Ben Platt Opens Up About Being Inspired by His Past Relationships

Ben Platt is featured in the latest issue of Wonderland Magazine, out now.

Here’s what the 25-year-old actor and singer had to say…

On moving on from the characters: “[Characters I’ve played] are socially anxious and reserved and a bit nerdy. Not saying that I’m not those things also, but I think people generally assume that’s exactly how I am… what’s been nice about doing this new chapter and my own music is getting to decide how I want to portray myself and to show my actual self rather than this other character that someone else has created for me. It’s very easy to hide behind other people’s material and that’s what I’ve done my whole life.”

On being himself on his personal debut album: “I think as soon as I ripped the band-aid off and released the first couple of songs and saw how people responded to them, it was resonating and people were likening them to experiences in their own lives, I was so relieved. Leading up to that first release was really scary. It’s such a private thing and I’d never had that experience of putting something that’s my own and very vulnerable out, even though I’ve played characters that are very vulnerable, it’s very different.”

On being inspired by relationships: “Because I come from theatre, I come from the philosophy that you only sing about things that need to be musicalized, when it means enough to you and is deep enough for you and complex enough for you that you think you’re gonna process it or understand it better if you put it into song, I find it hard to write about going out or dancing in the club, that’s not quite my MO. Those experiences largely ended up being past relationships, and about my family, and about things I felt like I could write about.”

For more from Ben, head to WonderlandMagazine.com.