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It's not as if holiday albums are rare, so David Archuleta knew he was entering a crowded field with the release in October of his collection "Christmas from the Heart."

All the same, the runner-up on the seventh season of "American Idol" loves Christmas music so much that he wasn't concerned with how many other versions of "Silent Night" exist.

"Christmas music is honestly probably what I've performed more than anything else, ever since I was a little kid," Archuleta, 18, says by phone from St. Louis on a tour that stops Thursday at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Mashantucket. The show, he says, is split between pop songs and holiday songs.

"I remember caroling with my brothers and sisters and doing holiday shows at retirement homes," says Archueleta, who is one of four siblings. "So seeing how holiday music can affect people has been one of the biggest influences on my career. People enjoy Christmas music so much, including me."

Most of the songs on the record are traditional, such as "O Holy Night," "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "Angels We Have Heard on High," though Archuleta lands a credit, too, for co-writing "Melodies of Christmas."

It's not his first: He also wrote a pair of songs on his self-titled 2008 debut, along with two iTunes deluxe-edition bonus tracks. Archuleta hopes to contribute more of his ideas to his next pop album, which he started working on earlier this year before pausing to focus on the Christmas tour. He plans to resume work on his sophomore album early in 2010.

"Next month, after the holidays, I'll be working more on writing, and writing with other people and talking to the label and discussing the direction I want to go," he says. "There's some songs I'm happy with already, but you never know what's going to end up on the album."

Although he has no plans to follow in the footsteps of fellow "Idol" alumnus Kelly Clarkson, who had a hand in writing all the songs on her third record, Archuleta would like to give fans a fuller picture of himself on his next album.

"I'm hoping to show more of my personality and the ideas and thoughts that are in my head," he says. "I'm kind of a cheesy, quirky person sometimes, but hey, that's who I am, and I feel the most important thing to do in your music is be honest. I want people to be able to know who I am, or at least understand where I'm coming from."

It's hard to imagine his fans don't already have a pretty firm grasp of who he is. Archuleta is the subject of no small amount of adulation on at least nine distinct fan websites in the United States, and he has a dedicated following on Twitter. He's pleased that so many people have connected with his music, though the attention is occasionally intense.

"Sometimes it can get like a little, like, whoa," he says. "Sometimes I'm, like, what is it that people are so interested in? Because I just feel like I'm me. It's interesting when people take an interest in you and want to talk to you and be around you and get a hug from you and follow you to the shows. It makes me feel like there must be something more that's involved with this, because it can't just be me."

Rather, he says, it's about the music he sings and how fans relate to it.

"It's interesting how they're feeling the same thing I'm feeling. It makes you feel so good that it can do that for people. That, more than anything, is what made me want to be a singer and a performer," he says. "I've never been a big talker or anything, but I felt like I could say what I wanted to say in music. There's just such a power in music. I don't have much to say, but I wanted people to be aware what music can do."

It's not just music, either: Archuleta is also releasing a memoir. Although the book discusses the partial vocal-cord paralysis he suffered in 2004, it's about more than that, he says.

"It's like all the things I've gone through since I was little that have made me into who I am now," he says. "That was just one of the challenges that you face in life, and it's not like it's been the challenge I've faced. It was rough for a few years and stuff, but I feel like it's something that I've dealt with. It's neat for me to see how I moved from there when I thought I couldn't."

DAVID ARCHULETAperforms tonight at MGM Grand at Foxwoods. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are $40, $30 and $20. Information: 800-200-2882.