David A. to the Ladies: You're Going to Have to Wait

• May 23, 2008 06:18 PM ET
• by The Idol Chatters

After coming thisclose to winning it all, David Archuleta took some time Friday to reflect on his Idol experience, what might come next and if he'll ever have time for a girlfriend - or anything else, for that matter.

American Idol's Season 7 may be over, but don't expect to see David A. out on the dating scene just yet (sorry, ladies!). We know, there's a hungry crowd of would-be GFs awaiting, but once the Idol mania dies down a little bit, David A.'s planning to focus on his career. Not only that, but he's pretty sure he's not mature enough to even know what he wants yet.

"Being 17," he told press, "I'm not really mature enough to understand those feelings yet." He also doesn't want to deal with the "drama" of relationships that he sees his friends go through. Of their trials, he says, "It's not like you're going to live off that person, like your infatuation is going to support you. I want to make sure I don't get confused with a feeling for someone so quickly. I so don't want to deal with the drama."

The right girl for him, though, would have a great personality, be someone he's able to connect with, have respect for themselves - "but not in an arrogant way, just someone who cares about others as well. [Sighs]" With the same humbleness he shows on stage, David added, "[It's] just something I will want to focus on later in life. But I'm so young, I'm still learning so much, I have to get to know [what I want]."

Luckily for David (less so for his admirers), is that he has a lot of options coming up, not to mention a stellar approach when it comes to staying cool under pressure. One of the most notable things about David A., apart from his mega-voice, was his poise throughout the competition, especially for someone his age. He shared his Idol strategy with TVGuide.com. "Dealing with all the struggles throughout this [show]," he said, "I try to learn from them, I try not to look at it as, 'that was a terrible time,' I try to think, 'That was a challenge I learned from.' The more you stress out about something, the worse a time you have, and I didn't want to focus on that."

Archie said that he told himself throughout the challenges, "'This is a great experience, and I'll never get this opportunity again. This is an experience of a lifetime.' I tried to enjoy it as much as I could."

Some of the toughest moments to maintain his 'tude, though, was when he was working on songs. "Sometimes the difficulty was when I'd try arranging a song," he explained, "and there were so many opinions from the arrangers and producers. It would get confusing when I wouldn't be able to try something."

Yet, despite the confusion and the ultimate besting by David C., David A. is nothing but pleased at his Idol run. "I'm feeling great about this," he told press. "I think [Cook] deserved it, he proved it week after week, and he's such a great guy, too. My main priority wasn't to win the competition, but to do my best. You can suck and people can vote enough for you to win, and that wouldn't feel very good. But we both gave it our all. I don't think I could've done anything better."

Of course, this isn't the last we'll see from David A. He plans on making an album that's more pop than ballad, reminding us that he is, after all, still 17. - Anna Dimond

More on the Davids:
" David Cooking Up a CD to "Make the Hair on the Back of Your Neck Stand Up"
" After the Big Finale: The Davids, Fans Respond