The David Chronicles » Music Videos

There is something about being human that needs, and indeed, demands passion in order to be fully alive. That passion can be found in music, the great visual arts, writing, or performance. It is a vital, magical component of existence that takes us out of ourselves, and returns us to our ordinary lives enriched and more complete than we were before.

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”

Safety David

Rascal — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:06:23 +0000

I don’t really know how it’s possible to take the adoration, the frenzy, the sheer manic passion that accompanies a David Archuleta concert and turn it into a tepid and lifeless snooze of a video, but gosh dang-it if Jive didn’t figure out a way to do just that.

Look, I can process the idea that Jive won’t do anything imaginative or interesting for David, I’ve accepted the fact that they want their payday and they’re gonna get it in the most efficient and economical way possible, but do they have to work against him? I mean, you have to really try to make footage of an Archuleta concert seem as contrived and soporific as this video does (I almost used the word colorless, until I realized that they meant to do that… talk about an unfortunate metaphor).

When this was first leaked by an Asia-based blog site, I thought at first — hoped, in fact — that it was a fan video. And certainly not one of the better ones. But I had my doubts even then. No fan, no matter how technically challenged, could make David seem so… milquetoast. The irony, of course, is that David is anything but milquetoast in concert.

This video conveys nothing of the David Archuleta we’ve seen in concert over the course of this year, nothing of the diversity of his audience, and — inexplicably — nothing of the real and sometimes frightening delirium to which many of his young fans often succumb. No, this is Safety David. A nice boy, a lovely singer, and evidently a performer of no real consequence.

This is the danger when you give the responsibility of an artists’ image to production people who don’t understand the artist or their work. They bring their preconceptions, misapprehensions, and cynicism into the edit room and turn out a product that reflects precisely the narrow-minded assumptions they had going in.

But I remain content! This too shall pass. And one day, David will meet producers and production people who get him… Who will not only capture the magic he creates in a theater, but who are able to retain and even augment that magic with their own skills and creativity such that the music and video that emerge from David 2.5 or 3.1 will be so much more resonant of David himself. All artists are challenged in their ability to find production people who get it. That’s why when artists finally do, they cling to them for dear life.

In the meantime, back to YouTube.

David is in a Relationship

Rascal — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:00:27 +0000

…with the camera. Holy rockin,’ strummin,’ and smokin,’ talk about your mega-watt Archugazin.’ If the girls weren’t swooning before, they will be now. Very nice art direction. And, may I ask why Mr. Archuleta doesn’t wear baby blue more often? Terrific color on him.

To the ladies (and a few gentlemen) of notingDavid: Please arrange for a strategically-placed floor pillow so that you don’t hit your head on the way down. I’m already hearing thuds and thwacks all over Archuland; the Archulemergency room is gonna be crowded tonight…

Keeping the Lid On

Rascal — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:47:10 +0000

These AOL Sessions are a strange hybrid. They contain all the trappings of a live performance but without an audience, and the control of a studio set-up but without the finesse. I’m not convinced that this is a worthy trade-off. The interests of those performers for whom only a massive amount of audio manufacturing will do (Beyonce) are nicely supported in this format, whereas those performers whose artistry is fueled by the kinesis of playing to living hearts and minds (John Legend, Pink, David) are invariably compromised. We wind up getting something slightly more spontaneous than a recording session, but not as viscerally electric as a real live performance. I feel like I’m watching tour practice. Maybe they should be called AOL Rehearsals.

By allowing him to build the songs on his own, the setting does offer a greater glimpse of the true scope of David’s vocal prowess, and provides evidence of capabilities that were often truncated, compromised, or unrecognized in the studio production rush. But even though they are eminently preferable to the overblown studio treatments, the more holistic band-backed versions do tend to point up the rather insipid nature of most of the writing. David soars but the material sinks, which results in a fairly low altitude overall. In what is quickly becoming an obvious trend, the numbers on which David had a hand in writing are here again the most successful.

I feel like I am still watching potential more than execution with David. And some of it, quite frankly, is his own fault, however exacerbated by limiting circumstances like accelerated studio schedules or live performances that live people can only see recordings of. The truth is that there is a lid on this kid that we’ve only seen blown off in rare instances: finale night, Utah concerts, Tulsa. The lid has yet to be even cracked in the studio.

In the performing arts, there is a delicate dance between control and abandon. Because music has so far been the only dimension in David’s young life where he has allowed himself any abandon at all, most of his performances are both utterly thrilling and ultimately frustrating, as they remain at some level subject to the limitations he imposes on himself in other areas. Far be it from me to imply that David should relinquish his treasured incorruptibility, but a life led with the lid on isn’t likely to be abandoned in its entirety on the stage, in the studio, or anywhere in-between.

The Gay Question

Rascal — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:51:32 +0000

Ever since the Crush video leaked, there have been numerous threads throughput the web veering in all kinds of directions based on a suggestion in various blogs and forums that there was perhaps some ambiguity in the video, in a couple of shots, about who the main character (please note the use of the phrase main character, we’ll be seeing this again) was crushing on. I have commented on this on several occasions; there was long discussion about it here on notingDavid in a previous post; even David’s father made a remark about such comments. I felt it was time to go on the official record with some perspective. I think it’s important.

What I want to make clear about this question–and not just about the video–will already be familiar to most of notingDavid’s regular commentators and readers, because what I feel needs to be addressed are some persistent misunderstandings and unfortunate assumptions of the type that tend to emerge more often on other sites with broader memberships and more varied commentators. For better or worse, discussions here at notingDavid tend to be of a, shall we say, more theoretical nature. We try to keep the drama at a minimum (although gushing is tolerated!) and the respect at a premium. Still, I hope it will helpful for all to review some basics about this topic.

David is Separate From His Work
I explored this notion in a previous post, so please investigate that for more detail, but the point is very relevant here. The original questions about the video for Crush had nothing whatsoever to do with David’s own sexuality. They posed a question about a certain ambiguity that quite a few people saw in the video, which is a work of film fiction in which David is playing a character. Inevitably, some comments that followed this perfectly legitimate and interesting question sought to blur the line between the work and the person in irrelevant and disrespectful ways. It is important for those who feel compelled to defend David that they steer the discussion back to the premise–not to engage so-called haters, who usually want nothing other than to wreak havoc by getting people to react angrily.

David’s Personal Life is Not for Discussion
Attempts to “defend” David by insisting he is straight are no different than attempts to say he is gay. They are equally invasive. It’s one of the reasons that his most thoughtful and caring fans cringe when clueless, vulgar reporters ask him about kissing or about girlfriends or about crushes. That crosses a line from discussions about David the artist to discussions about David the private person in precisely the same manner as if a reporter were to ask if he had a boyfriend. It’s no different. It involves assumptions about things that David has not chosen to put into the public discourse, and it is disrespectful to engage him or anyone else about it in discussion. Even more problematic is that well-intentioned fans who vociferously try to “defend David’s honor” by insisting he is straight are inadvertently supporting a persistent cultural prejudice that being gay is inherently wrong.

It Is Wise to Cultivate An Ambiguous Appeal
Let’s say for the sake of argument that there was some intentional ambiguity as to who the character in the video has a crush on. It’s David’s work, and so he might be reaching out to his gay fans to say, ‘hey, you guys have crushes, too.’ (Incidentally, on the gay blogs where this topic was brought up, the overwhelming conclusion in the comments was that there was no intentional gay subtext at all.) If David’s work now or in the future contains indications of ambiguous sexuality, then it means that he is being very smart about the diversity of his fan base, about what his cultural position and responsibilities are, and about conveying a broad and compassionate world view. There are many artists who do this with a great deal of conscious intention. And if the line between the artist and the person gets blurred (as it will inevitably be by less sophisticated minds), so what? If anything, it makes the person more interesting and more appealing to a larger and more diverse audience.

Finally, I think it is very interesting to consider that precisely because David chooses to avoid explicit expressions of romance or sensuality in his work–in stark contrast to most of his artistic peers–that the question of orientation (in the work) is likely to be more open than it would otherwise be. In other words, David’s commitment to reserve in this matter may, in and of itself, leave the door open wider for different interpretations by his diverse audience. Personally, I think that’s a pretty cool consequence of a preference for wholesomeness.

Here It Is: Crush Music Video

Rascal — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 01:43:23 +0000

Must say, it’s pretty classy. Just what Archie should have. Click the “expand” icon for full-screen HQ.

A Tribute to End All Tributes

Rascal — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 21:05:54 +0000

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfM_0g4sqRk]

I’m generally reluctant to post fan videos, mainly because there are so many of them that the criteria for selecting them would start to become awfully arbitrary, but this one is in a class by itself. Thanks to Freo for alerting us to it.

One of the things this video made me remember is that although we all care about David as a person and about his happiness and his life and all that, what we share with him is a love for his music. We need to remember that this is what David wants to be there for us for, and what he wants us to be there for him for.

Be sure to click the “more info” link on the original YouTube page if you want to download the original fifteen-minute version of this masterpiece.

Oh, and get a box of Kleenex ready.