Early life
David Archuleta was born to Jeff Archuleta and Lupe Marie, a salsa singer and dancer from Honduras. Archuleta has four siblings. Archuleta's family moved to the Salt Lake Valley, to the city of Sandy, Utah, when Archuleta was six. He was raised in Murray, Utah after moving there when he was 6 years old.
Archuleta started singing at age six, inspired by a Les Misérables video. "That musical is what started all of this," he said. He started performing publicly at age 10 when he participated in the Utah Talent Competition singing "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton; he received a standing ovation and won the Child Division.
Archuleta was inspired by watching both Tamyra Gray and Kelly Clarkson to "see what performing and really getting into a song was like" during the beginning weeks of the premiere season of American Idol. He later made his television debut, at eleven years old, singing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" on a Jenny Jones show for future Latino stars alongside season one finalist A.J. Gil. Through A.J. Gil he was able to meet and sing for Gray who had sung the song on American Idol as well as Clarkson (that year's winner) and Justin Guarini (the runner up).
Musical influences
Archuleta's mother is from Honduras, and much of the music he listened to as a child was Latin-influenced including watching his mom sing at events with her sisters. She also "was big on dancing" according to Archuleta, and would "make" him dance to traditional music with his older sister. He also listened to jazz music, he said, from his father's collection as well as gospel, pop, rock and "soulful music." In a later interview, he revealed that his father was a jazz musician. Archuleta also said he enjoys Broadway musicals.
On his American Idol "Fast Facts" page, Archuleta cites his musical influences as Natalie Cole, Stevie Wonder, Kirk Franklin and Bryan Adams. When asked to list his top pop artists, he cited Natasha Bedingfield, Natalie Cole, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Bryan Adams, Kirk Franklin, and Robbie Williams. Like Elliot Yamin and another singer he admires, John Mayer, Archuleta tries to infuse his pop selections with a soulful vibe.
Star Search
In 2003, at age 12, Archuleta sang on several episodes of the television show Star Search. He ended up as the Junior Vocal Champion on Star Search 2. On one episode, he sang against then-11-year-old Alexandréa Lushington, who also became a "top 20" semi-finalist on American Idol alongside Archuleta. Around the second year of being on Star Search he started focusing on the lyrics, "I didn't even pay attention to the lyrics when I was 12, 13".
Archuleta's competing on Star Search led to appearances on The Jenny Jones Show and CBS' The Early Show, and meeting the finalists from American Idol's first season, for whom he performed a spontaneous a cappella rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls, and received enthusiastic praise from Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson. The year after Star Search he found out he had partial vocal paralysis but declined risky surgery and has said he feels he is almost fully recovered. He limited his singing for specific occasions like Stadium of Fire, the Independence Day celebration at Brigham Young University Stadium.
American Idol
Archuleta won his ticket to the Hollywood final auditions (with a performance of John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change") with the help of idol judge, Randy Jackson, who sang the background "waiting" in the song. (at the San Diego tryouts held at Qualcomm Stadium July 30 and July 31, 2007) He was 16 during the Hollywood auditions (where he sang Bryan Adams' "Heaven" and Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" to unanimous praise) and because he was not yet 18, had to attend school while a part of American Idol's seventh season. His parents were there because he was a minor. Archuleta also took advantage of the decision to allow contestants to play musical instruments when he accompanied himself on piano for his performances of "Another Day in Paradise" and "Angels."
A Los Angeles Times article speculated why Archuleta avoided singing the first verse of "Imagine": because "of his religion (Mormonism), he's unlikely to espouse the song's agnostic ideal . . . with the line about 'no religion too.'" Archuleta did, however, sing the entire song on Good Things Utah when he was 13. During his first performance of Imagine on American Idol, when asked by judge Randy Jackson why he didn't sing the first verse, Archuleta said the third verse was his favorite because it has "a great message."
In the finale he sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," "In This Moment" and "Imagine." Judge Simon Cowell declared that Archuleta won the evening and even David Cook, who ultimately won, thought Archuleta would win: "I have to concede it, the kid came out all three songs and nailed it," said Cook. In the final tally, Archuleta received 44 percent of the votes. During the finale show, both Archuleta and fellow finalist Cook appeared in separate but nearly identical commercials for the game franchise Guitar Hero, mimicking a Tom Cruise scene from Risky Business.
Touch My Hand
David Archuleta Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Saw you from the stage
Something 'bout the look in your eyes
Something 'bout your beautiful face
In a sea of people
There was only you
I never knew what this song was about
But suddenly now I do
Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand
Reach out as far as you can
Only me, only you, and the band
Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand
Can't let the music stop
Can't let this feeling end
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
I'll never see you again
Can't let the music stop
Until I touch your hand
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
I'll never get the chance again
I'll never get the chance again
I'll never get the chance again
I see the sparkle of a million flashlights
I wonder why all the stars
But the one that's shining out so bright
Is the one right where you are
Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand
Reach out as far as you can
Only me, only you, and the band
Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand
Can't let the music stop
Can't let this feeling end
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
I'll never see you again
Can't let the music stop
Until I touch your hand
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
I'll never get the chance again
I'll never get the chance again
Saw you from the distance
Saw you from the stage
Something 'bout the look in your eyes
Something 'bout your beautiful face,
Can't let the music stop
Can't let this feeling end
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
I'll never see you again
Can't let the music stop
Until I touch your hand
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
I'll never get the chance again
I'll never get the chance again
Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand (I'll never get the chance again)
Reach out as far as you can (I'll never get the chance again)
Only me, only you, and the band
Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand
Yeah, yeah
The lyrics to David Archuleta's "Touch My Hand" tell the story of a performer who sees a particular person in the audience, and makes it their goal to reach out to them in some way. The persona sees something special about this person, and they feel a profound pull towards them even though they have never met. The lyrics speak to the desperation of the persona's feeling, the need to connect with this person before the show ends, before it's too late. The persona is worried that they won't get a chance to touch the other person's hand, and that they will be separated after the show. This song is about the intensity of the performer's feeling and their desire to have a fleeting moment of connection.
The lyrics touch on the theme of connection and how it is woven into the fabric of human experience. Human beings have an inherent need to connect with each other, to reach out across the divide of a performance, a workday, an interaction in order to feel understood and valued. We all have people in our lives with whom we wish we had more contact, more intimacy, more shared experience. This song speaks to the yearning that we all have to connect with one another on a deeper level.
Overall, "Touch My Hand" is a song that speaks to the universality of human experience, and to the desire to connect with other people. It speaks to the longing that we all feel to make the most of our time with one another and to reach out in a moment of intimacy before it's too late.
Line by Line Meaning
Saw you from the distance
I saw you from far away and it caught my attention
Saw you from the stage
Even from the stage, I saw you really well and it drew me in
Something 'bout the look in your eyes
There was something about your gaze that made me feel something special
Something 'bout your beautiful face
Your face captivated me with its beauty
In a sea of people
Despite the crowded place, you stood out to me
There was only you
In that moment, you were the only one who mattered
I never knew what this song was about
Before, I didn't understand the meaning of this song
But suddenly now I do
But now that I've seen you, it's all clear to me
Trying to reach out to you
I am trying to connect with you
Touch my hand
If we touch, it will be a special moment
Reach out as far as you can
Stretch your hand out as far as possible to touch mine
Only me, only you, and the band
In this moment, it's just the two of us and the music playing
Can't let the music stop
I don't want this moment to end
Can't let this feeling end
I'm afraid if this moment ends, the feeling will go away
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
If the music stops or the moment ends, everything will be over
I'll never see you again
If it's over, I won't have the chance to see you again
Until I touch your hand
I need to touch your hand before the moment is over
I see the sparkle of a million flashlights
I see the light shining from the phones of a vast crowd
I wonder why all the stars
I'm curious why everyone else is capturing the moment instead of us
But the one that's shining out so bright
But the only star that matters is you, shining brightly among the rest
Trying to reach out to you
I am making an effort to connect with you
Touch my hand (I'll never get the chance again)
If we touch, it will be a special, once-in-a-lifetime moment
Reach out as far as you can (I'll never get the chance again)
Take this moment and make it count by reaching out as far as you can to touch my hand
I'll never get the chance again
This moment is precious and fleeting, and I won't have another chance like this
Yeah, yeah
This moment is real, and I'm completely invested in it
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: STEVE KIPNER, STEVEN MCEWAN, WAYNE WILKINS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Muhammad Fadhil
Saw you from the distance
Saw you from the stage
Something 'bout the look in your eyes
Something 'bout your beautiful face
In a sea of people
There was only you
I never knew what this song was about
But suddenly now I do
Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand
Reach out as far as you can
Only me, only you, and the band
Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand
Can't let the music stop
Can't let this feeling end
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
I'll never see you again
Can't let the music stop
Until I touch your hand
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
I'll never get the chance again
I'll never get the chance again
I'll never get the chance again
I see the sparkle of a million flashlights
I wonder why all the stars
But the one that's shining out so bright
Is the one right where you are
Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand
Reach out as far as you can
Only me, only you, and the band
Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand
Can't let the music stop
Can't let this feeling end
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
I'll never see you again
Can't let the music stop
Until I touch your hand
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
I'll never get the chance again
I'll never get the chance again
Saw you from the distance
Saw you from the stage
Something 'bout the look in your eyes
Something 'bout your beautiful face,
Can't let the music stop
Can't let this feeling end
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
I'll never see you again
Can't let the music stop
Until I touch your hand
'Cause if I do it'll all be over
I'll never get the chance again
I'll never get the chance again
Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand (I'll never get the chance again)
Reach out as far as you can (I'll never get the chance again)
Only me, only you, and the band
Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand
Yeah, yeah
Wardah Shah
Heard this yesterday again after almost ten years. Still remembered all the words and beats. Hearts.
Charina Galos
@
Nasa63
2022 estamos aqui ouvindo as músicas maravilhosas de David archuleta ele é sensacional 🥰
San Bee Lungeli
This song always gave me great energy vibes, ever since I started hearing during my high school days. They used to play it over radio almost everyday.
Campos Robert
2019 and still listening to his amazing voice. 😍
Jom Sword
Same until now 2021
Angelica J.
It's 2017 and I still love this song
Joseph Sebastian
mid 2017 and still
Hanaa Abdallah
2018 and still
Marie Mohundro
Angelica J. Same