By Angelica

The origin of the disorder is similarly problematic.   Archuleta, the causative factor, is not a virus, though he has been known to mutate at the rate of one with successive tours.  He is, despite speculation and ponderous studies by paranormal psychologists and theologists,  a member of the species Homo sapiens.  Extensive research to the contrary  is neither empirical, conclusive, or even compelling in its claims that he is extraterrestrial or other than human in nature.   Archuleta himself denies such allegations, but since he is the causative factor of the malady, his words are not scientifically credible.

This leads to a stalemate of sorts.  We can not eliminate or even slow the progress of an evolved and evolving entity that by rational analysis  is one of us.  To do so is tantamount to impeding our own progress as a  race.  Moreover, it has become increasingly clear that we must despair of ever convincing those who have contracted ODD to accept any amelioration of their coveted symptoms.   No fatalities have been reported, excepting one incidence during a performance of Don’t Let Go, which has since been disproved.  There have been however, numerous documented cases of a brief loss of consciousness, or “Archustupor,”  precipitated by a too close proximity to the person of Mr. Archuleta.  Therein follows several days where speech skills are severely compromised and tears are common, but tests prove there are no long-term debilitating effects.

In the light of these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, the only solution may be radical – to do nothing at all.  The growing consensus among the medical community is to simply let the disease or his-ease, as the case may be, run its course.  Ironically, resistance is not only futile, it may even be counterproductive.  Over time, ODD  may prove to be the greatest enhancement to the overall health of mankind since the discovery of penicillin.

~ Angelica, MD, ODD specialist

It is David’s passion for what he loves that makes him the larger-than-life person he becomes on stage. Without this passion, his superlative voice would still be well worth listening to, but we would not have ODD. It is his passion that imbues his voice with the power to connect his heart to ours, and is, I believe, his true genius.

My first attempt at making a video was a playful experiment. I wanted to see what I could do and have fun in the process. It is a tongue firmly planted in cheek attempt to portray David’s sensual nature as something that must be reckoned with. In Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man,” the lyrics demanded a sensual charisma that David is more than capable of satisfying.

For my second video, I had a difficult time choosing the song. Then David sent out a blog and handed me the song I had been looking for: Matt Dukes’ “Rabbit.” I loved it from the start. On repeated listening, I heard the lines, “all your broken bones in a heap,” and “all your blood and guts are exposed,” as a reference to the sacrifice and courage an artist endures to bring their gift to the world.

My latest effort was to Sade’s “I Couldn’t Love You More.” As always, the song tells me what to do. The slow, soulful, sultry, groove of Sade seemed to demand that the video be done for the most part in slow motion. This, and only this, was my reason for using the effect.

In fact, many of the clips, when played back in real time, were more sensual and powerful that way than in slow motion. David has the gift of scintillating soul in his voice and movements that will, I believe and hope, become even more evident in his performances as he matures. Lyrically, it is an ode to ODD, of how absolutely and completely his fans love him. To those of us blessed to get him, he is pure, unadulterated joy.

~ Angelica

Video #1: “Ain’t No Other Man”

Video #2: “Rabbit”

Video #3: “I Couldn’t Love You More”

We must go back to the beginning, when the spell was first cast. What lies beneath the mystifying fascination we have with David Archuleta began when the incantation was first performed. The performance varied from Heaven to Shop Around to Imagine, but the vital component essential to producing the desired effect remained. Our captivation began the first time we each heard The Voice. That magical, otherworldly voice.

It is an entity felt as much as heard. It shivers your spine one moment and caresses you like a lover’s warm breath the next. This is the voice of all your pain released and all your joys restored. It is a soulful, sensual thing of terrible beauty that takes you captive, leaves you spellbound.

As if the siren call of his voice were not alone enough to enslave, he has other charms at his disposal. He is utterly, beguilingly, beautiful. This beauty runs much deeper than the devastating countenance we see on the surface. It is an incandescent beauty of spirit that radiates from within. There is no question that he has “it” in spades. Elinor Glyn came up with the concept of “it” for a story published in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1926. She described it as “that quality possessed by some which draws all others with its magnetic force.” Not by coincidence are the letters I and T highlighted and elongated on David’s debut album. But… it does not suffice. It will not do. To explain the hold he has on us, we must have the courage to delve deeper.

We must admit that we are powerless against the enchantment of a changeling. Off stage he dazzles us with a boyish grin and often an expression of wide-eyed wonder. It is as though Tom Sawyer himself had strolled out of the pages of a book to steal our hearts. He is so adorable, so irresistibly engaging, that in a twinkling he conjures us into putty in his beautiful hands. Thus does the boy, working in league with his alter-ego, strip us of our defenses and render us completely vulnerable to the seduction of the man he becomes on stage.

That man does not play fair. He is distressingly lacking in that quality of mercy which droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven. What droppeth instead is a torrent of glistening sweat on a face so surfeited with passion one feels almost like a voyeur to something not meant for public enjoyment. Yet he is an innocent, knowing nothing of love in the biblical sense. It is a testament to the incredible artistry of David Archuleta that he is able to draw upon a kind of raw, essential passion, rarely mined. A priceless ore of exquisite beauty, this passion shimmers only in veins that traverse the wide cavernous souls of great artists. It is a passion s0 pure and powerful, it enraptures what senses we have not yet abandoned, and we love it.

And we love him. We love the beauty of his voice, his soul, his heart. We scarcely can believe in a time when this beauty was not a part of us. Now we hug it close, in a fierce embrace, like a child that was lost and now is found. In the words of the poet e.e. cummings, here is the real secret of our fascination:

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

-Angelica

Composition in Black and White

For the true artist, the journey is never easy. It is as complicated as the one who travels it. He must labor for years perfecting his craft, which to his own impossible standards, is never fully realized. The execution of his art is always outdistanced by his vision. This paradox causes any artist worthy of the name to be plagued at times with self-doubt and angst. He must, moreover, engage in constant battle with forces that would diminish his art, and so diminish him. He must find the courage to be supremely indifferent to the opinions of others. If the existing state of affairs in his chosen field is anathema to who he is as a person, he must reject it and risk being considered uncool. Rather than conform to the status quo, he must, like David Archuleta, be a renegade.

Those of us who have followed his career for the past year, have been astounded by the exponential growth we have witnessed. Gone is the shy, awkward immobile singer of mostly ballads. He now takes the stage with a cat-like graceful stride and can bust a move and plug his megawatt energy into a crowd till the whole house is bouncing and rocking. He can still belt out a ballad, but is now moving with rapid precision to master pop, soul, funk, alternative rock, and blues. He has recently drawn on his Honduran roots to sing in his first language, caressing those soft consonants with a perfect accent and plaintive delivery that will lay you to waste. He moans, he growls, he falsettos, he acappellas, he riffs in exultant abandon. Midway through his set he is drenched in sweat and the crowd is hoarse from screaming.

He leaves us breathless and we do not know how he does what he does to us. We only know that he does it better than anyone else. Aside from his unsurpassed vocal prowess, he has the power to transmit on a cellular level by his facial expressions, indeed, with his whole body, raw, undiluted, take no prisoner emotions that are nothing short of physical in their intensity.

He is at once the laughing young boy and the man with the firmly set jaw and piercing gaze. He is the rebel with a cause, the reluctant renegade, the good man who is hard to find. He fascinates, intoxicates, bewitches, bothers and bewilders. For all his goodness, David Archuleta possesses a positively wicked charisma.

What lies beneath is a gifted, serious artist with something to say, and the ability, supplied by all of the above, to make himself completely understood.

- Angelica

beebee created a lovely downloadble PDF ready for framing of this post.
Just right click on the link and it will open as a PDF, then you can save it to your hard drive from there. A Growing Force