My career in the entertainment industry has enabled me to work with a diverse range of talent. Through my years of experience, I've recognized two essential aspects. Industry professionals, whether famous stars or behind the scenes staff have fascinating stories to tell. Secondly, audiences are eager to listen to these stories which offer a glimpse into their lives and the evolution of their life stories. This podcast aims to share these narratives, providing information on how they evolved into their chosen career. We will delve into their journey to stardom, discuss their struggles and successes, and hear from people who help them achieve their goals. Get ready for intriguing behind the scenes stories and insights into the fascinating world of entertainment. Hi, I'm Tony Mantour. Welcome to Almost Live Nashville. Joining us today is Kelsey Watts, a singer, songwriter, and pop artist whose soulful storytelling and traditional pop player have taken the music world by storm. With a voice honed through rigorous training in opera vocal performance and commercial music, Kelsey seamlessly weaves together genres like pop, R&B, classical, and rock, creating a sound that's as dynamic as it is unforgettable. Now she's commanding the Broadway stage as the heartfelt Jane Seymour in the electrifying six, the musical, bringing her signature emotional depth and vocal to the role. Today she joins us to share her inspiring journey from the heart of Texas to Nashville to the bright lights of Broadway, the release of her powerful new single and her passionate advocacy for mental health awareness. It's a pleasure to have her join us. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, of course. Yeah, thank you for having me. Oh, it's my pleasure. So let's kick this off with what you're doing now. I feel like I'm doing everything. Yeah, I know that feeling. Currently living in New York City on Broadway in a show called Sixth The Musical, doing eight shows a week. Wow. Insane and then also just released a single Today. Nice. So that's really exciting. Fidden just came out today. So writing, recording, releasing, as well as doing eight shows a week on Broadway. And then social media, which is a whole separate job in itself. It really is. Yeah. That's very interesting. So what was your journey to Broadway? So I've always loved Broadway, truly, but I never thought it was going to be something that I had the opportunity to do. You know, I, you know, have tattoos and my hair normally changes colors and I'm a pop singer, but do pop rock music. But I mean, I studied opera and musical theater in high school. I did opera in college before going into commercial music and I never pursued it. I never got into acting. I danced, but now I really dance. Holy cow. You know, I wasn't like, it wasn't my main thing. And then I was on a showboat doing a gig and this lady came up to me at a meet and greet and handed me her card. And crazy enough, it was Roberta Ducek from the musical supervisor of Sixth. Okay. And she was like, Hey, we're casting for a show and I'd love to talk to you. And through the next three years, I ended up here. Wow. Crazy. Yeah. Now you're originally from Texas, right? Yes. I'm from Texas, from Lubbock, Texas. Wow. Now talk about culture difference from Texas to New York City. So how did the transition go for you? Well, I mean, thankfully, so I've been in Nashville for almost what, 10 years? I think it's been about eight years. So I just moved from Nashville back in January. Okay. So I've really, I haven't lived in Texas since 2010. So it's been a while, very different worlds, but even going from Nashville to New York. Yeah. The walking and subway system alone, completely different life. I will say though, I love Nashville and it's a lovely place. I mean, we bought a house in Nashville, but I love the busyness and the hustle and the bustle of the city and me being a pop artist and doing, you know, pop rock music. I, it makes so much sense. Yeah. The vibe and like the access and things that I'm doing here, it just makes a lot of sense for me to be here. Yeah. There's nothing like New York City. It's the coolest place. I'm like, I'm constantly in awe that I'm even here. Yeah. Absolutely. I get it. I've traveled all across the country, Dallas, LA, New York, all the big cities, but New York, New York has its own vibe for sure. It really is. When they say it's the city that never sleeps, they're, they're not raw. It just, there is always traffic. There's always something happening. I never thought I wouldn't be driving, but we sold both cars and I was like, there's no reason to have a car here. This is wild. I mean, so it's been, it's been an adventure. Okay. So you were in Nashville. You were doing what you was doing there. Yeah. Now you're doing acting, music and everything you're doing on Broadway. How have you seen yourself evolve and have you surprised yourself in your evolution? Yes. I have surprised myself. I didn't know I could do it. So I really dove into acting and dancing, like actually really like diving into it. When I was, it was after my first audition for six in 2021, they asked me to come audition and I auditioned in Chicago and then made it to New York and then I got cut. And I was like, why? What, what happened? And I've never done musical theater professionally. So I didn't know the process and I emailed Peter Van Damme, the casting director, and was like, Hey, what can I do better? What, what, what would have made this better? And he said, have you ever acted before? I said, Nope, I have not. So he gave me a recommendation for an acting coach, Benjamin Shaw. And I started working with him. I started working with my friend Natalie Aaron, who's actually in Nashville and, you know, started working with her on dance lessons and, you know, trying to just bring these things up to where it brought me up to speed, to be able to be like have a competitive edge and not just be a vocalist and an artist. And I knew that that would benefit me way later down the line, even if I didn't do Broadway. I knew it would benefit me in things like TV and film and just performing. So being here, eventually getting cast on Broadway, also doing my own music. I've found myself honing in on my craft even harder, even after already having the job. So like I am now like I'm learning different techniques like ballet and more lyrical because that is not my vibe at all. But I want to understand how to do it better, like acting classes, understanding how to do it better. So that way, when the next opportunity comes, I'm prepared even more so than I was beforehand. So I think it's been a, it's been a learning curve, learning the show because I had to learn how to learn a show, a musical, which is a process because we never leave the stage. We're on stage for an hour and a half. We're moving formations every five seconds it feels like and we're dancing and singing in every single song. So it's pretty, it's pretty wild. But I've found myself evolve in the Broadway sense, but then that's also helped me evolve in my own craft just as an artist because they actually end up going hand in hand. Yeah, that's great. I've always told people that you must do something that's out of your comfort zone. So that gives you the ability to grow. This gives so many opportunities to evolve into something that you want to do. Then when you're outside that comfort zone, you can find yourself in a very completely different evolution than you planned. So how did it feel when you very first started? I have a feeling that this definitely wasn't in your comfort zone. No, not at all. So how did you address that? You have to have confidence, yet you have to take and keep that balance. So how did you handle that? So I remember the first day of rehearsal that we actually worked on acting. Because you want me to sing, I can sing. You want me to dance, I can dance. I know I'm comfortable enough in both of those things to be like, all right, I got this. But in acting, because that's by far the newest thing for me, I just I don't have the most amount of confidence in that. And I knew that because I had booked this job, I felt more pressure from myself to be really good at that aspect, because I didn't want people to think, oh, well, she just got it because she has a following or because she can sing. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, I worked really, really hard. No, I want people to know. And so whenever we went into rehearsal and we had our first one-on-ones with the directors, we were going through the script and I looked at the directors as Morett and Galia and I said, y'all, I'm not going to lie. I am petrified. Now that's brave. What happened? I was like, just super transparent. I said, I've never acted and they stopped me and they go, Kelsey. Number one, we hired you for a reason. Number two, you act all the time when you're performing, like when you're singing your own music, you are acting even though it's you, it's you're emoting, you're telling a story. They said, this is the same thing, just in a slightly different character. So one thing I love about six specifically is each cast is not a carbon copy of the other. You know, the long running musicals that, you know, like Chicago and Les Miserables and Wicked and these characters have very specific personalities, traits, things that each actor, even though each actor brings something different, of course, but they are expected to embody just this character. And six, they encourage us to bring our individuality to the character that we've been given. And so it was really helpful because even though I am playing a character on stage and there are many ways that my character reacts, I would not react normally or respond normally, able to kind of mesh the two together. And that's helped me a ton. But I think the biggest thing that helped me get through it was I asked a lot of questions. I had to ask so many questions and just absorb all of the information and education that I possibly could from everybody around me because they've been doing it for so much longer. That's a great way of looking at it. So you're in New York. You're in front of the stars. They come out to see you. Yeah. What was it like knowing they were watching you? You're doing something that's a little out of your comfort zone, but it's still coming across the way you wanted to. Yeah. Now after the show, they come up to you, some of the biggest names you've seen, and they're really liking what you was doing. How did that affect you? I'm still in a state of shock all the time. I mean, truly. Emily Blunt brought her daughter to the show. Nice. And we got to speak with her afterwards. And I'm just standing there like, this is insane. Where am I? I mean, I have pinched me moments constantly. Sure. Because it's not that they're not just normal human beings, but they're accomplishments. And they're so accomplished and so talented. And I respect their work so much that to receive a compliment from somebody like that, you're just like, wow, this is crazy. And so I'm honestly just so blessed to be where I am. And I walk into that stage every day. And even if I'm exhausted, I just kind of walk up there and I'm like, wow, this is real life. How wild. Yeah. And you had Celine Dion make a comment as well. Oh my God. It doesn't get much bigger than that. Yes. I know. I actually started crying on the subway. I'm not kidding. I was going to meet my aunt and uncle and cousin for coffee. They were in town and I was getting off the subway. And a person that follows me on Instagram had messaged me and said, oh my gosh, you're on Celine's story. And I said, wait, what? I figured they were just saying something random. And then I went and looked and it was there. I was like, what? I would, if I ever got to work with her, meet her, collab with her, I would probably pass away. Yeah, that's pretty amazing. I have had similar things happen where I've had people that I grew up listening to and all of a sudden they're reaching out to me. Yeah. Saying, oh, we got to do a project together. We got to do something together. Yeah. And I'm like, oh man, these are people that inspired me to do what I'm doing. So have you had anything like that happen to you? Yeah, crazy enough. So Instagram ends up being kind of the new business card. But I mean, some people like Emma Roberts followed me the other day. And I mean, there's just so many people like Tyrese and I can't like Hoda from the Today Show. It's just all over the place. And I am still in a state of just kind of like dumbfounded. I'm like, wait, is this real? What? So social media has really been a gift because it's allowed me to share my music and my voice in a platform where people that are incredibly successful and incredibly talented have been able to see it and it just opens up a lot of doors, which is really cool. Yeah, that is very cool. Have you had nights? I mean, we've all had nights where you've worked hard, but you just weren't your best for whatever reason. Yeah. You're not yet you've worked so hard that even you're not at your best. It still comes off great. Yeah. People still come up to you and say, wow, you was awesome tonight. Like, was I okay? It still has to feel nice to walk away knowing that people still liked you with what you were doing. I mean, I will say I am my biggest critic. And when it comes to me, I am a perfectionist and everything else, not a perfectionist, but when it comes to me and my craft, I am a hyper critical of myself because I know there are people that will also be hyper critical of me. And I want to be able to put forth my best effort. But one thing I have to do is understand I am human and doing eight shows a week is the Olympics of performing. There are days where if I need to make a different vocal choice, I make it. If I don't think it was super spot on, I say, you know what, if one note out of the thousands of other notes that I hit tonight was slightly off, I think I'm going to be okay. And just kind of accept that. And if somebody that's watching decides to judge me on just that one note, I may not really want to talk to them anyway. I agree with you 100%. The one thing that differs now from the music to what it used to be is everything has to be so damn perfect. Yes. The beauty of the music back then, the Arethas, you know, people like that was it was real. Yeah. Sometimes the imperfections in the way they sang it or played it just made that ring out. Yes, because it was analog. Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't like, oh, let's take seven takes and then comp it together for the best one. Yeah. Yep. We become a society perfection when no one is perfect. Yeah. To some people it puts a lot of stress on them. And then if they go on stage and hit a missed note, it's like, oh, my world is over. And ultimately it's really not. It's over. Yeah. No. And I also think that with this show and with theater in general, so yeah, no, I also think that like in theater, having an imperfection in your voice like is an also an acting choice. Like there's, there's one girl in our cast who plays Kay Howard and funny enough, her name is Kay as well, which is so funny. And she on purpose is like, like emotional. And instead of singing the notes all perfect, it comes off almost as like a cry because her song is intense. So, you know, but it makes the story so impactful, you know, and it's going to sound different than it would if it was like on a record, you know. Yes. 100%. When I'm in production with singers, I want that emotion. Yes. Make me believe it. Exactly. Yeah. I want to be able to like feel what you're singing without having to look at the expression on your face. Yeah. Absolutely. Now let's switch gears a little. You're doing well. You've got a singing career. You've got a Broadway career. Yet you take time to help those less fortunate, especially with those suffering with some mental illness. So can you elaborate a little on your journey on how you came to be doing this? Yeah. So I unfortunately lost my brother Jordan to depression back in 2013. My family and I have always been super open with each other with everybody else, even whenever he was struggling with depression. Always talked about it and forever long story short, basically his chemical imbalance, his dosage for his medicine went up and then he missed his refill and his brain just broke. I think this topic becomes so taboo because for some reason there's like a shame attached to it. And my goal as an artist and just as a human being has been to take away that shame because it's not your fault if you have a chemical imbalance in your brain. You didn't do anything to make that happen. Just like somebody who has cancer didn't do anything to deserve having cancer. It is a thing in your body, you know, and it's not something as simple as just get over it, be happy, you know. And I think for a very long time, we're better about it now as a society, but I think for a very long time there was this like shame attached to it. Like, oh, just get over it, just be happy. It's not serious and it is serious. And the more that we talk about it, the more people realize they're not alone. It doesn't make you weird. It doesn't make you odd or like not okay. It's something that's actually quite normal and helping bring awareness to this has brought purpose to the pain of losing it. You know, I'm glad you use the word not alone because in my other podcast, that's the phrase I use in my introduction is that you're not alone in this world. I love that. I think you are right. We have gotten better. Yeah. But we still have a very long ways to go because people still have that perception about mental illness. We do. Totally agree. How much are you using your platform now to promote mental health awareness? Mostly all the time. That's awesome. I think that's great. So I released a song called I can't say goodbye. I think a year and a half, two years ago, maybe I dedicated it to anybody that's lost somebody too soon. But when I wrote it, it was very specifically about me losing my brother. I partnered with D.D. Hirsch, the not alone 988 to be like whether I was in a rally or performing at the event. I talk about it on my channels all the time. And with the song that I just released called fit in, the entire thing is based on why are you trying so hard to fit in when you already do? Like you're already you. So you don't, you don't need to like most of the messages in my songs are about just being honest and true to yourself and being vulnerable and like bringing awareness. To what what that really entails. Yeah, I think that's just great. Because of doing this, the beauty of these organizations around the country and the people that are part of it, they have a support system that is just unparalleled at times. Yeah. So what is the feedback that you're getting? Not from the organizations necessarily, but the people that you're touching that just went through this that are first hearing. Yeah, so I actually get more comments than I expect all the time. Not only online, I'll have people reach out via DMs on Instagram, Tiktok that have said, you know, I mean, I got one today, literally today. That said, she had her friend had lost her mother and that that song really helped her and then they flew out to come see the show because they wanted to see me in the show. Like, I mean, crazy. But then at the stage door, I actually had a young girl tell me the other day that she is a survivor of attempted suicide. And she was like, I just wanted to say thank you because that song really helped me. And I know that I belong here. And I was, it's things like that that I just go, it's worth it. It's all worth it. That's why I do it. That is just so special and so awesome. What a feeling it is. I mean, when you're doing a show, when you're doing a podcast, when you're doing anything that you're putting yourself out there in front of people, there is no instant gratification on anything that you do. Right. You go through your mind that you're doing good. You realize that you are doing good because you're putting it out there consistently. But then when you get that actual person that really appreciates it and responds. Yeah. That's when you really know that it means something because you touch them in a way that no one else could. You help them get through a certain situation. When you get this, it's just got to give you that warm feeling that says, you know, this was worthwhile. This is why I do this. Yeah. Yeah, it's very encouraging for sure. Yeah, it sure is. So what stands out? I mean, you've done so much stuff. You're on Broadway. What stands out? I mean, either somebody gave you encouragement or someone did something or said something that made you say to yourself, you know what, this is what I'm going to do. And I'm going to push forward no matter what. I'm being honest. My husband Brandon is my number one cheerleader. And he has witnessed the last six years, my many ups and downs of emotions with this career because let me tell you music is a, it is a hard career. Yeah, it is. It's a hard path. There have been many days even recently that I've just been like, why? What's the point? Like, it's never going to happen. I'm never going to get there or this is never going to be a thing. And every single time he's like, no, Kelsey, you're making a difference. Remember this person? Remember that person? Remember that we did this? Like this is how I mean, so it's he really is the one that reminds me constantly whenever I'm really discouraged. Like, no, this is what it is. And so I would say out of everybody, that's the support that keeps me going. Yeah, that's really good. Okay, now you've done all these things. So here's the big question. What's on the bucket list? What are the things that you still want to accomplish and what you're still striving for? Yeah, oh, so many things. So many things. I would love in the world that I'm in now on Broadway, I would love to originate a role on Broadway. I think that would be really cool. But as far as an artist, I want to sell out arenas. I want to do my own tour, give other artists the opportunity to open and be on a tour with me. Like just really allow that opportunity for other people as well. So I would say first and foremost is to do my own tour. I would love to collab with somebody like Jelly Roll. I think that would be so fun and amazing. So I mean, there's a lot of different goals, but I would say if I had to pick the top three, it'd be those. Okay, that's good. Okay, you've got this perception. Everybody goes to your website. They look, they see what you're doing. What would you like to tell them that they might not realize because they only see what they see? So what's important for them to know from you? Right. I think people don't realize what it takes behind the scenes to make it look like it's easy. You know, I mean, even like in Nashville, I was bartending downtown for two and a half years, up until recently, like up until October of last year, in order to pay for voice lessons, acting lessons, music producers, travel, rehearsal, shows. Like as an independent artist, everything comes out of my pocket. Yeah. And so I'm working another job to pay for this job. And I think so often you're in the hustle and you're in the grind and people love to hear about, oh yeah, I worked really hard, but now I'm here. But it's not very often you hear of people still being in the trenches and still working towards it, you know? And so I think it can serve as an encouragement to people that it is real. I have like become successful and, you know, I'm still just at the beginning. But all of that came from a lot of sacrifice, a lot of rejection, a lot of no's, a lot of credit card payments and trying to like, you know, make everything happen. And it's, I think I'm more human, you know? I think it humanizes me a bit so that way people know that I'm just, I'm way more than I am on the screen. Yeah, that's good. I like that. Yeah. Well, this has been great. Yeah. I really appreciate you taking the time to join us today. Of course. Yeah. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. It's been my pleasure. And next time I'm in Nashville, I'll have to come say hi. Yeah, that would be awesome. Thanks again. If you liked the show, please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe. It really does help the show to grow. Thank you for listening.
