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By rascal
With characteristic resistance, self-dismissal, humility and embarrassment, David sings along with the great Jason Mraz track, “I’m Yours” (we get to hear it a capella) and provides a pretty exciting glimpse of what’s in store when the material matches his talent.
I love hearing him do this, but I have to say that if I was his publicist this kind of thing would never be allowed. The reputation of a great talent is too important to have it exposed in public in any other way than in as controlled and prepared a manner as possible. Improvisational performance is anathema to any decent artist management concern.
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By rascal
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By rascal
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF1rDyEdObs
How did we go from awkward rapport and stumbling stage management to easy nonchalance and complete charm in less than six months? Dang it, this kid is a sponge. I also think he is realizing just what home means to him.
And oh, yeah–he sounds amazing.
By rascal
We saw strong indications of it Sacramento, but the fancams from last night’s Z100 Jingle Ball reveal a level of command over the stage that had me wondering… Who is this scarf-strewn rocker boy?!
Z100’s Jingle Ball 2008 at Madison Square Garden in New York City reportedly drew a crowd of almost 16,000, easily the largest audience David has ever performed for. But did the magnitude of the crowd or the importance of the venue overwhelm and intimidate little Archie, the kid who once had to be coaxed into singing in front of small groups of relatives and friends at backyard picnics and holiday parties? On the contrary. David (I think it was David) strutted around that stage like a Mick Jagger in-training, tossed off city shout-outs like a headliner, and powered through his pop repertoire with enough passion to reach the rafters of the premiere concert arena on the planet.
Like anyone on a steep learning curve, David’s trajectory will inevitably be subject to bursts of progress, plateaus, fall-backs, and more bursts. I think the exciting thing about last night is not that it was a burst, but that we might be seeing the arrival of a new plateau. David’s marked improvement with stage dominion–the biggest gap I observed during his summer performances–has been growing more consistent, even as he steps up his game.
It bears repeating that what is ultimately most exciting about this is that David is not a stage prodigy but a vocal prodigy. Most people who gain pop music fame as teenagers do so because of their stage performance talent more than their musical ability. The reason they are inevitably challenged in their capacity to evolve their career is bacause the power of presentation is fleeting; the work is more about style than substance. David is the opposite. The fact that he is really starting to kick it up stage style is gravy–just imagine the feasts to come.
By rascal
[MEDIA=11]Video by mamezamd, audio by jwipe, mix by yours truly.
For me, this performance of “A Thousand Miles” represents everything that is so remarkably appealing about David Archuleta. It is on the axis of what sometimes seem like opposing attributes: powerful and tender, sweet and virile, effortless and masterful.
With each new performance recently, it is starting to feel like everything prior had been a rehearsal. His tone has never been richer, his control has never been so fluid; and the ease with which his confidence is manifesting is both palliative and thrilling. I’ve never felt so willing to led David lead me wherever he wants to go. And when an audience’s trust in an artist begins to reach that level, magic happens. This is a major development from just six months ago, when his ability to lead with assurance appeared only in glimpses. I am astonished at how quickly this is happening.
This piece is ideal for David’s strengths: soulful and longing, but with an unwavering sense of hope; like melancholy delivered with light. The rhythmic lyrics broken by long vocal lines are perfect for revealing the most exciting and impressive aspects of his instrument. This is a desert island track for me, because it sweeps me away from wherever I am and into a place where only David Archuleta can serve as host. And what a privalege it is to be his guest.
By rascal
[MEDIA=10]Thanks to jwipe on YouTube for the video. (Try to ignore the clueless women who can’t keep their foul pie holes shut. It’s brief.)
I think perhaps the reason I may have been chosen to write about David Archuleta is because as a rather loquacious individual with an annoying vocabulary, I am rarely, if ever, given to speechlessness. David is sometimes a challenge for me.
There are very few singers in history who have been able to achieve a level of purity and perfection in all the dimensions of vocal production in a way that doesn’t come off like a vocational accomplishment. The ability to make a technically flawless performance be about something quite other than technical perfection is the mark of true greatness.
Analyzed from a purely technical point of view, this performance is jaw-dropping. From the standpoint of breath production alone, it seems as though he has an inexhaustible source. Aside from the very end, when he splits the syllables of “divine” with a breath, every note, no matter how long, is utterly full, with not a trace of diminishment at the end. His intonations and modulations are simply breathtaking. Once again, David’s impeccable taste shields him from doing too much or too little with his stylings. Every musical choice is savory, without the slightest inclination toward showboating. His natural tone, that slight smoky quality in his voice, is gift of immense proportions, and contributes significantly to the overall effect.
Astonishingly, this is all quite beside the point. David’s ability as a communicator, a channeler, a conduit of musical language is what is ultimately so riveting. It’s as if the song sings him. That’s why when the material is great, he is extraordinary.
P.S. Be sure to read HG’s review at the end of the previous thread.
By rascal
Shop Around David is back. The pressures and gravitas, the need to accomplish something: gone. Pure fun, the sheer joy in performing, that’s what is front-and-center at this performance in Sacramento — even the hand flourishes have returned, and that works for me.
The success of Crush and the decent showing so far of his album have certainly contributed to a well-deserved comfort level with his abilities and potential, but it is undoubtedly the simple fact of getting back where he belongs in front of an audience that has given David the energy that so vividly jumps through the by-now familiar fan-cam.
There is also a terrific moment during “You Can” at the end of the bridge, where he powers out the long note and veritably stuns the crowd into enormous cheers and literally stops the show (these kids are just not accustomed to hearing major vocal talent, especially live, and Jive would be well-advised to acknowledge that age is immaterial in the appreciation of it). He cracks a huge smile, and although he should resist that, it is nevertheless a delightful indulgence in shared pride for his über-fans.
Despite what I still consider to be second-rate material, David is having (apropos to the setting) a ball, and that counts for a lot. I’ve rarely seen his rapport with the audience at a higher pitch, and he looks rockin’ in a t-shirt and vest. If this is what we can expect on his tour, it should be a blast.
Update: Be sure to check out our friend ronaldsf’s I-was-there review here at Snarky’s. Nice work, Ron!
By rascal
[MEDIA=8]A Little Too Not Over You – AOL Sessions
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.
