It’s been Christmas since July for David Archuleta

The seventh season “American Idol” runner-up went into the studio over the summer to record “Christmas from the Heart,” his second studio album and his first Christmas set. The album was released in October, and on Friday he performs a holiday concert with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra at Hill Auditorium.

When settling on which songs to record for the album, he decided staples such as “O Holy Night,” “Joy to the World” and “Silent Night” had to be in the mix. They were songs he’s been singing since he was a little kid, he says.

“(My siblings and I) would go Christmas caroling, we’d go to hospitals and retirement homes together, sometimes we’d just go around the neighborhood and sing,” says Archuleta, on the phone last week. “Anything that was around for me to sing at.”

He added to those standbys with “Christmas from the Heart,” which includes songs sung in French (“Pat-a-pan”) and Spanish (“Riu Riu Chiu”). The traditional “Ave Maria” is sung in Latin.

“I’ve never spoken Latin or French in my life until I had to learn the words to those songs and record them,” says Archuleta, 18. “I really enjoyed it, it was something new to add to the album, a way of connecting to different people.”

The album also includes one original, “Melodies of Christmas,” about the memories people intertwine with Christmas songs. It was a last-minute addition to the album, Archuleta says.

It was also last minute when Archuleta learned “Christmas from the Heart” would share a release date with the extremely similarly titled “Christmas in the Heart,” Bob Dylan’s seasonal offering. Archuleta laughs and says the similarities are “coincidental” and says he hasn’t yet heard the Dylan record.

Archuleta — who counts Celine Dion’s “These Are Special Times” and “The Jackson 5 Christmas Album” among his favorite holiday records — says after wrapping the Christmas tour he’s heading into the pre-production on his next album in early 2010. He’s been working with some writers from Nashville but isn’t sure how the album will shape up.

“We’ll see what kind of directions the songs go,” he says.

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