David Archuleta has been ‘a little bit naughty’ since coming out

David Archuleta. Image: Irvin Rivera

David Archuleta is aware of his squeaky-clean image from the past. Since coming out, he says he has been relishing the bliss of living life and has become naughty on his own terms.

Archuleta came out as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in 2021. Once a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he left the Mormon Church a year later. Since then, he has been more flamboyant in his writing, flirty, comfortable in his own skin, and “living life.”

“I had such a squeaky-clean image. Not just as a teenager but also through my 20s and 30s,” he admitted to reporters in a virtual interview while promoting his recent single “Creme Brulee.” “It’s time to have fun. I’ve been ready to have fun. I may say things a little bit naughty here and there, but it’s okay. I’m 34. I live life now, and I’m letting myself experience things.”

According to the singer-songwriter, his peers had experienced life during their teenage years and early adulthood. There was a delay on his part. Despite this, he considers his thirties as a “restart” to let go. “A lot of my friends experience things when they are teenagers, and in their early 20s. It feels liberating and freeing because I’m finally having my time to learn new things.”

“It has been a restart. I feel like I’ve loosened up and relaxed a little more. Before, [I thought] I had to behave a certain way so I wouldn’t have to upset certain people. I had to be modest and stay true to my faith and church community,” he continued. “Since I let go and decided to be my own person, I thought, ‘Who do I want to be?’ The question of who I wanna be when I grow up and having to decide is exciting.”

Even having his first cup of coffee and first swig of alcohol brought an instinctive guilt to Archuleta. “Sometimes, I feel guilty. But at the same time, it’s nice to be rebellious,” he said with a knowing smile.

There was a time in Archuleta’s life when he believed that he wasn’t “good enough.” He thus made it a point to be obedient at all times. “Where has it gotten me? I was still being judged and told I wasn’t good enough,” he said.

When he said he received approval from God that he was indeed “good enough,” it was when Archuleta “stopped caring” and took charge of his own story. “Why the hell am I doing this? I was trying to be the good boy and do everything perfectly, yet I’m always going to feel short and not feel good enough. As soon as I stopped caring, I was thinking that I’m not supposed to be doing this, but I did it [anyway].”

“I’m still here, I’m still alive, I’m still happy, I’m still growing, and I feel more love for myself because I don’t hate myself just because I messed up in one thing,” he continued. “It’s part of the process of being a human being, which is to grow and make mistakes. That’s how you learn what works good and what doesn’t.”

David Archuleta. Image: Wes and Alex

Some of the mundane things that Archuleta has since enjoyed doing are having fun, writing, being flirty, “dating guys, kissing guys,” and simply being comfortable in his own skin. For him, being able to not “walk through the shame” is a more human and  beautiful experience.

“Giving myself the grace and chance to be human has been so amazing. When you’re [living in faith], you’re allowed to live in a certain box. If you step out of it, you’re bad. You messed up. So when you live in fear all the time and mess up, it feels like you’re upsetting God,” he said. “But once you let go and leave that little box, it’s like you’re okay, I don’t have to live in fear. I can just enjoy and experience my life, find joy wherever I may be.”

Let go and let God

Living freely has also played a role in Archuleta’s writing. “I was able to show a part of me that I’ve always been ashamed of. I have always been ashamed. I never got to write what I was ashamed of. A lot of the anxiety, stress, and [moments of] looking at myself in a low way, I would write about it all the time.”

One of the songs that allowed him to expose himself is “Hell Together,” during a period when he was afraid to let go of things that were “meaningful” to him at the time. By then, he had already gone through a painful rhythm of “praying, having faith that [he] would be healed,” until he realized that it’s time to close the door of constantly feeling ashamed.

“I had to do it. It’s time to move on. That was healing for me. Now, I feel like I want to continue instead of feeling so bad and need to repent — I feel healed,” he said of the experience. “The way I’m feeling healed is not the way I expected it to be. I just have to accept and love myself.”

After coming out, Archuleta said he was reminded by God that every person is changing the way they should, adding that he even received this message from Him: “Why are you asking me to change you? You’re supposed to be who you are.” For him, it was a signal to stop hiding.

“I don’t have any really religious belief anymore, I sort of consider myself agnostic, but I will remember that feeling I always knew and the prayer where I asked God to change me,” he said. “It is the feeling I knew God said, ‘You are who you are supposed to be. You are supposed to see how I see you.’ And that’s what I’ve been doing. I’m just living my life.”

As Archuleta is still learning how to be naughty, he eventually realized that he will still be on the receiving end of assumptions and judgments from people. And this is why he is done trying to please everyone.

“There was a time when I wanted to love who I wanted to love without showing that publicly. I realized that even if I was hiding it, people are still judging me and making assumptions about me. They are going to hate me no matter what. They are going to judge me even if I keep that to myself,” he said. “I’m just going to show it off because you’re imagining [worse] than what I was. So I have to show who I am, and if I get hate, I’m already used to that because you’re already giving it to me.”  /ra