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David Archuleta, John Mayer, Vampire Weekend And More Give Us Their Favorite Albums And Songs Of 2008

By James Montgomery

Last week, when we published a list of artists’ favorite songs and albums of 2008, we expected to get some feedback … but what we couldn’t have predicted is just how much of that feedback would come from other artists.

Seems that everyone wanted to get in on the act, which meant that over the past few days, we’ve been getting even more lists from some of the artists who had huge impacts on 2008 — everyone from “American Idol” contestants and hip-hop headliners to much-buzzed blog bands and returning legends. In fact, the response was so overwhelming that we decided to do a second round of artist’s picks — their favorite songs and albums of the year — which you can read below.

David Archuleta

“One of the biggest songs of the year for me was definitely ‘I’m Yours’ by Jason Mraz … you gotta love that song. I mean, who doesn’t? If you don’t there’s something wrong going on. It’s an awesome song.

“Some of the big albums for me were We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things by Jason Mraz, Where The Light Is, the live album by John Mayer, Pocket Full Of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield — that’s a good one. I really liked Fearless by Taylor Swift, that’s an awesome album. I like, uh, Sara Bareilles‘ one, but I don’t know if that came out this year or last year. I don’t know which ones came out when.”

Read the entire article here.

Jamaica Observer Review

Archuleta Serves Up Polite Pop on Debut Dics
BY TYRONE S REID Observer staff writer reidt@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, December 16, 2008

David Archuleta (19 Recordings)
Artiste: David Archuleta
Overall rating: (*** stars) from four

EACH year, American Idol winners and runners-up release debut albums that are either hits or miserable flops.

Smartly following in the footsteps of past contestants Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Clay Aiken, 2008 ‘Idol’ second-place finisher David Archuleta has entered the music landscape with a praiseworthy debut album, laden with polite pop gems and radio-friendly ballads that successfully show off his treble chops. And though he occasionally comes across as a love-sick 17-year-old grovelling at the feet of his love interest, the real allure of this album is all him.

The heartfelt A Little Too Not Over You with its earnest energy, plush musical interludes and heavy synth production comes right out of the John Mayer playbook. On the simple yet beautiful Crush (currently riding the pop charts) he sweetly comes clean to the chick he is digging, while the acoustic guitar adds to the laid-back charm and appeal of You Can. Equally engaging are Touch My Hand which delivers tame verses but a blazing chorus, the urban-influenced Barriers and the groovy My Hands.

Among the album’s other standout cuts is the bass-heavy, mid-tempo track Running, on which the singer’s emotiveness reaches fever pitch. Don’t Let Go flips from one tear-soaked verse to another, while the touching and sweeping album-closer Angels could inspire an entire arena to sing along.

Overall, with this commendable 12-track debut, Archuleta enters the pantheon of new pop artistes of 2008 worth watching, and listening to.

Read entire article here.

Yes! another review that mentions Running! I love that song, and how it’s been underrated sort of saddened me. Not this time, though!

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