Yahoo Lifestyle David Archuleta Is Over Being a 'Good Mormon Boy' — He's Having a Sexual Awakening (Exclusive)
I don't mean to alarm you, but David Archuleta is wearing an earring. Yes, you read that correctly, the baby-faced American Idol alum now has his ears pierced.
While this style choice may seem fairly innocuous to many readers, for Archuleta (as well as some of his longtime fans), a man deciding to get his ears pierced is a big decision. That's because Archuleta spent most of his life as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or as what's colloquially known as a Mormon.
"That was a big no-no," Archuleta says while chatting with Parade, "You're not supposed to pierce your ears. It's bad in Mormonism. Guys weren't supposed to have their ears pierced, and no tattoos." Even women are typically discouraged from getting more than a single piercing in each ear.
Archuleta's earrings, however, are part of his larger journey to self-discovery after coming out as queer in 2021 and subsequently leaving the Mormon church. Since then, the 34-year-old singer/songwriter has been growing into himself, exploring new avenues in his music, fashion and romantic life.
"I wanted to get my ears pierced since sixth grade," Archuleta remembers. "I thought it'd be so cool, so last year I got my ears pierced, and I was really excited about that."
If Archuleta's new bling is distressing to some, his new single "Crème Brulée" is certain to send them into a tailspin. The sexy new pop single is all about a man falling quickly for Archuleta, but the musician makes him work for his affection.
"Spiciness is a good word," Archuleta says describing the new bop. "It's spicier, for sure, because it's also in touch with my Latin roots, and Latin culture tends to be a little spicier. It's my first time singing in Spanglish, which is how I live my life anyway, so it was fun to do that."
The song is also much more sexually provocative than Archuleta's previous tracks. Phrases like, "There goes all of your clothes/Speaking words you don't know" and "Just one night/Had the best bite of your life" are most definitely "spicy."
"I get in touch with the flirtier, more sensual side of David," Archuleta says. "Something that's kind of new for David, to be honest. I'm growing, maturing and becoming more playful."
Archuleta, who spent over a decade perfecting his wholesome persona after finishing second on American Idol in 2008, is now branching out to the surprise of even his closest collaborators.
"I can't believe this is David Archuleta. David Archuleta can't sing about this," Archuleta remembers fellow songwriter Ryan Nealon saying about "Crème Brulée."
"I'm like, 'Well, yes he can, and he's going to," Archuleta responded.
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The arrival of the sugary pop perfection that is "Crème Brulée" is just part of a larger reckoning for Archuleta, one that includes joy-filled new experiences, but also a lot of soul-searching and, at times, pain. For so many LGBTQ+ individuals growing up in religious environments (this writer included), life can become a series of mental negotiations, hoping that if you deny your queerness enough and present a perfect-enough package, that perhaps you'll be accepted in spite of whom you're attracted to. The disillusionment that comes from realizing that you will never be good enough for many due solely to being gay can be incredibly hurtful, but also liberating. Archuleta seems to find himself in this stage of newfound freedom on the eve of his song's release.
"I write about where I'm going in life, so I'm just taking people on my journey," he says. "Respectfully, it's an 'I don't give a f--k anymore' kind of song. It's just like, 'You know what? I've been your good boy for over a decade now,' and I still try to be that, but it didn't matter. ... All you want from me is to deny my queerness. And I'm not going to do that."
Archuleta didn't immediately leave the Mormon church after coming out. He tried to be both gay and a Mormon for a year, but says that his religious fans were "never going to be happy unless I turn back into a good Mormon boy pretending to be happy and straight, because then they'd be like, 'Look! God cured him! What a miracle!'"
He remembers one moment during which fans got up in arms when they thought he was wearing lipstick on Instagram Live (not that there's anything problematic with boys wearing lipstick, he's quick to point out). In reality, his lips were just red from eating pizza with chili peppers on it.
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"I was literally on my way to a Christian concert," Archuleta remembers indignantly, but the moment sparked an epiphany for him. "I'm like, 'Why am I living my life for these people's approval?' They're not even happy with themselves because they're so caught up in other people's business. Me eating chili peppers did not affect these people, and yet they made it affect them because they wanted a reason to hate me."
Recognizing he was never going to win with a certain group of his old fans, Archuleta decided to start living his own life (ear piercings included). "I was like, 'You know what? I'm going to drink alcohol. F--k it.'" he says. "'I'm gonna go have a party. I'm gonna dance, and I'm gonna get to know guys and have fun.' I'm not trying to impress you anymore. Go somewhere else."
Over the past several years, in addition to dating men, buying earrings and releasing more suggestive music, Archuleta has also parted with his Mormon garments, white underclothes that Mormon adults are required to wear as a sign of the covenant they made in their temple ceremonies.
"Now I can show more of my chest," he says about his new fashion choices. "I wasn't allowed to show anything past my garments. Now I can wear tank tops, so that's fun. I love tank tops. If I want to go shirtless at a rave or a festival, I can, and it's fun. I can wear higher shorts. For a former Mormon, that's a big thing. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, should I even be doing this?'"
Anyone who follows Archuleta on Instagram knows he's been frequenting raves recently, and he's hoping his new music will move in that direction. "I want to do more EDM music," he says. "I've talked to a couple of DJs about doing something. It just hasn't been the right song, but I'm definitely going to go into that because I want people to vibe out to my songs. It's a dream because I love doing it at raves. I love it when a good song comes on and gets the crowd hyped and in a place where they can escape."
Archuleta's love of tank tops and upbeat music are certainly on display in the "Crème Brulée" music video, in which he dances alongside three other performers as their four bodies work to form shapes and structures in time to the music. The video, which has been compared to Troye Sivan's newer music videos, is more sexual than Archuleta's typical visuals, but he gets frustrated at the standards he's held to in comparison to fellow artists of his generation.
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"There's still this guilt that creeps back in," Archuleta says about moving his music in a new direction. "But it's like, 'You don't give a f--k if anyone else be singing about this s--t. Why are you giving me a hard time about it? Y'all be blasting Bruno Mars, and look at the last song he released with Sexyy Red [their explicit song 'Fat Juicy & Wet']. You just want to pick and choose who you're mad at. Because he's straight, he can get away with it. He's talking about orgasms."
Archuleta clearly has spent a lot of time thinking about how his image is compared to other artists and bristles at the idea that he's not allowed to sing about sex.
"Y'all are adults. You've f--king seen naked people before," he says at one point during our call. "I'm in my 30s. God forbid I talk about someone who wants a little action from me."
Growing up, Archuleta lived a very sheltered life, especially when it comes to sex. "I was thirtysomething years old before I even knew how wet dreams worked and masturbation," he says. "Now I'm learning that this is just part of life."
Archuleta says this lack of information about sexual topics is a problem in the Mormon church that extends well beyond him. "Many Mormons are sheltered," he says. "It's like 'Don't talk about sex. Don't masturbate. Do not even think about anything that's sensual.' Then, once you get married, 'OK, now have sex.' We don't even know how to have sex. So many of my friends are like, 'I cried when my husband or my wife and I had sex for the first time because I was doing something I was told all my life to never speak of and now suddenly [was] just thrown in."
This is especially true for queer men. Archuleta says he was taught, "If you have gay sex, that's the worst thing you can do. God's punishment was the HIV/AIDS pandemic." In spite of those homophobic comments, Archuleta is pressing on. "There's HIV medication now. You can [take preventative medication like] PrEP. You can practice safe sex. I was so ashamed of it before, but when you find someone you fall in love with and you want to connect with, [sex] usually comes with the connection."
As Archuleta looks to the future, and eventually building up to a new album, he's ready for the online discourse. "If it causes a little controversy, good," he says. "I need a little bit of that in my life. I've been a good boy for the last 17 years."
"Even if it's talking about seductive words and naughty things," he says, "you're supposed to take risks. It makes life much more fulfilling. I want people to feel like they can take risks after hearing David Archuleta music. I wanna take risks."
