The ‘American Idol' Who Left the Mormon Church to Live His Best Gay Life

Yahoo

6 hours ago

David Archuleta is finally in his sexual era, and it's hard to argue with his reasoning.
'I'm 34 years old now. It's about damn time that I let myself be flirty,' the pop star and former American Idol contestant tells The Daily Beast's Obsessed over Zoom.
Archuleta first appeared on American Idol in 2008 at age 16, placing as a runner-up to David Cook. He won audiences over with his smooth, crisp vocals and boyish good looks. Since his first hit single 'Crush' in 2008, Archuleta has released eight albums, but this year finds him embracing a whole identity in his music: He's being himself, he's being gay, and he's being sexy.
There's a freedom and joy you can hear in his music ever since Archuleta publicly came out in 2021. His latest music, including 'Crème Brulée' and 'Can I Call You,' off his forthcoming EP, Earthly Delights (releasing Aug. 15 alongside his upcoming tour) is lively, exciting, and gloriously queer.
It took Archuleta these last 17 years to find himself. His experience on American Idol shaped the start of his career, and not necessarily in the way he wanted.
'Suddenly, a whole fan base is constructed for you. They want you to be a certain thing—they wanted me to be the teenage heartthrob,' Archuleta says. 'I never considered myself a teenage heartthrob. That's just how I was portrayed. That's how they wanted me to be seen. I tried to fill in that role as best as I could. But it wasn't who I wanted to be.'
Though he knew he didn't fit into that producer-constructed mold, Archuleta's religious background made his self-discovery a challenging process: 'I grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Like most religions, they have a pretty strong stance against homosexuality.'
The weight of the word 'homosexual' weighed heavily on him. 'When you hear that word, you just think, 'If you're gay, you're automatically gonna be seen as some whore or pervert who's addicted to sex.' And I didn't want to be that,' he says.
As time passed, it became more difficult for Archuleta to ignore his feelings. 'I realized that just because you fall in love with someone of the same sex doesn't mean you're suddenly some disgusting, evil, vile creature,' he says. 'You can still live your life normally, just like everyone else does. It's just that who you're in love with happens to be someone of the same sex.'
When he turned 30, he decided to come out publicly: 'I figured out that coming out was a step worth taking. It was scary, but it's been worth it.'
Growing up in the public eye, Archuleta found people were always prying into his private life. Since American Idol portrayed him as a heartthrob, people were especially interested in who he was dating. And Mormons, as Archuleta says, were particularly keen on knowing who he was going to marry: 'People literally come up to me in the grocery store asking if I'm dating anybody. The Mormon thing to do is ask, 'Who are you going to marry?' And I'm just like, 'I don't even know who you are!''
After he came out, he noticed a shift in people's attitudes toward him. 'When I said I was going to start dating guys, suddenly, all the Mormons were like 'Why don't you just keep that to yourself?'' Archuleta says. '[They] wouldn't leave me alone! It's so ironic that you obsess over who I'm dating, and then when I come out as queer, it shifts to, 'I don't get why gay people are so obsessed with talking about who they bring into the bedroom.' Who said I was bringing anybody into my bedroom?'
Archuleta made the hard decision to leave the Mormon church in 2022, though it's a decision he doesn't regret.
At first, it was especially hard, as he didn't have the support of the person who meant the most to him: his mother. 'Initially, my mom couldn't accept my sexuality,' Archuleta says. 'The people whom you care the most about in your life, you're gonna really care what they think. My mom is one of those people for me. I was always known as the good boy. I adapted a lot of my behavior and how I acted to be the good boy my mom wanted me to be.'
The challenging time, he says, made him stronger: 'When you realize your life could upset them, it's scary. Now I've gotten to a place where I don't care. It was surprisingly liberating for me to be able to say, 'I don't need you to accept me, because I'm accepting myself, and that's the most important thing.''
Ultimately, Archuleta's mother came around and left the church with her son.
'I had to go against what she wanted for me to get there. It's not about your parents accepting you. It's about you accepting yourself and finding that love for you,' he says. 'I hope people know not everybody's parents accept them or the choices they make, and that's okay. My mom didn't either. What I needed was to be honest and live my truth, and do what was right for me.'
That feeling of liberation is evident in his music. 'Crème Brulée,' in particular, isn't just a dreamy earworm. It is Archuleta ecstatically celebrating his queerness. The synth-laden track is cheeky, breezy, and it sounds like he's having the most fun he's had in years. It's one of the queer songs of the summer.
'I've started writing just kind of in this new place that's post-American Idol, post-religious life,' Archuleta says.
'Crème Brulée' has fans giddily declaring him a gay icon, though it's a title he's hesitant to claim: 'I'm not trying to be a gay icon or anything—I just want to be telling my message, sharing my experiences, and telling my story. I'm exploring my queer identity now and leaning into that. Earthly Delights is indulging in the stuff that I was always told growing up religiously, that I should never, ever dare even think of.'
Embracing a new, sexier side is something Archuleta loves.
'Part of being a human being is being sexual,' he says. 'You forget that in religion because they villainize it so much. We all exist because humans are sexual beings! For some reason, we act like it's the worst thing in the world. It's literally in the book that you believe in, so I don't know why y'all be tripping.'
'Crème Brulée' finds Archuleta playing with some edgy and playful double entendres. In the song, he sings, for example, 'Snap me like a photo,' a not-so-subtle hint at what goes on behind closed doors.
'Before, I was always so worried about what was appropriate and being obedient. Now I can have fun and be silly in this way,' he says.
While Archuleta received some pushback from people surprised by his new direction, he saw it as a chance to assert himself: 'I'm the boss, and I'm giving myself permission to sing this. It's been free and it's been liberating,' Archuleta says.
That free spirit extends to his social media.
On Archuleta's popular TikTok, he sometimes surprises fans with videos that talk about covering up hickeys, or even hinting at his preferred sexual positions. 'It was so taboo for me before,' Archuleta says, 'but not taboo for a lot of people. It's refreshing to feel so loose and relaxed, and not be so uptight about things.'
'I grew up on a reality TV show. That's how I was raised, to share and be exposed, whether I wanted it or not, and for people to connect with me on that level,' Archuleta says. He only asks one thing of his audience: 'I'm in a new phase. Let me be and let me live my life and share my journey as I see fit.'
This summer, Archuleta performed at Pride events across America, including DC World Pride earlier this month alongside such artists as Troye Sivan and Cynthia Erivo. 'It was really great to celebrate,' he says. And Archuleta also recognizes that it's more vital than ever to be performing loudly and proudly as a queer artist.
'Being queer isn't easy,' he says. 'We're not a majority, but we will always be a constant in society. No matter what ethnicity, no matter what part of the world, no matter what, we will always be there. We didn't choose to be this way—we came into the world like this. Hopefully, everyone will be able to live without having to fear of other people think of us or how people treat us. We will continue to celebrate and make ourselves known.'