Grammy winner Blaine Anderson: "My story is one of survival, not victimization"
By Jennifer Shaw
February 21, 2018

On the heels of what is sure to be the first of many Grammy appearances and wins, Billboard caught up with Best New Artist Blaine Anderson to discuss his award-winning debut album, Survivor, and the anti-bullying campaign the 23-year-old and his partner, up-and-coming fashion designer Kurt Hummel, are currently spearheading.

Billboard: Congratulations on your awards! Quite the trifecta of Best New Artist, Album of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Album for your debut album. How does that feel?
Blaine Anderson: It's completely surreal. Never in a million years would I have expected this. I started working on the album my senior year of high school and had it produced as my senior thesis at Tisch. It's crazy and extremely humbling that so much came of such a personal project. I never expected anyone to hear it outside of my friends and family.

BB: We're sure most people know the story by now, but can you tell us about the inspiration for the album?
BA: Sure. Simply put, I'm a hate crime survivor. Actually, survivor of two hate crimes. My freshman year of high school, I took another boy to a Sadie Hawkins dance and we were beaten up in the parking lot. I spent a week in the hospital. My senior year, I was attacked outside of a Starbucks and nearly died. It was a long recovery and because of the injuries, I'd lost all my usual outlets-boxing, singing, even playing the piano. As a way to get my voice back, I started composing music with software on my computer and it became a kind of catharsis. The music I was writing turned out to be telling my story. It all snowballed once I realized that.

BB: Is the first attack where your first single, "Sadie Hawkins," comes from?
BA: Yes. That was kind of a turning point for me, when I realized what it's like to be hated for something you can't control. It was terrifying to realize that. Honestly, sometimes knowing that still scares me, but like the song says, I think there's also something empowering about being able to name that fear so you can move past it.

BB: Why the name Survivor?
BA: I did an interview with the New York Times after the second attack, and when I told Mr. Davies [the interviewer] that I was sick of being a victim, he turned the phrase and made the focus of the piece about how I was a hate crime survivor, not a victim. That's stuck with me since because yeah, I survived two attacks and have moved forward. My story is one of survival, not victimization, and that's an important message to send to other people struggling in their own lives, I think.

Editor's note: Find the interview here.

BB: What's next for you?
BA: Well, I also have a tour planned for the album this summer, and soul goddess Mercedes Jones is going to join me for a few stops since we were friends in high school. But, most importantly, Kurt and I are getting married before I leave.

BB: Congratulations!
BA: Thank you! We've actually been engaged for a couple of years now, and we were going to have the wedding after I graduated, but then my album took off and there just hasn't been time. But we're making time now. He's been planning the wedding since we were teenagers, though!

Editor's note: Kurt Hummel graduated from NYADA in 2016 and is currently the face of the runaway (and runway) hit Blackbird fashion line.

BB: Have you thought about your second album yet?
BA: Of course! I started thinking about it as soon as I finished Survivor. I'm hoping to convince Kurt and some of our friends [like Broadway starlet Rachel Berry] to sing with me on the new one as well, though that'll have to wait until after the tour. My friend Sam [Evans], who did the cover art for Survivor and has designed some of the merchandise that'll be on sale during the tour, is already showing me design ideas for the new album! [laughs]

But I guess if the theme of album one was survival, then album two is going to be about living and all the amazing things life has to offer. I'm constantly inspired by things and people around me. It's why I'm always jotting down chords or lyrics in the margins of papers or on napkins.

BB: Tell us a bit about New Directions.
BA: New Directions is the non-profit anti-bullying, I guess venture would be the way to describe it, I'm working on with Kurt and a friend from high school, Sebastian Smythe. It's named after Kurt's and my high school glee club since that's where we found solace from bullying and made life-long friends.

BB: What does the "venture" entail?
BA: New Directions is part media campaign, part outreach, and part community center. The first physical branch will be opening in Kurt's hometown of Lima, Ohio, in the fall as a safe space for kids, gay and straight, to come if they're having a hard time at home or in school. We want to focus on small-town America where these types of issues are common but rarely reported. Or if they are, they get swept under the rug, as Kurt and I both know from personal experience.

We also have a hotline kids can call or text, and we're working on TV and radio PSAs. Sebastian and some of our other high school friends are working on some publications and lectures we hope to take to local schools. Mrs. Pillsbury-Schuester at McKinley [High School in Lima] has been a huge help with that.

BB: That sounds really involved.
BA: It is, but it's worth it if we can help even one kid. Being bullied is something you never forget, the constant feeling of fear and helplessness that comes along with it. A lot of the proceeds from my album sales and Kurt's Blackbird fashion line go directly to funding New Directions. Kurt's father, Congressman Burt Hummel, is a big supporter of it as well, which really helped it get off the ground back in Ohio.

BB: Last question: If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
BA: That you're not alone. You have amazing people around you who love you and make you a better person. You're going to make mistakes and get hurt and hurt other people, but as long as you let those people in, you'll make it.

For more information or to make a donation to New Directions, visit www.newdirectionsproject.org.