Presse, Presse, Presse…

“Whenever I had a day off I just went and recorded Christmas music,” Archuleta said with a laugh during a phone interview from New York. “So I had to get into the mood going from outside in the sun to inside the studio that was decorated with Christmas lights.”

“It was really interesting to do all that in the middle of July and August,” he said. “(The recording) was spread out, but it was a little difficult while I was on tour because my mind was so wrapped around the tour.”

Archuleta said he also recorded songs before and after the tour.

“The first song I recorded was ‘Joy to the World,’ ” he said. “I had a lot of fun singing it. But some of the songs were more difficult because I was performing every night and didn’t get much rest. But it worked out in the end.”

Archuleta said all the 13 songs he chose for the CD were his favorites growing up.

“Songs like ‘O Come All Ye Faithful,’ ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’ and ‘O Holy Night’ were just songs I grew up singing every Christmas. So it was fun to do.”

Furthermore, Archuleta worked with a great production and arrangement team that included Kurt Bestor and Sam Cardon.

“I worked with some awesome arrangers,” Archuleta said. “I loved what Kurt did with ‘Pat-a-pan.’ But everyone I worked with was so great and made the session fun.”

So what does Archuleta – who Dec. 18 brings his Christmas show tour to Stroudsburg’s Sherman Theater – think of the controversy over his successor as runner-up, Adam Lambert, rubbing a male dancer’s face in his crotch during his performance at the “American Music Awards” broadcast on ABC-TV, which Disney owns?

The “performance” got Lambert removed from two scheduled appearances on ABC talk shows.

“I guess that’s just his, um, image, I guess. I don’t know,” the unfailingly polite Archuleta says in a telephone interview to promote his Stroudsburg concert. “You know, I didn’t watch the awards. I’ve been hearing a little about it, but I didn’t watch it. So I don’t …” he trails off with a laugh.

Archuleta asks whether I have an opinion.

Told that I think it has hurt his career, he responds:

“Oh yeah?” Archuleta says. “I guess that’s part of being an artist. You just get to choose what you show the people and what you show them in a performance and stuff like that. That’s part of being an artist – you show what …

“I don’t’ know where I’m going [with the answer] I guess. I don’t know what to say,” he says with a nervous laugh.

Archuleta’s self-titled debut disc debuted at No. 2 last November, had a No. 2 single, “Crush,” and another chart single with “A Little Too Not Over You,” and now is about to be certified platinum.

Lambert’s debut disc, “For Your Entertainment,” debuted at No. 3 last week, but this week went into freefall to No. 22 – just a few slots above Archuleta’s holiday disc, “Christmas From the Heart,” which has been out since October.

Archuleta finished second behind David Cook on “Idol.” Lambert was second to Kris Allen.

No doubt the kid’s soothing pipes are perfectly suited to the traditional ar Archuletarangements of these traditional songs (“Joy to the World,“ “Angels We Have Heard On High”).

“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is particularly affecting coming from the soon-to-turn-19 singer, whose life these past 18 months probably makes it easy for him to relate to the song’s sentiment.

WHAT: Free HD concert broadcast via BillboardLive.com : http://billboardlive.com/ featuring American Idol finalist and singer-songwriter, David Archuleta live from Mashantucket, CT Thursday, December 17.

Fans can easily access the series by simply logging onto: BillboardLive.com : http://billboardlive.com/ where they will be able to safely and securely download the Microsoft Silverlight and OWL HD player onto their computer free of charge with a one-time, simple download.

One of the youngest contestants on American Idol and also a finalist, David Archuleta recently released his second studio album, “Christmas from the Heart,” which the titled track is already one of the most popular holiday downloads, charting on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles Chart. Archuleta’s self-titled debut album landed at number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart with its release in November 2008.

WHEN: Thursday, December 17 at 8 pm EST / 5 pm PST.

DETAILS: Our World Live (OWL.TV) and Billboard Magazine have entered into a
strategic alliance to bring music fans BillboardLive.com : http://billboardlive.com/ , a new Internet
concert series that allows unprecedented access to the biggest names in entertainment. Utilizing OWL’s state-of-the-art technology, BillboardLive.com : http://billboardlive.com/ provides fans with the ultimate interactive concert viewing experience in HD. Fans have the ability for the first time ever to view the concert from up to five different camera angles of their choosing (depending on viewers’ bandwidth). There’s a larger full-screen “Director’s Cut” view, as well as four other views where one can replace the main image at any time for a unique experience — all with just the click of their mouse. In addition to the desktop features offered, the concert series is available to all iPhone and iPod Touch users. Through these two systems, the concert is viewable in the main “Director’s Cut” format and available on the go.