaves the negative comments tends to leave notes questioning David's sexuality. These people honestly make no sense to me.

Does David even remotely seem gay? Not in the least for me. He's a 17 year old kid, for god's sake. Now fellow Idol contestant Danny Noriega is openly gay. I mean, how could anyone not tell? He flaunts it everytime he's up on stage. David does nothing of the sort. He's a cool, calm, collected individual who's always pleasant and smiling when up on stage. He generally seems a little shy once his performance is over (as Ryan Seacrest pointed out after David's "Shop Around" performance), but being gay is not a word I'd describe him. One user's comment on YouTube stated that his "gaydar is going off" (supposedly an expert when telling when a person is gay or not - probably because he himself is gay) at watching David onstage and that he's clearly gay. Obviously his "gaydar" needs fine-tuning then, because David is nothing of the sort. I generally take these comments as being offensive against David's character - even though some of the people leaving the comments are still supportive of David even though, "he's obviously gay" as some put it. You know, just leave the homosexuality accusations out of it and root for someone who's actually an exceptional singer and performer. What his orientation is should have nothing to with the overall outcome of the show (even though I think David isn't gay in the least). It's his right to keep that part of his life personal, anyways.

I really have no idea why I'm bringing these morons comments to the spotlight in this blog, but I feel as if I need to get my message out in some way. Replying to each and every negative comment on YouTube within David's videos is just a lot of work and I think it would more or less be trying to fight a losing battle. I will say this though, I am a supporter of David Archuleta purely because of his singing abilities. He's been a singing prodigy every since he was nine or ten years old. Singing is his nature. He's a good guy; he's nice, it seems he doesn't have a mean bone in his body and he's a hell of a good singer. I can somehow relate to the kid, too. Although I didn't start singing at a young age like him, I joined my high school's chorus when I was a freshman and discovered the joys of singing that can bring to not just me individually, but also to those in the audience listening. He's a nice guy, like me; he's shy like me (but he has a lot more courage to get up on that stage and sing in front of millions of people more than I ever could), and he's destined for big things. Who says nice guys finish last, because I sure don't think he'll be last in this competition.

The fan support for David Archuleta will likely continue for some time. Some of the YouTube comments were from people who generally hated American Idol but heard the hype that David was all about and checked out his videos and enjoyed what they saw. That is the beauty of YouTube, as well. It gives the opportunity for people who don't normally watch the show a chance to witness the better singers of the group. And I don't believe for one second that the competition is already over. As much as I want David to win this year's American Idol crown, it wouldn't be much fun of a season if all of the other contestants just rolled over and let David have it. I don't think that is going to happen and David will have his off-weeks, just like Jordin Sparks and Taylor Hicks did in years past. So if you are checking this blog out for the first time and aren't ordinarily an avid American Idol watcher, at least check David out on YouTube and see for yourself what all of the hype is all about. You will not only see his videos from American Idol, but also his performances form Star Search (when he was about ten or 11), high school concerts, an appearance (singing "Imagine" then, as well) on a Utah television morning program, and much, much more. Being a big fan as I am of David, there just isn't enough of his performances on there to satisfy me. That's pretty much why I play his Idol performances over and over again. I never get tired of watching them either. He's such a likable guy that it's just too difficult to root against him. It's his title to win.