Having been raised as a devout member of the Mormon church in the state of Utah for most of his life, former American Idol singer David Archuleta says a lot has changed in his life since publicly coming out as queer four years ago and now referring to himself as an “ex-Mormon.” In his former religion, all forms of homosexuality is not an accepted.
During an online media roundtable interview earlier this month, David shared how people initially took his decision to leave the church and how his mother Lupe supported him the entire way. “I released this song last year and it was called ‘Held Together‘ and it was like a transition, showing people that I know you looked at me this way, but this is what I’ve been through and where I’m going, a lot of people will say, ‘Oh, you’re going to hell.’ And the point of the song was ‘okay, that’s where I’m going.’ What my mom said was, ‘Well, if you’re going to hell then I’m going to hell with you. We’re going together.’ A lot of people got pissed off. They were really upset because I said I’m not a Mormon and I kind of poked fun at what I was now doing, now that I had left my religion,” he said.
READ: David Archuleta on coming out as queer in 2021: ‘I didn’t really understand my sexuality’
Despite getting some backlash, the 34-year-old American singer says he can understand why some people would feel that way, although he also wanted to assert his right to finally be true to himself after all these years.
“I still love a lot of things about what I grew up with. But it was showing that there’s a separation because a lot of what I grew up before, like (they said), ‘You still got to be an example. We’ve used you as an example for like a decade and you can’t do that. You’re not supposed to do that.’ I’m in a different place of life now. You can’t hold me accountable like that anymore. I’m like, ‘why are you holding me so accountable? I’m not a part of your family, I’m not even one of your friends.’ I get it. I represented their beliefs for them and so I had to separate from that. That was interesting, but now that I’m on this side of things, there’s still people from the community I grew up with, like the Mormons and Utahns where I grew up, still are supportive of what I do. Not as much as before but there still are people from there that are ‘okay, we’re proud of you, we’re happy for you’,” he explained.
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Having released his latest EP “Earthly Delights” this year, David shared that he took inspiration from RnB influences from the late 90s to 2000s era. “I would say the pop girlies of last year was a big inspiration. I was inspired by Billie Eilish, by Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Charli xcx even. I feel like my music and my life and my connection with other people, there’s just a lot more that feel has happened. It is packed with a lot more now than it ever has been,” he shared.