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.”
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