Alex Newell entered the limelight during auditions for The Glee Project on the Oxygen Network. The show surrounded a group of hopefuls competing to replace cast members on the successful musical television show Glee. Newell was one of several winners earning a guest shot for two episodes.
To his surprise, his character, Wade Adams—also known at Unique—garnered such popularity that he was asked to return for the fourth season of the show as a recurring member. The fifth season, he was promoted to the main cast.
Last October, Newell was signed to both Atlantic Records and Deep Well Records, and will soon be releasing an album produced by Adam Anders. His current single is "Nobody to Love" by British dance duo Sigma.
Nunn called up Newell to chat a bit before his arrival at Pridefest this weekend.
Windy City Times: Hey, Alex. We spoke briefly in the past during your Glee Project auditions. I'm so very excited talking to you today.
Alex Newell: Yay!
WCT: Growing up in Massachusetts, were you always involved in musicals and theater?
Alex Newell: I loved music since I was about 2 years old and started musical theater when I was 13.
WCT: I read your father passed away and your mother raised you. Was she always supportive of you being gay?
Alex Newell: Always—number one!
WCT: What was high school like for you in real life? Was it hard being openly gay?
Alex Newell: I don't think it was ever hard or a big deal. I feel like I had a mature handling of it all.
WCT: I heard you were accepted into Berklee [College of Music].
Alex Newell: I was. I got into Berklee my senior year in December and I was on my way there when Ryan Murphy told my manager I would be used a lot in the next season of Glee and I would have to move to LA.
WCT: It seems like such an opportunity.
Alex Newell: Instead of learning everything, I could experience it all.
WCT: How was it being Unique on Glee?
Alex Newell: It was fun and still fun. It is a fun character to play. There are not a lot of characters that you can wear crazy outfits and do wild things just like that. Who else can say that a 20-year-old boy gets to play a gay person on national television? It is pretty fun to say random things at times in the role.
WCT: What did you think of the "catfish" finale on season four, when you texted secretly to one of the characters?
Alex Newell: The didn't tell us who would be the catfish but we all knew who it was going to be. It was quite obvious and the easiest choice to make it that way.
I love watching Catfish on MTV. One of my friends was on Catfish and was also on The Glee Project with me: Marissa von Bleicken. I haven't watched it yet but I know she was on it.
WCT: Are you returning for the finale of Glee?
Alex Newell: None of us know anything yet.
WCT: The producers like to keep people in the dark.
Alex Newell: They do. It is easier that way.
WCT: Becca Tobin [who plays Kitty on Glee] said great things about you when I interviewed her in the past.
Alex Newell: She did? Yay! I love her. She's so sweet.
WCT: Let's talk about new music. You were signed to Atlantic Records?
Alex Newell: Yes, I was signed in December when they thought I was locked into Columbia Records who has a deal with Glee. I wasn't signed there because I was still just a guest on the show. Everyone that is a regular on the show has to sign a record deal with Columbia, Sony, and all of that jazz. Atlantic signed before I got in that contract and the rest is history.
WCT: What made you want to cover "Nobody to Love?"
Alex Newell: I didn't really know I was covering it. They just said they wanted me to sing it. They gave it to me when I was in the studio waiting to record another song. I spent like 30 minutes on it just singing the two lines until we found the perfect one.
I forgot about the song completely but then I heard it when one of the record executives played it for me. This was literally three weeks before it came out.
WCT: It is your take on it then.
Alex Newell: In a way, yes.
WCT: Speaking of someone to love, you have a boyfriend, correct?
Alex Newell: No.
WCT: Single and heading to a big gay street festival sounds fun. [Alex laughs.] What will this album sound like?
Alex Newell: It will be interesting to figure out what it's going to be. We are still singing songs and figuring out what we want to do. I think it will be predominantly dance with something poppy with R&B to it at the same time.
WCT: Are you touring with it after Pridefest?
Alex Newell: I don't know yet.
WCT: Are you allowed to sing Glee songs at the festival?
Alex Newell: I haven't even sat down to think about what I am going to sing yet. There will be some Glee songs in there since they have done 600 of them so regardless there will be some Glee songs that I sing.
I don't think I can do anything of mine yet but it should be interesting. I will have to give Jennifer Hudson a run for her money!
WCT: What are you going to wear?
Alex Newell: I don't know yet—something fun and cool because it will be hot and summertime.
WCT: There is a store called Beatnix on Halsted Street where they have boas and glasses so you could shop there while you are in town.
Alex Newell: I love it.
WCT: I believe the last time you were in Chicago was for the Human Rights dinner.
Alex Newell: I was, so long ago...
WCT: Talk a bit about the film Geography Club, which you were in.
Alex Newell: I did it a couple of years ago right after high school. I was in Los Angeles in a hotel room where they put me on film. In the next few hours I got it and filmed it that summer. It is a good film based on the book Geography Club. It follows a teen struggling to come out who finds a tight group of friends who provide a safe haven in a way. It is gay kids who come together and talk about what they are going through.
My character had a strange way of coming out with doing everything in percentages. We start off being 80 percent straight and 20 percent gay, then 50/50, then 100 percent gay by the end of the movie. It is a fun little movie and on Netflix. I got to work with Nikki Blonsky and Ana Gasteyer.
WCT: I will check it out. See you in Chicago soon.
Alex Newell: I can't wait!
Follow Alex Newell on Twitter @Anew92 and to Pridefest on June 22 at 4:30 p.m. on the North Stage.
