For several years now, Broadway’s sensitive ‘golden boy,’ Ben Platt has captured the hearts and minds of theater audiences with his show-stopping performances in The Book of Mormon and his Tony Award-winning turn as the anxious, social misfit “Evan Hansen” in the hit musical, Dear Evan Hansen.
Now, he’s set his sights on conquering the music industry with his first solo album, Sing To Me Instead, set to drop on March 29.
He recently released the first two music videos from the album, both directed by longtime friend Nick Lieberman.
At the end of “Bad Habit,” after spending the bulk of the song missing a former lover, a last second shot revealed that lover to be out actor Charlie Carver (Teen Wolf, Boys in the Band).
At the time, this writer wondered, “Did Ben Platt just come out?”
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Platt does just that as he shares that he wanted his audience to hear from the authentic “Ben."
“If I was going to write about people I loved, I wasn’t going to pretend they weren’t men just because I hadn’t talked about that before,” Platt tells PEOPLE.
As he worked with a team of songwriters to create what he wanted to be a deeply personal statement about who he is, Platt felt the album would be his “first opportunity to represent my relationships and the men that I’ve loved.”
“I only wanted to take this leap if I was going to present every part of myself,” he adds.
Always a storyteller, Platt knew he wanted the collection of songs to have an arc that covered not only his personal relationships but “a grander perspective about bigger questions about family and mortality and things like that.”
Platt released the music video for the gospel-tinged, “Ease My Mind,” today again incorporating a relationship with Charlie Carver in the story arc.
With the album release date looming on the horizon, Platt is also prepping for a concert tour to support the record.
“As a kid, I wanted to do an original musical and get a Tony, and so the fact that that happened is such a freeing thing,” says Platt. “Now I can sort of go down another path and see where that leads.”
Politics are everywhere, in
Politics are everywhere, in every business, every industry, every relationship. Bottom line is, Ben Platt is very, very talented. There is a long line of failures from privledged people who fell far short of their parent(s). Pia Zadora, Moon Unit Zappa, George W. Bush, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ed Begley Jr., Liza Minelli, Sam Waltons entire family, almost every famous person ever-who had kids. The flip side is, those people have even farther to fall. While some doors open, others are closed. And if the talent isnt there, all they have is the pressure of failure. Ben Platt is very talented and he probably had a leg up more for the quality of teachers he got to learn from, rather than his dad pressuring people to hire his son. Money, more than anything has its privledges. But if the talent isn't there and sometimes even if it is, the ride can be very short. Look at Michael Jacksons siblings, with the acception of Janet, and the hoard of Osmonds other than Donny and Marie. Name can help, but it can also hurt. The Romanovs come to mind or anyone with the last name of Hitler, Stalin, McVey, Arnold, Shlafly, Trump, Bush, Cheney or hundreds of others.
I wish people would just
I wish people would just acknowledge, just wee little bit, that this kid is the walking epitome of wealth and connections privilege in Hollywood and Broadway, with his father being a huge producer and executive at Universal that no one dares cross. OF COURSE he's going to be the lead "Dear Evan Hansen" (although, granted, he did a great job, but even if he didn't, he still would have had the part, and God help anyone who didn't help him win a Tony, too, because you don't make Mark Platt angry), but can we please call it in reality that he wouldn't be where he is without Daddums??
I lived in Los Angeles 16
I lived in Los Angeles 16 years- you're not wrong! The entertainment industry is far too often about who you know or who you're related to. Nepotism runs wild n' free in la la land!
Huh. Then why isn’t every
Huh. Then why isn't every child of Hollywood a major star? And Ben won the TONY because people are afraid of his father? And he would have gotten the led in DEAR EVAN HANSEN even if he wasn't good? It doesn't work like that honey. It really doesn't.
You are spewing a load of
You are spewing a load of crap that you have no real knowledge to support,
Major SNORE…
Major SNORE…