David Archuleta, Hell Together | Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈

In the 14^th edition of Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 (2024), we highlight the song, “Hell Together” performed by David Archuleta.

Prepare to beam with P-R-I-D-E 🏳️‍🌈! Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 celebrates, embraces, and spotlights songs by LGBTQ musicians or allies.  In this column, we provide background and insight into the respective musician(s), as well as analyze + go gaga over the decadent bops being served up.  Furthermore, when the music dictates deeper, more transcendent discussion, we ensure the point is articulated to the fullest.  All styles of music are welcome while the songs can be classics or brand-spanking new. So, without further ado, in the 14^th edition of Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 (2024), we highlight “Hell Together” performed by David Archuleta.

“Bow your head, don’t be bold / You’ll survive by doin’ what you’re told.”  Thought provoking lyrics that the handsome and talented David Archuleta sings in the first verse of “Hell Together”.  Just as the title and excerpted lyrics suggest, “Hell Together” is NOT a lighthearted song.  Archuleta experienced lots of life changes: coming out and stepping away from the Mormon church.  The opening lyrics of “Hell Together” are troubling, as they suggest praying the gay away.  The lyrics speak to an attitude some religions/religious institutions, and people of faith regarding someone who knows they aren’t heterosexual. The verse, sung sincerely and beautifully by Archie continues, “Said love is earned and we can’t choose / But the more you grow, you know the truth.”  Equally thought provoking.

Archuleta penned this stirring, vulnerable ballad alongside Sam DeRosa, Ryan Nealon, and producer, Jordan Sherman. Following the first verse where David realizes how the myopic views of the church are, and how they’ve affected him, in the pre-chorus, he’s concerned about disappointing his mom. That is where the most touching moment of “Hell Together” occurs – the chorus:

“‘If I have to live without you

I don’t wanna live forever in someone else’s heaven

So let ‘em close the gates

Oh, if they don’t like the way you’re made, then they’re not any better

If Paradise is pressure, oh

We’ll go to hell together.”

🥹 The ultimate allyship – blood – that Archie’s mother exhibits.  The second verse expands on it, asserting, “You and me, that’s all we need / Blood is thicker than the pages that they read.” The bridge is also noteworthy as Archuleta regrets not breaking from the church before now. To quote another ex-Mormon, Tyler Glenn, “I found myself when I lost my faith”.  Many songs have been written about ‘bad religion,’ and “Hell Together” by David Archuleta is a stellar addition. Furthermore, it is a brilliant ballad that speaks to the struggles of so many in the LGBTQ+ community, or, even those who have experienced a negative experience with the church or religion.  This song right here’s got us beaming with pride 🏳️‍🌈 something fierce!

David Archuleta // “Hell Together” // Archie Music // 2024

David Archuleta, Hell Together: Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 No. 14 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner/ The Musical Hype; Archie Music; Elias Souza, Los Muertos Crew from Pexels; CatsWithGlasses, Maicon Fonseca Zanco, Square Frog, Sudo from Pixabay]