Dean Kaelin woke up early this morning to explain why his voice student turned American Idol star, David Archuleta, struggled a bit this week. It was much more than strep throat. David was battling with busy schedules and last minute changes to song choices that left him with little time to rehearse.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Last Tuesday night, on the seventh season of “American Idol”, the 17-year-old teen sensation had a very bad screw-up — he forgot the lyrics of his Beatles song!!! And for that, David Archuleta officially lost his place as AI’s frontrunner. Not only did he forget the lyrics (always a kiss of death on the reality singing show) to The Beatles’ “We Can Work it Out,” he never recovered from the mistake. Not really good! =( Even the always affable Randy Jackson dubbed his uninspired performance “very forced,” while Simon Cowell curtly (as usual) called it “a mess.”

Still, I can forgive David Archuleta for this one-time real bad performance. After all, he said in his pre-recorded interview that he had been nervous about having to choose a song from the Lennon/McCartney songbook because he “wasn’t too familiar with the songs.” The bad thing is that while David Archuleta fell, someone rose and performed an amazing number. Yup, none other than Chikezie. Unless the big guy screws up next week, Archie will be in for a tough competition ahead.

It was ’80s night last Tuesday and Ryan Seacrest says all the “American Idol” contestants will be required to reveal their Most. Embarrassing. Moment. Ever. And the most embarrassing moment in David Archuleta’s was when he went somewhere or other to sing at some charity fundraiser where the organizers had made a big effort to fly him down there. He sang some song in Spanish but as he was trying to finish the song, his voice went poof! And to David Archuleta’s relief, his mother ran up on stage and finished the song for him and she was great. Nice one mom! =)

If you weren’t able to watch last Tuesday night, David Archuleta sang Phil Collins’s “Another Day in Paradise.” This time he mixes it up by playing the piano. At least he starts to. But he seems nervous. He leaves the piano after about five notes. “It was like watching one of your concerts,” Randy Jackson says. Paula Abdul loves that he missed a couple notes because it proves he’s not a hologram. Hehe! But, she adds, he’s still perfect and his wonderful sensibility picks songs that he can really shine on. Hooray for Archie!