the day that christmas happened on october 13th, 2009.
dear david archuleta,
you're an almost-nineteen-year-old, mormon, short, celebrity-of-a-singer man. i'm a sixteen-year-old, agnostic-verging-on-buddhist, too-tall, awkward-smiley-giggler of a girl. you and i are practically opposites -- so how is it that when you sing, you make me feel so close to you? how are you able to let lyrics flow from the tip of your tongue like it's easy as cake, and make me feel like i've known you for forever?
tonight, i listened to your christmas album for the first time, alongside the lovely ladies from _etc. i will willingly say that i thoroughly like your first album - (it still amazes me that i like your first album as much as i do, because it's unlike any other type of music i listen to, so that alone is a triumph on your part) - and i thought, hey, this boy is gorgeous, inside and out, and he has a voice like no other. i'm going to buy his christmas album, and listen to it, and it's going to be awesome.
but, david archuleta, your christmas album so exceeds awesome, i don't even know where to begin. i'd say your album soars to the heavens, landing somewhere in between glorious and perfection.
who could've known that, in the past year since the release of your debut album, your voice would have matured as beautifully and seamlessly as it did? who could've known that you could release a christmas album, with three-page long notes of adorable rambles and "lol"s and "haha"s, and that you could make that album stretch to and reach the hearts of every man, every woman, of every age and religion and background and belief? who could've known that you'd surpass the title of the shy and cute american idol runner-up, and slide smoothly into the category of fantastic male vocalist, with strength and control and passion?
tonight, david archuleta, i listened, breathless and slack-jawed, as you sang thirteen songs. the songs were all of different lyrics and meanings and languages -- and i understood you in every single song. i felt your longing in i'll be home for christmas, and your weightlessness in joy to the world, and your passion in riu riu chiu. i heard you, and i felt you, loud and clear and vivid, like you were sitting beside me in front of the fireplace, tracing lyrics onto my palm and telling me your childhood memories.
david archuleta, you don't know me. you don't know my name, or what school i go to, or my favorite type of subway sandwich, or that i wear mismatching socks on purpose, or the fact that i bought your album from walmart this morning before school, without a thought in the world that it would have this effect on me. but, david archuleta, i just wanted to let you know--
you inspire me, in that way that a person can be inspired by lyrics and by resonance.
with all the good wishes of a penny-full fountain,
jessica.