David Archuleta is defending himself on social media after posting several photos of himself at EDC Las Vegas on Instagram this past weekend. The singer added to his grid three times, one for each day of EDC. Each post showed his fit of the day, as well as some selfies and videos taken at the event. While this seems like normal social media activity for any raver after attending the biggest EDM event of the year, for David Archuleta it seemingly was not.
While the comments on his posts don’t seem particularly negative, Archuleta still felt the need to explain his perspective with a lengthy follow-up post. He explains that attending a rave is no different than attending any other concert. It’s “therapeutic because you let out what you normally don’t get to,” but because it’s “loud” with a lot of “stimulation going on visually,” people draw conclusions, thinking it’s “wild.” “If people don’t like it then cool. I’m sharing my journey and I’m loving it,” Archuleta states.
In the post’s caption he explains why he feels the need to defend himself: “I know most of my audience I’ve built over the years came from when I was reserved and conservative myself. So thats why I like to explain what I do. It’s not to apologize for who I am but sometimes it is a bit odd to post new experiences I’m having and where I’m at now when it’s very different from previous years and what people relate to me for before.”
David Archuleta: From American Idol to EDC Las Vegas
Archuleta gained stardom back in 2008 when he appeared on Season 7 of American Idol. At just 16 years old, he captured hearts across America with his beautiful voice and his boy-next-door persona. He came in second to winner David Cook during his season, by a margin of roughly 12 million votes out of over 97 million, which was at that time the highest recorded vote total in the show’s history.
Since American Idol, Archuleta has spoken openly about his Mormon beliefs and devout lifestyle. He publicly came out as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in June 2021, posting the following statement on Instagram:
“I’ve been open to myself and my close family for some years now that I am not sure about my own sexuality. I came out in 2014 as gay to my family. But then I had similar feelings for both genders so maybe a spectrum of bisexual. Then I also have learned I don’t have too much sexual desires and urges as most people which works, I guess, because I have a commitment to save myself until marriage. Which people call asexual when they don’t experience sexual urges.”
-David Archuleta in a June 2021 Instagram post
Archuleta went on to encourage his followers to be more accepting of LGBTQIA+ communities as people of faith, including within the Mormon church. He asked his followers to “consider making room to be more understanding and compassionate” to those still exploring their identity.
