American Idol favorite David Archuleta recently spoke with Billboard.com about his experience on the show. Here are highlights of the interview:

Neil Diamond called you a prodigy and a lot of people think you have an incredible gift for music. How does that feel?

I still feel weird when people say, "you're a good singer," because I've never looked at myself like that. I've always looked at myself as someone who loves music and loves to try and interpret it as I see it.

It seems like you're always emotionally connected to the lyrics you're singing.

When I was younger, I didn't know what made me sing the song differently or how I sang it. I still don't really understand fully, but the lyrics do mean a lot to me now, a lot more than before. I didn't even pay attention to the lyrics when I was 12, 13.

Probably around the second year I did "Star Search" is when I paid more attention to the lyrics. I thought the music itself had such a power to it and now that I've understood how powerful lyrics are as well, I think that has allowed me to progress.

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.