Get Out! GAY Magazine – Issue 333– September 13, 2017

I got to meet their families,
their girlfriends, I got to
know them. I was talking
to one of them that day. I
was hearing what it was like
to actually be a trans kid in
public school that day. It was
awful. I thought that would
give a mean kid more of an
excuse to be mean, and to
be hateful, and that’s exactly
what it did. I was actually on
my way to write that day. I
go into sessions not knowing
what I’m going to write most
days. So I went in that day,
and thankfully it
was with my two
good friends. I
asked if we could
try to write the
song and tell the
story of these
two kids. My plan
was to just write
a sweet, simple
song just for
them and carry
on. So that’s what
really pushed me
to write it.
It’s one of the
most powerful
and compelling
songs that I’ve
ever heard. As a
matter of fact, I
don’t even know
how to act with
you.
That really means a lot to me.
Do you consider yourself
more of an activist or a
songwriter?
Even with this project, I
consider myself an artist
and a songwriter first. That’s
my home base, and I have
a hard time taking on that
label, activist. I don’t even
know what that means,
really. I almost feel like it’s
an accident. I think one of
the biggest things that I’ve
learned from people closest
to me - friends that I have
in this weird little industry
world that can be very fake
and very stressful, and I can
go on and on - is to just be
yourself. Just like these two
kids that are themselves. I
think whatever platform you
have, whatever follower count
you have, whether it’s 10 or 10
million, just being yourself is
the most powerful thing. Like
those two kids inspired me
to just be myself. If I am an
activist of any sort, I just want
to make people feel like they
are allowed to be themselves.
If we all could just be OK with
that - especially nowadays,
you turn on any news channel
- people have a lot of issues
with just being themselves.
I still have days where that
is hard for me, but I feel
like that’s been my goal,
whether I’m writing a song
like “The Village,” or about
relationships. I remember I
put “him” or “a man” as a
pronoun in one of my songs,
and everyone was like, “Oh
my gosh.” I said, “OK, I’m
singing about a dude. I’m
gay.”
What was the exact
moment that changed the
trajectory of your life?
I have two moments that
come to mind. The loudest
thing in my mind would be
the morning after I came
out. I came out into a pretty
toxic situation. I had a church
that said, “You can change,
you can change.” Honestly, I
was a little brainwashed into
almost believing that. I think
the morning after I came out,
I stayed at a friend’s house,
and I remember just waking
up, and I felt like I had died.
I remember looking outside,
and nobody was walking
around on the little street that
he lived on. I thought, “This is
not good.”
I think that
started my path
out of that, and I
started to feel self
acceptance and
self celebration.
Acceptance of all
of us—we’re all
weirdos; nobody
is normal. I think
that moment really
opened my eyes
and my heart to
really questioning
what I’d been told
and things that I
believed about
myself and about
the world. The
other was the night
I played songs for
Barry Weiss, the
head of Universal.
I remembered
calling my mom, and I
remembered just thinking,
“This is it.” Then I was signed
to Island Records. That
started my up and down and
in and out and all around with
labels, and with getting music
out there.
If you could take your music
back in time to the past or
ahead into the future, which
would you choose?
I guess I want to say the
future, only because I can’t
go back into the past.
Read full interview on:
www.getoutmag.com/
wrabel