Glam pop/ R&B singer, songwriter and dancer Stewart Taylor has just released his new anti-bullying anthem entitled “Liberation”. His coming out story was published in “The New York Times Bestseller “It Gets Better, Coming Out, Over Coming Bullying and Creating a Life Worth Living”
Stewart sings his hit “Liberation in hopes of delivering a message of empowerment and self-love and acceptance, meaning it from his heart.
I love your song “Liberation”
I appreciate that
I would like very much to hear your story behind it.
Liberation was about several years of my life when I was in my teen years and even before I was a teenager, when kids made my life like a living hell… for being a singer, for being on stage, and for being driven at a very young age. I think there was a lot of jealousy, involved in school. Before I had even come to terms with my own sexuality a lot of kids just assumed I was gay. Because of that by the time I was 14, I was well known in my home town, auditioning for things, being in musicals, there was a lot of cracks both in and out of school and on the internet, there were a lot of threats being thrown my way and we almost had to the police involved. As I got older and matured, and came into my own and accepting my sexuality and accepting that I was different and that it was ok…. I started being able to free myself from that negativity. As I got older and progressed in my career I realized that all the bullying actually motivated me to work harder. That’s where the song came from.
The song is amazing. So you live in Boston?
Yeah I’ve been living in Boston for almost 4 years. I just finished Berklee College of music. I’m about to move to LA chasing this dream.
Well, you have a good head start. You started entertaining at a very young age.
I started singing and writing songs at about 4 or 5 years old, actually writing them down by the time I was seven. My mom got me my own tape recorder and I started making demos at around that age. I did a lot of musicals, a lot of auditions, talent shows. By the time I was 18, I was gigging in New York and then I got into Berklee and just graduated from there. I’ve pretty much been doing it my whole life.
How old are you?
I’m 22
Your whole life didn’t even begin yet
That is what people say
Do you have a band or are you solo?
I do have a band and they accompany me on all my live gigs.
What’s your genre?
I call my genre “Glam Pop” with a mix of R&B. I’m really inspired by Glam Rock, like David Bowie and Freddy Mercury. I love Stevie Nicks and Billy Idol and definitely Prince. Michael Jackson, growing up I listened to a lot of him. They all kind of meshed glam rock with R&B. That’s what I’m trying to continue with my work
Those are my favorites too, especially Billy Idol
Oh, I love Billy Idol. I was trying to channel Billy Idol during the filming of my video. I look up to him
So you are moving to LA to chase the dream. Any particular projects in the works in LA?
My cowriter of Liberation already lives in LA. I’ll be going out there and working with him on my follow up EP. In a month I’ll be working with a lot of producers and doing sessions there. I’m just going to keep writing and keep writing and working on the next thing. It’s always about “What’s next, what’s next”! I’m constantly song writing. LA is just a continuation of what I’ve been doing in Boston just on a bigger scale
Are you going to tour to support “Liberation”?
At the moment we’re setting up a lot of different club dates. We are planning to perform in New York. We’re doing at of club remixes of the song. At the moment I’m just trying to continue building the band and building the catalogue and doing tons of gigs in the meantime. I definitely want to go on tour.
How can people get a hold of your anthem?
ITunes, Sound Cloud. It’s actually for free on Sound Cloud. You can look on YouTube, it’s up there. I just want the song to be a message of empowerment especially for kids who are struggling with being bullied or struggling with their sexuality or are feeling oppressed. A lot of that song I made comparisons to teen suicides that I saw growing up that really profoundly affected me. Just learning to embrace who you are and living who you are, that’s what it’s all about.
