"Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist" Star Alex Newell Chats About The NBC Musical Dramedy

[Music] oh man hello world what is up welcome to build I'm your host Matt Forte we are here live at the build studio in New York City our next guest is an incredibly talented individual with a powerful soulful voice and you can catch them Sundays as mo and NBC's fantastically ambitious series Zoe's extraordinary playlist please make a crazy amount of noise and welcome a very extraordinary guest the great Alex and well right here do it up come on let's go that was the best introduction I ever done hair yeah there of that and so much more so much I I love this show I love you in this show it brings me such great joy and I cry sometimes but it is a fantastic show I'm excited to talk to you about it plus you've got some new music a lot of ground to cover we'll get there but first how are you I'm well how are you whoa see that's great I don't know I thought it was great but I'm doing good it's it's a sunny day outside can't you see it's great it's lovely my hair it's still try that is no small feat to maintain dry hair on a day like today so I'm very proud of you and impressed I'm happy here you're doing well start at the top for me with this show because if mo feels like a character that could only be played by it this was written for you is I can't even imagine what auditions were like or how you came to be on the show what was the journey the road to here um most started off as a 31 year old black bisexual woman yeah and then they couldn't find that and so they landed on me did you know that going in to rewrite I was um sitting at home and I get an audition for the show and I was like cool I'll prepare for it and then maybe like an hour later they cancel the audition and I whatever whatever and then like 20 minutes later my agent called and says you're testing for the role they're flying you out tomorrow get ready okay and because Robert Ulrich was the Catherine for Glee and also casted this show and so he just knew it's like you know who we need to get yeah did you and did you at any point feel not security or safety but maybe a little less nervous knowing that you knew some of the names on the other side like they know who I you know what I do I mean no because they had like heavy hitters go in for this role i mean when i walked in i ran into like friends going in for this role and one of my friends vanessa she's like oh i don't need to be here anyway you're here and i was like no no you're you're phenomenal and she's like no it's meant for you and i was like is it are you sure cuz you would slay this role beyond compare but um yeah it was kind of nice going in it's just like a safety blanket to just see a familiar face sometimes i had read somewhere that you had said that this role filled a void that you didn't know you had which sounds like a wonderful feeling how did you what was that void and when did you feel whole again i mean i was at once glee and didn't know that I had a void that needed to be filled I mean it ended and I did other things I went on tour I went and I did a Broadway show and I was sitting on Broadway once and I was just like I love this why am I feeling so empty still and I think it was when I finished the run on Broadway it was I had just really understood this one character so much by doing the same thing each and every day and there wasn't real growth to it and so I combined it acting on a television show and my love for music on this show and it's just wonderful because it changes everyday and we're doing take after take off the take of the same thing but like new emotions show up and it's different texts sometimes all the time but yeah that's the void that I feels write a Broadway role it we I talked about this or somebody else recently and it just dawned on me that yeah there is growth within the story of the show but it's that one story and you tell it what eight times a week over and over again do you miss that the audience you miss the energy at all yeah I think I thrive off of an audience I mean it's you can read a room and make anybody laugh or cry or want to stand up and dance sometimes but like I think I do the same thing with the crew on my show and see what I can get from them since I can't get that visceral instant reaction all the time one of the things that is so fantastic about this show as well as the very thing that this show was based around the idea these big numbers these big musical performances now I was just saying back there I've only seen up to three episodes I haven't seen episode 4 yeah one of the things I wanted to bring up is that I'm still waiting for moe to go full Alex like most sang a little bit a little bit of the pie little bit here and there but Moe's on the inside is always world we haven't seen Moe sing yet can you tease are we gonna get a lot more you aren't gonna get a whole episode of me just screaming for no reason I also am and I'm happy that I hadn't had to do it eight times but no yeah Moe episode four you got yeah that's the one that airs this Sunday so that's the one was that a lot was that harder than most other days was that exciting was that nerve-racking was it building up to that it was very nerve-wracking because it was my story that I was telling I'm growing up in a church my entire life and not being accepted all the time and kind of really toeing the line of what acceptance is and sexuality and gender identity and what my faith is that was a really hard thing to do but um to tell that story on such a wide platform and try to make it make-believe at the same time but still real was really hard but it was a gorgeous experience I mean to tell something that I don't think people here a lot is really nice would you say moreso than previous roles you've gotten to bring a lot of you to Moe I'm a lot to this character absolutely I mean I sit there and I make all of my hair looks and I make my makeup looks and I'm I'm collaborating with the design board of designer it's really fun and I bring my personal taste to it and we kind of really just love it and the role itself is built off of me I was gonna say yeah how do you get there right how do you go from bisexual 31 year old black female to having so much of yourself being this character that you're literally telling your story and it's before I think when you are really special I know that's like a humble brag but like when you're really special um they want to write for you and they want to mold something for you that makes your job kind of easy because they're looking at you and saying well you're so interesting how can we tell this story in a wider range is it the first time you've had that happen where someone's looking you and said not that you're interesting I think you're very interesting you've probably been hearing that for a while but that someone said I want to tell your story yeah I mean I hear it all the time this is just the first time that it's actually happened what did you start hearing that when did you when did you start feeling or realizing people were saying that about you I think well I was on Glee I mean and just branching out out of that and kind of when Glee and did people like we want to tell your story how can we tell your story I'm just like I don't know there's no job huh you call me I'll be there to help you tella then just write the check what you know the Glee thing is how the world is kind of introduced to you and first discovered you know the talent that you had and that you could share with us here well what do you bring with you from that experience you know it was a minute ago was it's the first thing he did though and I wonder do you carry anything from project to project role to role something you learned or what have you I think what I learned from Glee since I was coming into somebody else's show to be personable and say hello to everybody and you don't know everybody you just see the actors on screen but there's 30 million people behind on the other side of the camera that makes sure that that person looks good feels good is lit has a microphone like there's so many other people and just think it's time to know the stories that they have to tell and I brought that with me on the show and you it sounds like you enjoy the process of collaborating and getting involved and kind of doing a little bit of everything and like helping build the character and bring it all together I am a workaholic yeah I am I will work till I can't work anymore but yeah I love nothing I don't do anything on my own I can't do anything on my own and I don't know everything I am a sponge essentially and that sponge then has to expound knowledge as well so yeah have you always been that way workaholic or something you developed over time I have I'm an only child so I'm just always like trying to keep busy and not be no um I just like working I don't know I just I'm strange I like I like to be able to complain about working I'm like oh my god I don't want to be here today I like saying that when I come to work but it's like okay thank you you love having the job you love doing it but you like being able to complain about it I like that you like having the option to complain if you're not planning about your job something's wrong one of the things the only other things I love about this show too is there is the friendship that it doesn't happen immediately it takes a minute to build between Zoey and Moe but what about for the two of you was it immediate you guys click as performers we did that's so strange that never happens for me like that like I find like I'm always working towards a friendship with my co-stars but Jane and I are like thick as thieves and we have time to like go out and have dinner together and just talk all the time so that's really nice and everyone says we have like the best chemistry like it takes us the least amount of time to shoot scenes sometimes yeah we're just like alright let's do it bang it out let's go home yeah what are you talking about it was just regular friends shoot the when you go out for lunch and dinner and whatnot yeah about the show do you talk about and how to get that chemistry or no I think we're talking about like everything but the show and then like it just ends up being talking about the show oh my god do you see when that happened yes I remember that happened who's sure said crush but I think we just it's easy to talk to her I think I started if you wanna see was with Skylar and there because you guys wrapped season 1 you're done with production right and he was saying that like the the big finale for the season is like a huge number almost everybody's in it was it by far the biggest day on set it was actually the shortest day I think everything leading up to that was a long journey but like we had rehearsed it so many times that when the time came to shoot it it was just like that it was a breeze two weeks ago ok so you're yeah keeping touch yeah we literally just saw them like yeah I literally just saw them sick of their faces I'm kidding I'm kidding I love you all so much did you guys are you watching are you seeing the show as the world is seeing it have you had a bathtub it is so unfair I said I would not put all this time and effort in to see it with everybody else I said can I just get like a sneak peak they're like whatever so have you got a sneak peak I did okay do you have senior episode of course I see my beard without me looking at it first honey you won't catch me oh good I got a link if you want to watch it after that you can see this is the thing everybody else gets links but the cast huh I intentionally I did not I didn't know that I had I known I was gonna be yours I would have watched it immediately but I didn't want to anything so I intentionally stayed in alignment with the rest of the world so that we could talk about the show as soon as we're done I'm gonna go watch that link until right now okay I'm gonna you're very happy with great I think it's wonderful I can't wait said I'm waiting for it's the same yeah okay I'll watch the rest of C and I promise I'll watch the rest the season it your episode and then boom Oh Fillion you'll figure thank you so much cuz you know I I could talk to you all day about this show bi again you had a million things going on and I wanted to bring up you got a new single a relatively new single you've just released you it was the week ago your guy just dropped yeah so exciting yeah tell me about why you can keep it it was I did a writers camp in LA like months ago and they were asking me what kind of songs do I want to write and I was like I'm over dating people like I'm just over it and as I just wanted a date yesterday whatever but um it I was noticing that a lot of my relationships have been about like monetizing and about money and clout and like all the things that I don't need in my life I've been doing this since I was 18 I'm just like the last thing I want to talk about how to further your career because I'm in the thick of mine but it's like you don't have to buy me anything you don't have to like prove to me that you can do things you've all out on me or give me trip it's just like love me and so the song boy you can keep it I don't need expensive things you can keep all of that just literally give me love thank you so much and you said you went to a writer's camp and kind of like had this process and all that how much that song did you have ready when you went into a studio to record it like what's your process cycle my process I go in so the writers camp was just for me so I just went in and I talked to the writers and then I go I go and have a lunch ala cocktail then I come back and see what if they're done and if I vibe with the song over chord if I don't I won't record it but um it's it's nice um I wrote another song that's gonna come out soon I'm not supposed to talk about it but whatever if that's for my mom and so it's just kind of nice just talking to songwriters and seeing which one's get you and kind of understand who you are as a person and your like musical tastes but yeah that one's coming out soon too I was know your Spotify and you have like a history you'll do like a single or like an EP and stuff like that have you thought about like just editing the time doing like a full album I have um I know my label would love me to sit there and dedicate time but I am very busy everyone I am on television I am on Broadway I'm doing everything I can alright so the idea is out there it exists one day time provided you'd love to do it I would love to do it I'm going to do it I know that is one of my goals to do it I will be doing it I don't know when I'm going to do it it is definitely going to happen that's a promise that I made to myself and now to the world yeah it's out there now you just said it Internet is out there it's a fact now your Wikipedia has already been updated thank you so much Vicki you know you talk about so busy you're doing so many things how do you take care of you what do you practice in terms of self-care and keep the machine or on and make sure you don't run out of juice I take care of myself first when I feel that I'm gonna be burnt out I stop like I just I don't in fact I can't waste not waste but like I can't ruin the gift that I have just for my own personal gain sometimes I'm just like Noah I'm done I'm a stay at the spa for a week and that's it I also sleep a lot no baby when I say sleep like I will cancel plans the hour of and stay in my bed all day and sleep and I treat myself nice I do when you say you cancel plans hour of are you honest you go I'm not coming I'm gonna sleep or do you have it like a reason do you like a thing what do you do when you when you have to cancel a plan are you baller and uppity to be like I'm gonna sleep and you're gonna deal with it you're do you are you are you more polite about it I'm not polite about it good for you I just kind of don't answer the text message then like an hour later like baby I just broke up you know I was sleep I was just asleep I just forgot to set an alarm so as far as the outside world is concerned leaves the world that's making plans with you you're actually sleeping a lot more because before you ever get to sleep you've made the decision that you're going to sleep okay yeah I have to get I can survive like when working on like four or five hours of sleep yeah I can survive on that but like when I'm like depleted I need at least 12 to 16 ours too just like because like the number one thing for singers is like you sleep to get your voice back so I'm always leaving because this place will not go anywhere is this stuff that you learned when you were doing eight shows a week on Broadway like this is what I need to do to function yes eight shows a week on Broadway is very hard and you learn a lot more than you gambled for and bargained for I mean eight a week is it's inhumane but we do it we're looked as a superhumans but we're not but we just learn how to be superhumans from out here you very much look superhuman it's pretty so you wear pants and also your incredible talent well before we go we got some questions from the audience so we're gonna do one from Twitter and a couple from the room but before we even do that it's been a remind everybody that Zoey's extraordinary playlist it's on NBC it's on Sundays if you haven't seen the first few episodes wash them and catch up because this fourth one is the one you don't want to miss alright that yep that's my was episode it's Alex episode so do not miss it so go ahead and check it out and boy you can keep it it's that where can people good sons everywhere it's everywhere it's wherever there's music that's what this song is so go ahead and listen to it alright real quick this first one's from Twitter it's from Edward is the man but it says do you still talk to the cast of Glee I do I literally when don't we wrap the show I got off a plane and went to Darren Chris's birthday party in LA like quite literally was the first stop I didn't even check in at the hotel I was just like hey I want to see my friends but we keep I texted amber like two days ago we try to keep in contact with each other you can't spend 16 hours a day with someone for like four years and not be like hey how are you never see them again have you guys ever talked about collaborating musically yes all the time quite literally all the time I mean I think the world needs to do it between amber and I I'm just gonna throw that out there we're not saying no I'm not either not know what do you think before or after your full-length album or maybe a collab on C ear Ling in my mind get out we're yeah we're driving right now beautiful all right we've got time we're gonna do at least two more from the room the first one you've got a microphone it's from Stevie Stevie what's up hi I'm sure there are many but what is a dream Broadway role of yours um I when my Broadway debut it was one of my train rolls Asaka and once this island my other one has always been Fe and Dreamgirls I would love to play Fe it's gonna be great when I do one of those roles you already know all the music I'm off book already and I'm gonna come in to rehearse the Blake I know it just started good to go thank you for that we've got time for one more and it's from Kaitlyn Kaitlyn you have a microphone what's up hi so when you're not sleeping and you do decide to go out what's your go-to karaoke tune I want to dance with somebody by Whitney Houston and I'm so upset that somebody else saying it on the show I was like so geologists out here give it my song away cuz that's my go to I sang it at the wrap party cuz we had because we had a rap party and like we did live karaoke for the heart songs and so I sang it and I'm just like here there that's what you missed I love that she wasn't even done asking the question absolutely phenomenal congratulations again on the new music on the forthcoming album on this awesome show which is airing Sundays on NBC and you need to watch it if you're not you're missing out big time and I sincerely mean that and Congrats and everything it's so awesome here thank you for hanging out with us thanks you guys for being a great audience and thanks to those that tuned in Edward as a man thanks for your question it's always extraordinary playlist that Sundays on NBC go watch all of it right now and then don't miss episode 4 this Sunday thank you so much once again everybody crazy amount of noise cuz this right here is Alex Noel go for it [Music] you

Channel: BUILD Series

Views: 19,230

Rating: 4.9256196 out of 5

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Id: ygtRb3lxyPQ

Length: 19min 32sec (1172 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 25 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/skidmore101]

I didn’t connect the dots until I saw the thumbnail, but this is the actor who played Unique on Glee starting in 2012 (later part of Glee’s run)

[u/OverjoyedMess]

The video contains basically no spoilers, they discuss the recent episode a little bit (which hasn't aired at the time) but not much besides who gets to perform musical numbers.