From DavidArchulata.com:

You may have seen an unofficial version of the cover around the internet, but you heard it here first folks. This is the OFFICIAL cover for David’s new album “The Other Side of Down”. Pretty awesome, right? Now download it and make it your profile pic all over the place, on this site, on facebook, on Twitter, everywhere! Share the love (we hear there is something “bout” it!) everywhere you can and stay tuned for more photo news right here on davidarchuleta.com

Also, if you haven’t yet, make sure to pre-order “The Other Side of Down” from David’s Official Online Store.

So share! What are your first impressions?

~ davidfanLIZ

This is a picture of David that does him justice. Finally, a cover that shows the depth in his eyes, and his thoughtful nature in his expression. Even his clothes look like he picked them out himself rather than some stylist that was trying to make him into a tough-guy or an innocent. Enjoy!

After the song is over, you can compare your score to national scores and even compare to your region. The phone uses your location to compare your score to others around you. I have only done one song and my score is weak compared to the nationals but much higher than the locals. Hmmm…gotta work on that. If you choose a higher level of difficulty little things happen, like Davidʼs voice suddenly disappearing so that you are on your own! Shake your iPhone and snowflakes appear! (In the phone, not outside…haha!)

The best part… the video instruction by Mr. Archuleta himself!! I could watch videos of him instructing on vocal technique for days….!! He gives a brief “how to” for the game and then goes into a few vocal tips. Just that little snippet of him and his technique makes you crave more of him talking about singing! For anyone in to singing, this is a very fun and ingenious concept. I hope he comes out with more versions targeting hisother works… both holiday and non holiday. Now if only David would start doing personal vocal coaching in his spare time… He doesnʼt need to sleep does he??

Go on line and buy the David app! Youʼll love it!

~mikesd

As evidenced by the product description at Amazon, the approved marketing copy for David’s Christmas album has been revised in such as way as to, shall we say, diminish any risk of snarkiness from reviewers and bloggers who might have otherwise been tempted to reference certain unpalatable activities by a formerly highlighted songwriter whose name has now been blessedly removed.

This is a clear win for David.

The copy now reads:

Product Description
2009 holiday release from the American Idol runner up. Christmas From The Heart is the second studio album, and first Christmas album by David Archuleta.The album features collaboration with Charice Pempengco on ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ and a brand new track ‘Melodies Of Christmas’, co-written by David.

Does fan community noise have any influence on such decisions? Discuss.

When one of TDC’s own members called us the the AARP of David fan sites, it was meant as an insult, but we all thought it was actually rather amusing. You have to take these things in stride. There are other things that are harder to take in stride, especially ones that seem to impact so negatively on David’s career or opportunities. But then, perhaps, it’s best to try and make light of them, too.

The reference to AARP, as it turns out, may be more apt than at first thought. Even though I am only in my forties, my memory lapses seem to be quite profound on occasion, and I thought perhaps I would try and fill the gaps in my waning brain power by way of a little game.

I’ve decided to call it, “Who is That Ass in the Room?”

ROUND ONE!
Who is the one who lied about never having received instructions from a certain competition’s attorneys prohibiting the use of extra, copyrighted material that had been added to a song slated for performance in that competition? Despite continued public claims of no communication, a private admission acknowledges an email that had been “missed.” The defiance resulted in a ban from the set (or at least that’s what was used as the excuse).

Who is That Ass in the Room?

ROUND TWO!
Who is the one who thought so little of risking careers, reputations, and family life that they sought to satisfy a perfectly reasonable human need by patronizing the cheapest, sleaziest, and least-discreet version possible of services in that particular category, and ultimately got arrested for it?

Who is That Ass in the Room?

ROUND THREE!
Who is the one who, when approached about a charity event with the potential to raise over $50,000 — something that had been in the works for months and which was developed by, and on behalf of, all the tireless devotees who maintain and participate in online communities that contribute to powerful viral marketing — refused to even review a proposal, no less discuss it with the artist?

Who is That Ass in the Room?

LIGHTNING ROUND!
Who is the one who, when the public humiliation of the solicitation episode was just starting to fade, angled to have their own name highlighted (the only name other than that of the artist) in the official description copy of a new album release — thereby giving every reviewer, journalist, and blogger license to reference the aforementioned trashy indiscretions when they report about the new album?

Who is That Ass in the Room?

Note: A rhetorical memory game does not require an actual answer to the central question, nor indeed to any of the questions that make up the rounds of the game.

–Rascal

So, when the idea for My Name Is Barbra was pitched to CBS executives, the network was ambivalent. They had a number of misgivings: No guest stars? Focus entirely on a 22-year-old who had never headlined a television program before? Nix the audience and film outside of the television studio? String songs together without introduction in an extended montage, united only by concept? Isn’t Barbra just a singer? You mean she can act, too?? No one had done anything like it before.

Furthermore, the hour-long experiment was organized into three acts, each with its own concept. The first focused on growing into womanhood, and the second was a comedic song medley. The third act was simply Barbra lit under a single spotlight before a studio audience, singing songs from her nightclub act and her musical Funny Girl. The songs ranged from blues, jazz, to ballad, giving her time and room to demonstrate her vocal range—from jazzy growl to Broadway belt to crystal-clear soprano. Though the sole focus, she engaged and captivated the camera. Everything was just her expression, the music, and her voice. By the end of the hour, it was undeniable that here was the greatest American entertainer of her generation.

What resulted from this gamble was critical and commercial acclaim, and an Emmy in Outstanding Individual Achievement in Entertainment. Barbra Streisand became an international superstar.

The purpose of raising My Name Is Barbra is not to propose a formula for David to achieve critical and popular acclaim. Sure, there are similarities between the two artists: an other-worldly voice, a gift with phrasing, the ability to shape one’s voice to suit a variety of emotions and genres. Also, like Barbra, David thrives in live performance, must “live” in every song, and is loath to lip-sync or perform the same way twice.

But David is his own artist with his own set of strengths. (Some still yet undiscovered.) What makes My Name Is Barbra so enlightening is not the formula itself, but the readiness of Barbra and the musicians she worked with to focus the entire show on her and her strengths, and in the process to break the rules, not look back, and take a leap of faith.

At the same time, My Name Is Barbra relied upon the strengths Barbra had already established four years into her career, as an actress, comedian, singer, and performer. It then peeled back everything that was extraneous and permitted Barbra’s full talent to shine. David is already developing a growing sense of what “works for me” and is starting to experiment.

David’s stripped-down, entirely acoustic concert in Louisville, KY on August 5, 2009 was David’s first major foray into breaking the rules. David dispensed with the flashy rock-god entrance, and walked in with the rest of the band to set-up for the show. The entire set was acoustic, and the songs were mellowed down in order better to focus on David’s voice. During at least one song, David was accompanied only by an acoustic bass. Everything meant that the spotlight, musically, fell on him and him alone. David himself said that he liked doing the concert this way because it meant he did not have to focus on “performing” and could just focus on the music. He was at ease, smiling and laughing. Although not recorded, David’s Louisville concert left an indelible impression on all of his fans, including those that never had the privilege to hear a single note.

This is only the most remarkable instance of David’s readiness to disregard the rules and strip things down in order better to connect with his music, a happy consequence of which is the showcasing of his instrument. Nearly every change-up David has made has gone in this direction, whether it has been to strip down the instrumentation (“Apologize,” “Desperate,” or “Crazy”), or to sing entirely in a cappella (his Christmas songs during the Jingle Balls, “Angels,” “Como La Flor,” “Prayer for the Children”).

This tradition goes back even farther, such as to his early YouTube performance of “A Thousand Miles.” Some of his standout American Idol performances were remarkable precisely because they were stripped down to only a few musical instruments (guitar in “Imagine,” bass and bongo drums in “Stand By Me,” and piano in “Love Me Tender”).

This is not the only context in which David shines. Don’t forget the pulse-pounding club king (“Zero Gravity”). Oh, and that rock belter who made a guest appearance with REO Speedwagon. These adventures outside the familiar R&B/pop territory of David’s debut album are what have elicited the most passionate response from fans. What is consistent among these different routes is that David loves them all. And as it so happens, none of these directions is one in which any male teen star has ventured in recent memory, let alone in combination.

So only one thing is for sure as to how David will make his full musical and cultural impact: it will be a way that is new and entirely suited to him. This is part of why it has been so difficult—both for David’s management and for his fans—to map out a “path” for David. That path is uncharted.

My Name Is Barbra does not provide a model to be copied verbatim. First, with a talent as unique as David’s, the manner of showcasing that talent must also be unique. Second, Barbra was already established at the time, having already had four best-selling albums, the enthusiastic support of New York music critics, and the cover of Time, and therefore was in the position to convince a network to take such a risk. My Name Is Barbra also arguably had an easier time making a broad impact because of the time period: it aired when a single network could draw in the majority of all TV viewers, and commercial practices had not yet compromised the integrity of much of artistic presentation.

Still, My Name Is Barbra serves as a reference point, as a previous triumph, as an example of the power of tailoring a presentation to showcase one’s strengths. It does not give all the answers, but it does make us ask the right questions. Does David shine when instruments hold back so we can focus on his voice? Okay, so let’s give him a microphone, tone down the band, point a camera at him, and let him do wonders. Does David seem most comfortable interacting with fans? Alright, let’s put him in a setting with some of his most devoted fans. Does he want to have Ashlee on board to do a duet? Or Lupe? No problem. Whatever makes you most at ease, David, so you can relax, smile, and enjoy what you’re doing. Choose the songs that move you: you are at your most powerful when you are at your most vulnerable. And if something feels right to you, then it probably is.

One could argue that David had a moment to shine with “Imagine” on American Idol. This was true. However, David soon got sublimated under the machinations and drama of AI. It never really was about David. For many people, it was still largely one event within the context of a larger competition. At the end of the day, to much of the world David was still a reality TV contestant. David still has yet to fulfill what he feels is his personal mission of sharing his music with the world.

As for what it might take to no longer be seen as a TV show contestant and finally become known simply as “David Archuleta”—this might be as simple as giving him a microphone on a national stage and letting him sing a song he truly and deeply loves, done the way he feels is right.

Here is the final act of My Name Is Barbra, of Barbra giving a concert to a live studio audience. If you have not seen this before, you are in for a treat. Set aside 15 minutes, let her take you where she’s going, and think of what the segment accomplishes and how. Let it fuel your imagination as to what might lie in the future for David.

Even true greatness needs the right stage. For David, that stage has yet to be built.

- ronaldsf

What is this “Youth Culture” we keep talking about, and what is the role of a label like Jive in shaping this? Most importantly, what affect will any of this have on David’s artistry?

Youth Culture is a complete fabrication, which the music industry has been quite adept at shaping — from Elvis’s reign in the 1950s to the Beatles’ domination in the ’60s to the current dictatorship of hip-hop culture.

And young people have always been willful in what they define as their culture, which means Moms and Dads are certainly not allowed to join in. Recently, this has also meant not liking what commercial culture defines as “cool,” hence the immediate dismissal of an artist coming off of the power machine of American Idol, or coming from Disney.

In short, YouTube, Myspace, and offline underground artists rule because of the belief that they are not part of The Machine. These artists also rule because the cool crew — the teens and young adult demographic who know better than to be spoonfed a commercial star, in ways that their naive counterparts, the tweens, or their out-of-touch elders do not — get to decide what they think is cool and not what TPTB think is cool.

And marketers are clear about this, which is why they make very important decisions to market their artists in order to seem as if they’re not involved in marketing artists at all (for the apparent “lack” of marketing David to certain markets seems to be part of the master plan).

Amid these “Culture Wars,” David makes his appearance. And what initially started out as a lovefest — especially after his celebrated “Imagine” performance — soon descended into a Love Him or Hate Him competition (which, to me, both indicate David’s uniqueness and his undeniable artistry).

The Jive marketing strategy, and even the debates about which youth culture matters (the tween culture, for example, has become viable precisely because teens and young adults are too cynical to buy into commercial pop), now have a genuine challenge in David, who in short can be described as the Youth who sings like he’s “grown.”

It’s clear Jive has undertaken considerable time and effort to carefully plot out the space that David will presently occupy in commercial pop — a clear Disney platform with generic pop songs on Radio Disney. In a parallel effort, outside of this corporate American bubble, Jive has strategically flown him to Asia to greet and perform for his Asian fan base and then placed David on a U.K. tour with the most popular British boy band.

These efforts indicate that Jive, while seeming to not  be strategizing for that crucial demographic (the teens and young adults who still have more legitimacy of being “cool”) is making plans for their discovery of David’s “real” music — like Zero Gravity for example — all the same. But outside the glare of commercial pop music, on the Internet or in a concert, where David’s artistry can still shine.

Yet, I cannot help but ask, had the journey started with Jive and not with American Idol, would David have been able to make the heart connection with us, his Arch Angels, in the ways that reality TV allowed him? Or, would other forces have disrupted the flow?

- Hello Gorgeous

I am thrilled for David that he will get an opportunity to broaden his horizons, but the two things I really like about the McFly tour are the clear indication that David’s management is not as narrow-minded and unimaginative as previous decisions might indicate, and the sheer showmanship of McFly as a terrific master class for David’s stage skills–not hoping for anything from David remotely like what the McFly boys do (that’s just ridiculous and creepy), but it’s an area where David has some room to evolve, and I suspect he will benefit handsomely from regular proximity to a bunch of rabble-rousing, freewheeling performers.

Although I remain deeply disappointed that money is winning every argument in decisions about the U.S. market, saddling David with image risks and compromises that could take years to undo, the international leg of his ’09 tour is likely to have more of a positive impact on his image here than it might otherwise have, say, a decade ago, all because of our beloved Internet. News is fast and global, now, especially in entertainment, and the fact that David is touring with a band that has been favored on some of the smartest sites this side of Gawker–particularly and especially on gay sites (gay opinion is a powerful driver of what’s cool in the young-adult opinion-maker markets; I’ve said before that David would be wise to cultivate his appeal there)–is good news indeed.

I would still like to see more imagination in PR and marketing stateside. I’ve been asked a number of times to share my views on possible solutions, rather than just constantly playing Casandra, so, here goes. Music marketing is not my specialty, there are much more experienced folks than me to turn to on this, but off the top of my head, here are just a few ideas:

Surprise cameos at smart gigs. I am clueless as to who exactly these smart gigs would be, but I’m talking about up-and-coming performers, singer-songwriters, small combos, who are cultivating young adult audiences with a clear predilection for authentic, skilled, interesting music. The point of this is not to gain wide appeal or to sell albums but to generate buzz in the right quarters and seed the alternative press and blogosphere with a clear message that David Archuleta intends to be taken seriously as an artist and not just an American Idol alumnus with records to sell. Let David pick the gigs and a few acoustic songs. These smart, hipster audiences will be gleefully shocked at how impressed they are with him.

Surprise cameos on cool shows. The quickest and best way for David to become cool without sacrificing one iota of his already fabled conservatism is by making fun of himself. Appear suddenly in a skit on Saturday Night Live as a Boy Scout in the middle of a tawdry backstage party. This kind of thing writes itself. It’s easy. It’s hilarious. And it will confer upon David instant cool cred.

Artistic photography in fashionable magazines. David is gorgeous. Period, end of story. This should be celebrated and captured in beautifully artistic and interesting ways in publications like Paper Magazine and Arena Homme Plus. The reaction of the Elle Magazine readership is both utterly unsurprising and tangible proof for anyone blind enough to miss this.

Here’s the thing. None of these ideas are anything that David’s PR and management team don’t already know and haven’t done a million times before for other artists. David is undoubtedly being told that these strategies can be implemented later, once the kiddie market has been exploited. They’re probably telling him that he should in fact not engage such opportunities now, for fear that he would only have to repeat them later, and which would allegedly be harder to do.

Bull. The only reason they’re not doing them for David now is that they don’t provide instant cash by selling albums. They are part of a long-term strategy to build an image for David that will not only place him in a far better position to cultivate the audiences he deserves, but which will better reflect the full and true dimensional range of the man. David doesn’t yet have enough cred to get on the cover of Paper Magazine. But if they don’t start cultivating that direction soon, he may miss the chance altogether.

It’s easy, of course, to engage in armchair marketing. David’s people would be justified in their resentment and dismissal of those of us who constantly tweak their very able and, I suspect, for the most part well-intentioned noses with how things should be done. But David isn’t just any young new artist, and despite the fact that every über fan of every artist probably feels that way, even an objective reading of David’s attributes will reveal an extremely unique individual indeed. I hope David’s people can find it in their hearts to forgive us for blathering on about how much we care and how much we think we know.

We love him, that’s all.