David Archuleta Explains Meaning Behind New Song: ‘It’s a Lot of Shame’

David Archuleta

Getty American Idol runner-up David Archuleta.

American Idol” runner-up David Archuleta’s new single “Beast” explores the singer’s darker side which he says often comes out in his relationships.

In an appearance on Tampa’s News Channel 8, Archuleta opened up about the meaning behind the song’s title. “It’s kind of about this inner turmoil that you feel within you, that you’re trying to move forward, you’re trying to make things work, but (you have) these demons inside of you. I call it the beast inside,” he said. 

While everyone’s inner beast might be a little different, Archuleta says that for him, “it’s a lot of shame, it’s a lot of like feeling not good enough…a beast of shame that starts affecting my relationships in a really not great way.” 

In the music video for “Beast”, Archuleta pulls his hand away from a romantic interest as they drive around in his car. “There’s a villain that’s hidden, intimacy is the trigger,” Archuleta sings in the song.

On Archuleta’s website, he describes the meaning of the song in greater detail. “Beast was written after a frustrating time of seeing the relationship I was in going downhill because of my own internal battle,” Archuleta writes, going on to say that it was a pattern he’d seen in his other relationships as well.

“The more close I would get to someone the more anger and suspicion and resentment I would feel, which would then translate into my behavior that would unfold in the relationship,” Archuleta writes.


Archuleta Opened Up About His Sexuality in June

In June 2021, Archuleta took to Instagram to come out to his followers and call for the Christian community to be more open to LGBTQIA+ people of faith. Archuleta explained that he came out as gay to his family in 2014, but has also experienced feelings for both genders.

“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 🤣,” Archuleta wrote in the caption.

“I think we can do better as people of faith and Christians, including Latter-day Saints, to listen more to the wrestle between being LGBTQIA+ and a person of faith. There are more than you may realize going through that wrestle after all the misunderstandings that come with it,” Archuleta wrote.

Archuleta is a practicing Mormon.


Archuleta Has a New Children’s Book Based on One of His Songs

While a guest on Tampa’s News Channel 8, Archuleta also opened up about his new children’s book “My Little Prayer,” an illustrated version of his song by the same name. “When I had the first book in my hands I started crying because it was just such a special thing for me,” the “American Idol” alum said.

Archuleta explained that the song came to him in a dream when he had fallen asleep without saying his prayers. In his dream, he was praying and singing and God told him to wake up and write it down before he forgot it. When Archuleta woke up, he says, the song was still “clear as a bell” in his mind.

READ NEXT: ‘America Idol’ Alum Starts GoFundMe After Being Robbed