Join us in watching the countdown to #1!  Last night around midnight Something ‘Bout Love was released on iTunes and at 1:30 AM was tracking at #117 on the iTunes Pop Chart.  15 minutes later, it was tracking at #75. Overnight the song continued to rise and at this writing sitting at #44 on the Pop chart, and broke the #100 level on the Overall Music chart to place #99 at 8:30 AM.

Keep watching and post results below – when David reaches #1, let’s party!

…from pop prince to soul diva to Texas two-step, all wrapped up neatly and smart in one summery bubble that should bounce awfully easily out of cars and convenience stores all summer long.

Read the entire Rascal review here.

Click to listen (but go buy!):

Something ‘Bout Love

The only adviser David will ever need is his own ear.

I don’t know whether this song will hit or not, no one does; it doesn’t matter. It very well could, and it should, but it doesn’t matter. With this frothy, jumpy, deceptively edgy single, David proves his seriousness as a pop craftsman, in range of best-of-breed targets from Abba to Michael Jackson. And I’m not even talking about the performance. David has gone meta.

Despite the overly glossy producer polish, inevitably aggravating those of us who hunger for The Voice (autotune? really?), this feels like more of a David Archuleta production than we’ve had so far in this category. It is interesting that a faction of the fan base are claiming that it “doesn’t sound like a David song,” because I would argue that it actually sounds more like how a pure-pop David Archuleta song should probably sound than any previous production has. No, this is not Salt Lake City soul, or boy balladeer, but it is more successful on its own terms than anything he has previously offered in this genre. David is letting us see just how clever he can be in this game, and he’s not even using his most obvious talents to do it. Oh David, you phenom, you.

Certainly the skills of co-producers Sam Hollander and Dave Katz, with their slick interpretations of emo declarations, offer a uniquely appropriate fit with David’s own sensibilities, and David himself may have capitulated to his more commercial inclinations (nothing wrong with that), but I detect more of David in the mix this time, and not just from the standpoint of singer. You can feel a deeper comfort level, a stronger confidence in the material. Indeed, careful observation of David’s notoriously inscrutable tweets suggest important advances in his role as leader, not just collaborator. This is terribly exciting, especially when the results are so on-the-mark without being completely on-the-nose.

And therein lies the Archuleta genius that is beginning to emerge in his pure-pop confections.  There is that strange but unmistakable coolness, something not quite sunny, even in the midst of all the celebration. David knows that emphasizing the brightwork requires shadows. This underlying sense of gravity is becoming an Archuleta trademark; that hint of pathos that David has always had in his favor, and which keeps him from becoming too diaphanous. For as fey as his style may sometimes seem (and for which which many of us treasure him), he is no lightweight. Even in the creamiest of commercial fare David never loses touch with the ground, with the source of the soul. I think that’s where the jumping thing comes from; the Zero Gravity experience is clearly baked into this piece.

The difference here, the evolution of The Archuletor in this instance, is that he is now experimenting with this rich juxtaposition in aspects of music-making other than his voice. The dimensions of David’s own musical intelligence are quite evident in Something ‘Bout Love, from pop prince to soul diva to Texas two-step, all wrapped up neatly and smart in one summery bubble that should bounce awfully easily out of cars and convenience stores all summer long. This is one impressive piece of commercial cargo, and I strongly suspect it is so not because David has succumbed to the likes of Sam and Sluggo, but because he has expanded his role as helmsman of his own work.

– Rascal

Click to listen:

Something ‘Bout Love

NEW: FULL-LENGTH VERSION AT DAVIDARCHULETA.COM!

http://www.davidarchuleta.com/news/listen-something-bout-love-now

Oh. My. Gosh. It’s here.

David has just sent out a message via Twitter and to those who get his text-message updates, that a preview of his next single can now be heard at his hotline, (801) 386-8196.

It’s hard to pass final judgment when the audio is so poor, but if first impressions are any indication, the song sounds like it can be a hit and that it will satisfy the fans. It’s got an upbeat pop vibe, it’s catchy, David’s vocals are front and center, and it has a nearly Zero Gravity-like energy. Most of all, something about David’s vocal communicates the full feeling of joy mixed with pain that love brings: “Something ’bout love just breaks your heart… woah oh oh oh….”

NEW! High-quality 30-second snippet at FMQB: 30-second clip

Give it a listen:

Here’s a link to good-quality MP3, captured by MJ’s Big Blog.

Given that this preview is only a taste of the fully-mastered studio version in all its glory, this has gotten me not only salivating but also bouncing off the walls in a frenzy.

So… WHAT DO YOU THINK?

When David revealed on Twitter March 5th that “She’s Not You” was from “a while back”—and therefore wasn’t a candidate for the second album—I felt relieved.

No, no, no… it’s not that I hate the song. I like it: it’s catchy, and in particular the melody and the guitar in the verses create a nice vibe. (Though the chorus is a bit too bland for my liking.) When I first heard it, I felt anxiety about the second pop album… was this the direction it was headed?

We now know that it was a track recorded for David’s first album, but still my day or two of not knowing this made it a useful reference point for thinking about where David’s studio production was at 18 months ago, and what new directions it could and should go in now.

“She’s Not You” resembled much of the first album in its level of quality, and in that it was quite conventional—it dealt with simple young boy-girl love, and fell squarely in that space between R&B and pop that characterized much of the album. This approach made sense at the time—it was perhaps the smartest thing to try first to create commercial success, and after all there was little time for David and the label to define jointly the best approach for the album. But now David and the label have the benefit of time to create an album that paints some bold strokes—bold, first in the sense of having some particularly strong, standout songs, and second, bold in expressing who David is as a person and an artist.

Because, let’s face it: we, his fans, know that David is capable of greatness. Still, we have yet to see a musical composition that summons an emotional gravitas that is commensurate to David’s ability to convey it. I am not asking that the perfect song be on David’s second album. However, it is fair to want and expect that a genuine attempt be made.

That means songs that feature David’s voice. Songs that David can connect with. Songs that can summon some of that earth-shaking emotion we know David is capable of delivering.

This doesn’t necessarily mean abandoning the pop route—in fact, if we are to speak of industry formulas, it seems to me that a pop power ballad, putting that stellar voice on a pedestal, would be the best approach. But what can I say? When it comes to what makes a song a hit, I’m not an expert. Still, as amateur fans we know enough to know that some things work for David that should be done.

In terms of arrangement and production, David’s fans are now more aware than before that, when it comes to David, it is often true that less is more. The bare instrumentation of “Contigo” put David’s voice front and center. As listeners, we honed in, not on the melody or the instruments, but on the subtleties of David’s voice. No fancy, expensive studio tricks, no synthesized hooks vying for our attention. Just us, and The Voice—a direct emotional conduit between the listener and the artist.

Another aspect of “Contigo” and of other songs (“Fields of Gold,” “Prayer of the Children,” “Imagine”) is that they were dear to David, on a theme that David could relate to. In my opinion, “Somebody Out There” was a much stronger ballad than either “To Be With You” and “You Can,” which I think comes down to the fact that David co-wrote SOT and could relate directly to what it said. “Falling” is gripping because we know these are David’s words, and that this music comes directly from his heart.

So I hope to see some movement in these directions with the second album. I am not saying that the album should be comprised entirely of soul-wrenching ballads. (Though I actually wouldn’t mind that.) In fact, I am hoping that there is some freedom given to David to express his rich musicality in a variety of musical genres.

In the first album, there was some variation in styles in the official twelve-track version, but they were a bit outside of David’s own inclinations. Unlike songs such as “Desperate” or “Running,” which because of the production were kind of hybrids of other styles, a conventional-pop melody with some stylistic dressing—some of the compositions David himself worked on, from the sassy “Works for Me,” to the club-thumping “Zero Gravity,” to the intimate “Somebody Out There,” jumped fully into the genre, spoke its language, and expressed a clear idea both lyrically and musically. Thus, a unity between words, music, and artist.

The most promising fact about the second album has been David’s extensive involvement in the writing process. This suggests that the folks at Jive/Zomba are trying a different approach and want this album to express David the Individual, whoever that may be. It is thrilling to think of what might be in store.

For now, “She’s Not You” is my new David music fix to sustain me through this long, extended Archudrought. Still, I do this with full knowledge that this isn’t the David that made me fall obsessively in love with him in the first place. Greater things await.

If this song were a person, then it would be the musical equivalent of a rebound—entertaining and pleasant enough for now, but just someone to hold me over while I’m really thinking about someone else.

“He was really nice… but he’s not you, David. I just know you’ll come back to me. I’m burning a candle in the window…”

-Ronaldsf

O Come All Ye Faithful will be greeting the children when they visit this Halloween. And families will be carving turkey to the sound of Joy to the World. Mm-hmm.

So come on in, take off those autumn shoes, and make yourself a cup of hot chocolate here at The David Chronicles. Join us as we listen to the album, both here and at The David Chronicles Channel.

And should you find your muse, kindly share with us a paragraph on what you think about the album. We will take your mini-reviews and print a compilation here in the Feature section. Please send to adminteam@thedavidchronicles.com.

Do you hear what I hear? It’s Christmas in October.

Thanks vermeer for the artwork!

~enjoy.

click to view list

Official Releases

Other Songs