David Archuleta's 'sexy' era is here with 'Can I Call You' (exclusive)

As David Archuleta ushers in a new era of music and love in his life, echoes of his debut single "Crush" persist nearly two decades after its release in his new song releasing tonight, "Can I Call You."

The song that pined, "I know this crush ain't going away," was originally released in 2008, when Archuleta was 17 and fresh off his breakout stint on American Idol. It reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 that August. "Why do I keep running from the truth?" he croons on the track. "All I ever think about is you."

Yearning. Budding first love. Fear of acting on his true feelings. Those youthful themes of "Crush" have come full circle for Archuleta.

"''Crush' always felt like it was gonna be very special," Archuleta tells Out. "I didn't think of how it would be such a moment for the rest of my career up to this point."

As a young man, Archuleta never allowed himself to feel crushes. "Even for girls, like even if I had feelings for them. I felt like if I let my feelings come out, my gay feelings would come, my same-sex feelings would come," he says.

In 2021, the singer came out as part of the LGBTQ+ community, and he left the Mormon church in 2022. In the years since, he's dated men, gone to raves, and even gotten his ears pierced. Given that he's no longer hiding or suppressing, the song that launched his career lands differently.

Coming out has "been an awakening," he says. "It's been a sexual awakening. It almost feels like I'm going through puberty now rather than as a teenager."

By suppressing everything, he felt very "detached from feelings of sexuality." Because of that fear, "I never allowed myself to fully experience it," he says. "I was so afraid [that] if I let too much of sexual feelings come out, then I would turn gay, or I would unleash the monster in me, or I would lose self-control."

He's not afraid anymore, and his newfound joy and freedom radiate off him while on stage at The Bellweather. Archuleta recently performed live at his AFTERHOURS event in Los Angeles, and Out was in attendance, supported by DJs Andrew Lux, Ty Sunderland, and Haylee Wood. He premiered two new songs at the show: an earworm of an unreleased EDM track about goodbyes produced by Ty Sunderland, and "Can I Call You," a silky smooth pop song releasing May 9.

"It's chill, it's sexy, it's giddy, but still pretty grounded," says Archuleta of the track. "I feel like that's more in tune with the kind of person I am overall, and when it comes to romance."

A world away from his tentative crush in that early song, "Can I Call You" reflects Archuleta's identity as a self-assured and fully out man.

"Can I call you / We don't even need to talk / Don't need no volume / You can listen to my heart / Boy you're the sweetest / Like peaches," he sings in the new song.

Archuleta's art continues to expand, as evidenced in his choreography at live shows. Known for his voice, Archuleta was accustomed to singing primarily to command the room. Now, he's having fun with dance. Fans got a taste of it in his "Crème Brulée" music video.

Dancing is "an energy booster," he says. "It helps tell the story. It helps in the flow of the show. And I feel like it's teaching me to be more comfortable being flirty and even embracing a little more of my femininity."

And he loves a cover. Faith Evans's "Love Like This," Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso," Chappell Roan's "Pink Pony Club," and George Michael's "Freedom" all appeared in his setlist.

He released the latter song on streaming earlier this year to show "the direction I'm exploring with my life, to liberate myself and be free and be okay with who I am, even if that's not the mold that I was expected to live by, like straight man masculine standards," he says.

Following his set at The Bellweather in Los Angeles in early May, the space became a dancefloor as DJ and event producer Ty Sunderland began mixing. The moment heralded Archuleta's anticipated EDM era, still in the works with no scheduled release. Still, he finds joy in the music and the community.

"EDM festivals have really been an outlet for me," he reflects. "No one really cares how you're dressed, how you act. It's such a free space to be in. It's almost like playing dress up, you can be whatever you want to be. For someone who doesn't know who he is yet, it's a great place to just try and experiment and explore energy, whether it's in a beat, or it's in dancing, or it's just the crowd's excitement, the colors, and the costumes and the outfits, and the PLUR [Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect] culture, and the candy, the bracelets being traded, and just getting a little shit-faced. Or getting very shit-faced."

"I don't have to be masculine. I don't have to be too straight. I don't have to be too gay. I can just be whoever I think I am, and if that changes, I can be someone else the next day," he adds. "We grew up in a society where you always have to be someone's expectation, and if you don't, you get very judged or criticized for it, and I just like not having to worry about that."

Just a few years ago, Archuleta believed that he would "be struck with lightning and die and be killed off or feel like the worst person in the world" for being a part of the queer community.

"You live, you learn, you make mistakes, you allow yourself to feel love for someone, and it's so beautiful," he shares. "You think that you're gonna hurt people for falling in love with the same sex, 'cause that's what you've been taught all your life, and then you realize, OK, you're still here."

Listen to David Archuleta's new song "Can I Call You" below.