Does anyone remember David Archuleta? Of course you do. He was the sweet little 16-year-old who placed runner-up on season 7 of "American Idol" (you know, back when things were easy and the judging panel was Randy, Simon and Paula).
He saw some commercial success immediately after "Idol," with his single "Crush" playing on every radio station, but his popularity has, shall we say...petered out. That's not to say Archuleta hasn't been making music -- he has! Eight albums to date, in fact, with the most recent coming out just last year. But I don't think it's a stretch to say he's no longer a household name.
Unless you live with Savannah Kunze.
Kunze, an avid Archuleta fan, uses her social presence, especially on TikTok, to show off her singing and songwriting. She's especially talented at mash-ups of popular songs, which brought her to this "Crush"/"Love Story" by Taylor Swift bop.
Archuleta has a TikTok himself, and since Kunze tagged him in her "Crush" mash-up, he saw it and dueted her video, head-bopping to that beat like it was the best thing he'd heard all day (it probably was).
That was last weekend; yesterday, Archuleta took Kunze's mash-up and flipped it, singing his own song on top of the newly-released "Love Story (Taylor's Version)," using different sections of the lyrics this time. He also taped the performance from inside his car, which I took as a little nod to Kunze, since that's where she films all of her mash-ups from.
It got Swift's all-caps attention when Archuleta reposted the TikTok on Twitter, and he gave Kunze a shout-out in the same tweet he tagged Swift in -- she's officially in with the big guys.
What a day for an amateur TikTok star, huh?