Dear Evan Hansen star Ben Platt has released two tracks and a video from his debut album Sing To Me Instead which arrives in full on March 29.
Said Platt to the L.A. Times about “Bad Habit” which is about addictive relationships: ‘”Bad Habit” is like a prologue, somebody singing retrospectively about a relationship they've gotten out of and realizing that they have somewhat of an addiction to this person. And regardless of understanding they may not be the best or healthiest person for them, there's just still this hole inside that's hard to ignore.'
The video has a cameo from Charlie Carver.
Of his second track, he said: ‘“Ease My Mind” harkens to the beginning of that relationship to consider the reasons why it got started in the first place. I started to think back: When did I really feel comforted, that my anxiety was allayed? And it was in this beautiful relationship. Anxiety is something I wanted to discuss on the album, but a straightforward song about anxiety isn't the greatest idea in the world.'
Platt previewed the rest of the album with the L.A. Times, revealing that the majority of it is about “the high of meeting someone new and getting completely obsessed, learning you're not right for someone, breaking up.” The last couple of songs meditate on the perspective one gets on “mortality and family” as a result of having been through relationships.
He told EW: “As the tracks progress, you go back to the beginning of the relationship and see where the complications come from and what was the good and bad and what brought the singer to this place of feeling this addiction so deeply. There's reveling in the goodness of it and there's the vindictive break-up of it all; there's the feeling as it dissolves and trying to hold onto it – all the different stages I created from an amalgam of the relationships I've had in my life.”
Broadway World adds: ‘Platt will next lead an all-star cast in the much-anticipated new series, The Politician, produced by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan (Glee) and co-starring Jessica Lange, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Zoey Deutch. Co-executive produced by Platt, The Politicianwill premiere later this year on Netflix. He will also star in the upcoming films “Run This Town” – premiering at this year's SXSW Film Festival – and “Broken Diamonds.”‘
