David Archuleta talks about his loooooong liner notes
Nov 3, 2008, 10:51 AM | by Shirley Halperin
Categories: 'American Idol', Merchandising, Music, On the Scene
As we learned when we got our hands on his forthcoming debut album's liner notes
last week, David Archuleta includes a Thank You to singer-songwriter to Jason Mraz for "helping
remind me the artistic expressive side and letting me have a good time
listening too." We actually ran into Archuleta at an after-party following Saturday's Mraz concert at Los Angeles' Greek Theater, where the American Idol runner-up enjoyed the show with his father, aunt, and fellow season 7 finalist, Jason Castro. We got a lot of flack for allegedly poking fun at young David for his long-winded list of acknowledgments. Admittedly, we did find them amusing but really didn't mean any harm. We were simply pointing out that his 3,500-word tome—which doesn't include any lyrics—was more what you'd expect of a veteran's box set, not a first time artist. Yes, we realize he's only 17, and maybe he imagined the liner notes as his very own Idol yearbook, which certainly explains the abundance of "lol"s. Anyway, Archie didn't take any offense. We talked about it.
"I don't take anything personally, unless it's about my family," he said. "But how long are they? Like, how many pages?" See? Even he's concerned about the amount of paper it'll take to print the booklet! "My problem is, it's either one line or, like, 300 pages," Archuleta continued. "I completely ramble, even in my interviews or just explaining things. And I didn't want to forget anyone! Gives you something to talk about, I guess."
Indeed it does. And we have even more background on the liner notes, plus a little info on Castro, after the jump.
Turns out Archie had to turn in his Thank Yous before all the songs were finished. Hence, the omission of JC Chasez's name. "It was, like, so last-minute," he said. "We wrote that song a few days before the final deadline."
Speaking of time crunches, it was 11 p.m. when I reminded Archuleta that his pal David Cook was about to perform on Saturday Night Live. "It's on soon, I know!" he yelped. "Think they'll make fun of me? I'm, like, an easy target. I'd be funny to make fun of, I'm so weird."
Oh Archie. You make it too easy.
What else can we tell you? His favorite song on the new Cook album is "Life on The Moon," and he wasn't aware that Daylight Savings Time went into effect that same night. As for Jason Castro, he's living in L.A. for the most part and told us he's been writing, recording, and taking lots of meetings. "All good things," Castro said. "I'm getting the business set up, basically." He was also visibly excited that one of his favorite singers, Ray LaMontagne, was playing on Sunday at the Wiltern Theater. "I didn't know he was in town and just found out tonight," said Castro, "but I'm definitely going."
And with that, the guys were whisked away to meet Mraz and we bid them both a fond farewell. But as we were leaving, Archuleta yelled out one final thought: "Hope you like the album! I don't mind if you make any little critiques, I understand the job."
So there ya have it, Archie fans. A little liner-notes follow-up to show there's no hard feelings...right?
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