Friday, November 21, 2008

David Archuleta's future revenge: Grammys galore?

Take heart, David Archuleta fans. Just shrug off the ridicule and insults being heaped on your hero by cynical music journalists now that Archuleta's debut CD is out. You knew it was coming. It doesn't mean they're right — or that David Archuleta will not get ultimate revenge.

Music journos tend to be guys with a desperate, inexplicable need to prove their masculinity by trying to assassinate anybody who croons great schmaltz. Remember how they tried to lynch James Blunt just for the audacity of singing "You're Beautiful" so well — and meaning it? These are the same dudes who have to go into loud gagging fits whenever they hear a Celine Dion song.

Well, Celine has won five Grammys, including best record ("My Heart Will Go On") and album of the year ("Falling Into You"). Blunt ended up getting five Grammy nominations, including best record and song ("You're Beautiful") and new artist of the year. He hasn't won yet, but he'll be back. Blunt and Archuleta sing the same kind of fiercely romantic music that earned Grammys in the male pop vocal category for others who've taken beatings through the years too: John Mayer, Michael Bolton, Barry Manilow, even Justin Timberlake (at first).

All of those chaps don't whine in their songs about "me, me, me," but they enthusiastically sell their adoration for "you, you, you." As the Vulture blog at New York Magazine points out, 11 of the 12 songs on David Archuleta's debut CD are addressed to "you." Smart.

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