陽光大衛私房粉絲網

THE "AMERICAN IDOL" machine certainly works in transparent ways: many of its alums release albums in the last three months of the year, just in time for the holiday rush. David Archuleta now joins Clay Aiken in adding an album of Christmas tunes to the collection. Mid-October might be a little ahead of "the holiday rush," but who's counting?

Archuleta's primary problem is that not only is he super-young (he's 18), but he looks even younger. Combine that with the bland sweetness that he portrayed on "Idol," and you've got a bit of a conundrum: he looks too young to do really serious love songs (despite his debut album's single, "Crush") but he's too old to do kids' music.

All that makes a holiday album make perfect sense for him: it's ageless and timeless. Add to that his overt Christianity, and you've got all the ingredients for an obvious album choice.

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It's no great surprise that Archuleta sounds good on these tunes: his clear, innocent voice just resonates with old classics like "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "What Child Is This." And if they'd kept "Christmas From the Heart" to just those traditional songs, it would've been a solid addition to the holiday music cannon, even though he doesn't add a lot new to these songs.

But instead, the "Idol" machine had to add a few embellishments to the track list, which only end up disrupting the tone and flow of the album.

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a duet with YouTube star Charice Pempengco, that just drips with cheesy schmaltz (not to mention the fact that the duet aspect is completely unnecessary). And "Ave Maria" finds Archuleta backed by a choir; their voices are understated, but it still sounds like a heartstring-tugging ploy.

Worse yet is the album-closing "Melodies of Christmas." There are few pains more acute than original Christmas music, and this song brings that home: it's unashamedly cheesy ("joyful messages you may find / will send happiness for all mankind") and is one of the few tracks on the album that just feels over-performed.

Despite these cringe-worthy moments, though, most of "Christmas From the Heart" consists of traditional tunes, sung excellently by Archuleta. Even without adding much new to these pieces, his performance sounds truly genuine and heartfelt; the real question lies in whether the world really needs yet another holiday album.