Name: Todrick Hall, 33
Who he is: Singer/Songwriter/YouTuber with 2.8 million subscribers.
Why He Matters: Hall he has emerged from the purgatory of American Idol to become a star YouTuber and Broadway performer whose credits include Chicago, The Color Purple, and Kinky Boots.
Why We’re Proud: Hall shows off his creative process in Behind the Curtain, the Netflix documentary tracing his concept album/musical Straight Out of Oz from development to staging. Along the way, the doc also showcases Hall’s complex relationship with his religious family, his struggles to write new music, and the challenges of growing up African-American and gay in Texas.
Related: Todrick Hall gets intimate in new “Behind the Curtain” documentary
Hall toured the nation from July to August 2017 playing sold-out shows. How many other pop singers have ever written songs about a first same-sex crush, coming out, confronting religious homophobia and random acts of violence–all on the same album–let alone to sold-out crowds? In Hall’s words, he developed the album to “be a role model or hopefully someone to pave the way for some young black kid looking at me, because there were no black gay role models on television my whole life growing up.”
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Kangol
So talented! Keep doing it, Toddrick Hall, and thank you for encouraging LGBTQ youth, especially black queer kids, to keep going and never give up!
Charlie in Charge
Todrick is a delightful creative talent.
fredo777
I’ve rocked with him since his too-soon elimination from Idol, in which Simon acted as if he were the end-all be-all of Todrick’s career. Ha.