Ar-Fed!

Okay, that makes no sense. I got nothing.

But no, you're not a pervert. If that's what you were going to ask. We really don't need to discuss it at all, really.

Can I just say that I love him? He's adorable and he's actually a pretty good singer. Not as amazing or incredible as the judges make him out to be, but he's more than decent. I've seen his youtube videos and he's actually much better than we've seen from just his audition & Hollywood Week. I think he'll make it far. Hopefully he doesn't screw up in the semi's, but even if he does, honestly he got so much praise & air time already that I think he's still a lock for the Top 12.

I agree, he is a stand-out. IMO his audition songs were great, he seems stronger than most of the other guys. I hope Simon means it when he says because of his young age he gets additional support in handling the pressure. Hopefully it's more than just instituting an earlier curfew or having a tutor.

I think David should do well from his exposure to the music industry. He is adorable and there's room for improvement. He just may be what TPTB have in mind for this year's Idol winner. Or another white male?

Love, love, love him. Adorable, talented, seems to have handled the pressure well so far. I hope he lives up to his potential.

There are some other clips of him on youtube, but this one is really something. He's singing to AI idols season 1 (I'm not sure why). Check out Kelly and maybe Justin (in the white t-shirt and hat) listening while he sings the big number from Dreamgirls:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8SJXDPE_sQ...feature=related

He has an amazing voice and he's still so young.

Since, he's 16 now, he must have been around 10 or 11 years of age in that YT clip.

I will support David now Josiah is gone.

This is what happens when you combine kitten and human DNA. Perfect, genetically engineered cuteness.

I don't know whether I want to rumple his hair and pinch his (facial) cheek or slap him several times. I think he might be a robot sent to destroy us all.

I was totally put off when he started going on about how he just doesn't understand how people love him so much and that he just assumes all of his fans are tone-deaf. Kid, you won Star Search! It's pretty obvious you can sing.

I guess I'm just not getting all the hype. He had two good Hollywood performances and a mediocre audition, fine. There are three or four others who I think are more interesting, vocally, than he is. Then again, I thought Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard were pitch-perfect but horrifically boring, too.

I can understand why people would be annoyed at his "everyone's tone deaf and they just feel sorry for me," but I thought it was cute and understandable..because someone like him is not going to come out and say "I know i'm awesome," especially if you're 16 - actually he's 17 now. I don't think confidence problems are a big issue for him. I'm sure he knows he's good, but he doesn't want to sound overconfident. Hopefully he just doesn't make it a part of his routine because that'll get old fast.

Eeeeuuuwww. I do not like him or find him interesting at all. I suppose he will go all the way since he looks perfect for Tiger Beat. But he is soooooooo not my type. Instead of pinching his cheek or rumpling his air, I have the urge to throw him down the basement steps and not let him out till he's 30 and jaded.

Right? He seems very very sweet. I guess I'll have to inject insulin whenever he's on. I hope he does well.

Tiger Beat Coverboy face?
Cute smile? Check.
Dark hair? Check.
Sings with a sweet voice? Check.
Seems to have nice personality? Check.
Closeknit family? Check.
Tweens love him? Check.
Mormon? Check.

OMG! It's Donny Osmond 2.0!

Bwah! This is the perfect description, AquaWings! I really love this kid and hope he does well. I want to see him AT LEAST make the Top Ten and he should be able to swing that, no problem.

No, no, no. Donny was way cuter - Danny Noriega looks more like Donny 2.0 than David does.

I cannot stand David's weird speaking voice at all, he has squinty eyes, and he acts like he is high on pot or something. Squicks me out. He's a good singer, but he's not that great.

Same general comment that I have for Carly Smithson ...

His singing gave me goosebumps. And he doesn't annoy me ... yet.

He's extremely young, extremely talented, and extremely likeable. I just don't want his vocal chords to explode.

Regarding his comment on 'people sounding tone deaf if they think he's good'. OK, would we rather him (or anyone) say 'Yeah, I know I'm awesome'?

I dig him. I'll have to see if that changes.

Oh.My.God. If you run his name through an anagram generator you get a few that are so on-the-nose it's almost seems deliberate and a little frightening.

Guess I'm a little bit crazy, but it's those exact three attributes which make me love him. I would find his speaking voice on somebody older ridiculously sexy.

Awkward!

I really like him and I'm a little disturbed by it. I feel kind of pervy but it's really just the 12 year old girl inside of me who dreamed of having a boyfriend like him.

His voice is sweet, he's sweet, I loved his performance of "Heaven", he ended it so sweetly. Just sweet. Maybe too sweet, I don't know, but he gives me a good feeling. His "And I Am Telling You" was actually good and not as annoying as children's voices usually are to me.

From heaven, when he sang the line "And I found it there in your heart", the run he does when he sings "your" is so pretty I can't stop listening to it. I'm not calling him my favorite yet, I don't have one, and this show disappointed me greatly after the shenanigans with Elliott. But I really like this kid.

I see this guy's appeal, and it scares me!

I just watched his video on the AI website. He's trying to follow in the footsteps of Elliott Yamin. Perhaps this is a blatant attempt to secure votes by namedropping a beloved former contestant. I don't care. That's it. Love.

Awwww....I love him! I just want to take him home and stand him in the corner so I can push the button and have him sing on command:)

I was so set to not like him because I found him extremely annoying as a child prodigy on Star Search...but he's turned into such a sweet, unassuming guy and his voice is nice - he doesn't oversing like he used to. I just wonder about his loud raspy breaths and his vocal chord health (given that he might have done some damage with all the oversinging in his youth).

Oh, agreed. His oversinging on Star Search turned me off completely. But I really love how his singing voice has turned out now. His rendition of Heaven was lovely and although I am afraid he'll fall on the side of boring as the competition begins, I'm crossing my fingers for some new found personality and some bold choices. His song choices so far are unimpressive, even though they work.

His renditon of Vanessa Carlton's 1000 Miles on YouTube is very good, IMO. Good piano skills.

In these trying times, I still need to believe that there is good in the world. Danny Archuleta gives me that hope.

Overdramatic? Obviously. But for serious, watching this kid is like getting hit in the face repeatedly with a sack of puppies. I don't necessarily want him to win, and I still have my doubts as to what his voice can handle, but how can I possibly dislike him? I'm jaded, but I can't bring myself to be THAT jaded.


Not only is he the NICEST KID EVER, but he was apparently blessed by the hand of Kelly Clarkson herself. If she transferred the (Eeeeeee!), we are in trouble.

Yet another guy this season with a generic, forgettable voice. They all sound the same. He seems like a nice guy though.

I hope that the judges will tell him to open his eyes when he sings. At first I thought he was blind.

Oh no. It's not overdramatic at all. I think he's kind of vanilla and nothing new on AI, but I feel my crusty cynicism flaking away a little bit when this kid sings. He's 'don't worry, be happy' in human form... as long as he doesn't actually sing "Don't Worry, Be Happy", that is. He has tween appeal, mom appeal and granny appeal. I'm willing to bet he'll be a big vote getter.

LoL... poor guy. I'm hoping he can get rid of that problem w/some vocal coaching!!



Heee....well, I was talking about "David Noriega" yesterday...I have a feeling we are going to have lots of these kind of mix-ups this season!! ;)

Yes, but how do you feel about David Archuleta?

I don't like how the media (well, okay, the TMZ article posted in the media thread) is calling David a phony for doubting his talent. Talented people can and often do have many doubts, no matter how many contests or performances they do. I wonder if David has heard of that psychological survey that showed that less talented and intelligent people tend to overestimate their capabilities. David has to have seen all those delusional auditioners on TV who are convinced that they're the greatest singers since [insert your favorite singer here], only to be brought back to the ground with a sharp dose of reality. He seems like a genuinely sweet, non-diva-ish kid in real life, so it wouldn't be surprising to me if he secretly is thinking that the other shoe is about to drop at any point, and that Simon will turn on him. It'd actually be more surprising if he said, "Yeah, I totally rock!"

Also, David may have won Star Search initially, but when he was brought back for the "battle of the champions" he ended up being kicked out mid-way. The challengers kept picking him to battle because they saw him as the weakest singer, and he definitely picked up on that. Maybe he's thinking about that, especially as AI is a much more intense format than Star Search ever was.

I love the Twinkenator, even if it makes me feel all dirty. I'm surprised no one made a comment about how he made his own back-up singer cry while doing "Heaven" during Hollywood week. You figure with as much schmaltz as the ladies have to deal with, anyone who can drag an actual tear out of them is golden. That said, the backlash against the poor kid (already begun with the "shut up about how you doubt your talent" nonsense) is going to be tough on him. He won't win, but I hope has a good ride.

Yes, as I posted in another thread yesterday - there are three David's, two Jason's, two Cook's a Castro and a Norriega. There's going to be some confusion this year. ;-),

I confess to also tearing up a little. There was something so golden and heartwarming about the quality of his voie.

Yeah, what I like best about his voice is that it seems from what they've shown that when he hits the higher notes he has a nice round sound and it isn't grating to the ear. I hope he is able to sing a diverse variety of songs though and not just rely on pretty ballads throughout the competition.

There were several comments about this on the episode thread. I also thought Michael O. (the keyboardist) looked like he was enjoying it, which was cool.

Josiah just said in an interview that David's first song during the Hollywood week was "Crazy" by Gnarles Barkley and was amazing. But the song wasn't cleared for airing so they couldn't show any of it. I was wondering why they didn't show his first performance since Simon said it was "incredible". I guess that's why.

He did a Gnarls Barkley song? Hmmm, that's interesting. I had him pegged as the type to sing schlocky stuff...maybe he'll surprise us with some interesting song choices.

Here's a nice home video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nFAAzxAlhHc&feature=related

I am so in love with this boy!!! Gawd...he plays piano so well...I cant believe his talent!!! I think I prefer him just singing without accompanying himself, though...he needs to be able to put his all into the singing.

I love this kid in a little brother kind of way. He's completely adorable. I've been perusing his various YouTube videos, and his performance of O Holy Night is terrific. That's a dang hard song to sing, and he managed to do it without sounding screechy on the high notes, and also added a bit of his own interpretation to it in places. I'm impressed.

He is so incredibly talented that it's simultaneously moving and terrifying. And he's so sweet and young and pure that he makes me feel like a corrupt old hag. But he's indubitably wonderful. I thought his version of Heaven was better than the original. It would be so easy to dismiss him as another overly trained teen-bot but there's something human -- almost superhuman -- about how he captured the emotion in that song. I loved the backup singer wiping tears from her eyes as he sang. Lovely boy.

Does anyone else hear a bit of a lisp when he sings? I can't tell if it's in my head or not, but I find distracting.

For Simon, David may be a new and improved Anthony Federov (tracheotomy) and Gareth Gates, Pop Idol 1 runner-up (stutter): a cute, talented kid, with a singing-related hard luck story. They each overcame some affliction, and, miraculously, sing like angels. Gareth was practically a gimmick. Anthony was probably pure luck. David...is Simon's last chance.

Just my opinion.

The litle tyke impressed me big time. I hope he continues to impress. I missed the background singer wiping away her tears. That performance was so pure like ivory snow. I love the fact that he sings the notes and not adulterate them with unnecessary trills and melisma - Boys 2 Men-itis. I also loved the fact that for a young'un he seemed to connect emotionally with the song unlike some of the other younger singers that have been there.

I like him. A lot. He is by no means my favorite in terms of the one I'll be rooting for all the way (for one thing I'm still waiting to actually SEE half of the contestants, but at this point based on the ones I HAVE seen my heart belongs to Syesha, Joanne and to a slightly lesser extent Asia'h) ... but I like him a lot.

That said ...

I am CONVINCED he has this in the bag, tied up in a double knot and already has the FedEx tracking number to 19.

Everyone else is battling it out for second, the other runners-up slots and the remaining record deals.

He is the whole package that they have not yet had. The only thing possibly working against him is his age, not because he's too young but because it would be surprising for them to have back-to-back jailbaits. But I think everything else he has going for him outweighs that one question mark ...

When David won Star Search, did he get a record deal?

David said in his video interview that one of his favorite contestants was Elliott.

Great voice AND great taste. :) I don't think he has the BEST voice but there's no way I can hate 'em now. lol

I'm sure David is a lock for the top 12 but we're already making fun of his "aw thanks" attitude at my house. He's a little too gooey and happy go lucky for my entertainment taste, but I haven't been 12 years old in a long long time. Nevertheless, he doesn't inspire affection from me either, like Colton the Underdog does.