David Archuleta prepares for a metamorphosis.

On the red carpet for the premiere of Megan you studthe documentary, In his wordsTHE American idol former student has found the words to describe the new music he’s releasing.

“I’m cleaning myself up from where I was,” Archuleta admitted to PEOPLE. “I was in a good place, but I feel like it’s like a metamorphosis, you shed your skin. That was my caterpillar stage, and now it’s time to bloom. And I have l impression that “Hell Together” was a bit like my cocoonwhere it changes, and now it’s like ‘Hey, that was my old skin and it’s time to take it off.'”

Archuleta also gave a hint about the direction of his next album, telling PEOPLE that it was going to “channel girl pop, channel a little bit of my Latin roots as well.”

The 33-year-old released his cathartic single, “Hell Together” in April and premiered it exclusively via PEOPLE. The song was inspired by a text he received from his mother, Lupe Bartholemew, days after explaining that he was leaving the Church of Latter-day Saints. The text read: “I don’t want to be in a place where my children don’t feel welcomed, loved and accepted…if you go to hell, we will all go to hell with you.” »

In 2021, Archuleta came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in an Instagram post. “I came out to my family as gay in 2014. But then I had similar feelings for both sexes, so maybe a spectrum of bisexuality,” the “Crush” singer said at the time. “Then I also learned that I don’t have too many sexual desires and impulses like most people, which works, I guess, because I’m committed to saving myself until marriage. This which people call asexual when they don’t feel sexual impulses.”

The singer, who was a devout Mormon, began to struggle with contradictions between his identity and the Church’s beliefs. After breaking off three engagements with three different women, Archuleta realized he was suppressing his sexuality.

“I’m sure other people who have been in this situation can relate,” he told PEOPLE in 2022. “Gay people, who have tried to get married just to do the ‘right’ thing, It ends up not being a very good thing, and it’s not very healthy for either party in the relationship.”

He finally walked away from the churchsaying, “Once you step away, you can finally see the fuller picture. It’s confusing because, literally, the pictures on my wall are all Christian pictures of Jesus and scripture and such. Now, I say to myself, ‘It used to be my world, but now it’s not. Now what should I do?’ I don’t know.”