David Archuleta‘s new music video for “Up All Night,” one of the four songs featured in his EP Orion, was just released today on May 17th, 2017. He explains in a behind the scenes video that the inspiration for this song came a couple of years ago when he was up all night. David recounts, “I was lost and confused and wondering where I was going in my life.”

He goes on to explain what got him through: “This family invited me to go out to rural Tennessee, away from everything … And suddenly, in this simple place, I found myself. I found a motivation and … inspiration and I found the piece of the identity of myself that I was missing, and it was all that I needed to keep going. That same night, I was up all night, and I had to get it out somehow … The way I knew how to do that was going to the piano, and out came this melody, out came these words. And I know you’ve all been hearing my voice, but I feel like I haven’t really had the chance to say what I have to say. So now I feel like my voice is actually being heard, in a way, for the first time. So I hope that you guys were able to connect to a time where maybe you felt like that, watching this video, or maybe this video will even help you to get to that place and find where you belong.”

With David’s experience in mind, his new music video for “Up All Night” becomes deeply meaningful. It begins with David walking around a town with boarded up windows and silhouettes of people. Just as David described, he looks very lost and sad. This scene seems reminiscent of a time when he felt lost and confused. And then he starts singing,

“I am knocking, standing at your door

somewhere new I’ve never been before.”

Take me in, and it feels like home.”

It’s getting late, and I don’t want to go.”

It’s apparent that he’s referring to when he was taken in by a nice family in Tennessee who helped him to find the sense of direction in his life that he needed. At this point in the video, David is shown as a silhouette sitting against a wall. A nice lady comes along and offers him her hand. She is likely meant to symbolize the kind woman who invited him to stay with their family. When David takes her hand, she helps him up, and he changes from a silhouette to a real person.

The lady leads him to a group of people who appear to be at a dance party. They all welcome David as if he’s family. It seems to be portraying how it felt for David to be welcomed by the family in Tennessee.

Throughout the rest of the video, David starts to dance along with everyone else. (His dancing is probably my favorite part of the video. He just dances like he doesn’t care, and it makes you feel like dancing along.) It’s clear that his confusion and sadness have dissipated because he feels a sense of belonging and has gained a better perspective. He starts to offer his hand to other silhouettes throughout the city who are sitting on the ground just as he was. When the silhouettes take his hand, they become real people, and he invites them to join the dance. It suggests that when we connect with other people for real, we see them for who they really are. The silhouettes appear confused at first as if they are thinking, “Why would anyone like me for who I really am?” They don’t recognize their unconditional worth. David’s beliefs show through a little here. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the real name of the “Mormon Church”), he believes that every single person is a child of God with infinite worth, no matter who they are or what mistakes they have made.

“Breathe it in. I want to pass it on,

the strength of finding somewhere you belong.”

The message embedded in his lyrics is pretty powerful—David’s video is reminding us about the importance of connecting with other people. It’s a basic human need shared by everyone. In today’s world, people seem to be becoming more and more disconnected, and a lot of it has to do with social media. Social media can be good, but most of it seems to be fake, with people putting forward an image that they want everyone to see rather than sharing their true selves and connecting with each other in an authentic way. What we portray on social media is only a faint silhouette of who we really are. (Disclaimer: I’m not sure if David had social media in mind when he created this video. It’s just a connection that I made.)

It seems likely that David decided to continue pursuing music when he was in Tennessee because he realized it was a meaningful way to connect to people and share heartfelt messages that people might need to hear. The other three songs in Orion, “Numb,” “Invincible,” and “Say Me” also contain profound messages that really resonate. You can buy the entire EP for just $3.96 on Amazon. (So worth it. Plus, David deserves to receive compensation for his amazing music.) It’s really enlightening to hear David write songs that are from his heart.

Click below to see David’s music video, “Up All Night,” and his behind the scenes video.