David Archuleta's self-titled debut CD was the top pre-ordered CD from the iTunes Store a couple of weeks ago.
The wait ended Tuesday when the disc hit the CD racks.
With the strength of the single "Crush," which debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Pop 100 in August, and the fact that the Murray resident placed second in "American Idol" season 7, the CD is expected to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
While the numbers and the glitz could go to the head of other teens (Archuleta turns 18 on Dec. 28), it appears that the young singer still has his feet firmly planted on the ground.
In an interview with People magazine on newsstands now, Archuleta said he still wants to go to college.
"You need backup, because music doesn't always last forever," he said. "I've always been interested in EMT or doctor stuff."
However, one of his immediate assignments is to sing at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. The parade will be aired on NBC, which is Ch. 5.
While undoubtedly Archuleta fans will give the CD a four-star rating, the Los Angeles Times' August Brown panned it with 1 1/2 stars, saying, "It's an exacting distillation of a 13-year-old girl's wholesome romantic aspirations as imagined by 50-year-old label reps ...."
However, Ken Barnes of USA Today gave it three out of four stars, commenting, "Archuleta has precocious vocal skills and could easily handle more mature material, but it would ring false ...."
Still, other critics found some middle ground.
The New York Times said Archuleta "has a lovely, foggy R&B voice out of scale with his small body ... (And) the music, made by many producers and songwriters, averages out different forms of radio-format blandness, with tinges of Coldplay and Shania Twain, and few dollops of good writing ...."
And the other Big Apple outlet, New York Magazine, blogged that the album was comprised of "... happy, life-affirming pop songs ... with big exploding choruses ...."
Regardless of the bipolar reviews and the expected success of the CD, Archuleta has told the press that one of his priorities is to make Utah proud while he is representing the Beehive State in the music business.
"I don't want to be a slacker," he said during a Deseret News interview when the "American Idols Live" concert was in town in July. "And I want my fans to be happy that they are my fans."
Now that the tour is over — it wrapped up in September — Archuleta had time to work on his album, which was an exciting project he said.
"There are some good songs out there," he said. "And I want to choose the ones that are a good balance of radio hits and emotional songs."
During the "American Idol" interviews, Archuleta said that he wanted to try his hand at songwriting.
"I just hope that some of the songs I write are actually good enough to be on the CD," he said.
Well, there is a song that boasts an Archuleta co-writing credit — "Don't Let Go," an up-tempo dancer he wrote with 'NSync's JC Chasez.
E-mail: scott@desnews.com