Archuleta tells the world: 'I'm not dead!'

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David Archuleta has three words for the world: "I'm not dead!"

The Utah singer, and season 7 "American Idol" runner-up, put a video blog post up on YouTube on Friday, letting his fans know he's back from his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — and is ready to make music.

Most importantly, he said, he's ready to make music his way.

"Before, I had no idea what I was doing. And I'll just make everybody happy, even though everybody wants different things," Archuleta said. "But I realized, 'You know what? That's not what I want to do. That's never what I wanted to do, but I just felt like I was supposed to.'"

Archuleta credited his LDS mission in Chile for helping him sort out his priorities.

"The mission helped me not be so self-conscious, believe in myself a little more," he said.

After he finished his mission in March, Archuleta stopped in Los Angeles, where he experienced the culture shock of the entertainment industry, "where it's all about you." So, he said, he high-tailed out of there and returned to Utah, where he's working with talent here.

Archuleta said he'll be recording soon, and the musical choices will be his. "Whether I make mistakes, at least they're my mistakes, and not everybody else's that they made for me," he said.