Fans of gay actor Joey Pollari are getting a closer look at his musical side with the release of his debut album ABOUT MEN, performed under his stage name Odd Comfort.
Known for his roles in Love, Simon and American Crime, Pollari is also a singer-songwriter who was inspired to create this record by three men he's lost in his life: two lovers to breakups, and his father who passed away.
He appeared on The Advocate's Instagram Live this week to perform a few tracks from the album and answer questions about his musical influences, his creative process, and the inspiration behind the songs.
"I just fell in love with music," he said. "I've always been musical, the classic archetypal queer boy experience of watching Judy Garland on screen, and going 'Wow, I really want to do that.'"
The death of his father and his experience of working through grief as he traveled alone in Southeast Asia was a pivotal moment in his growth as a person and an artist. "It taught me that if I was grieving, I allowed myself to grieve, no-one else could do that for me. And so music is this symbol of that for me. That's why I do it; it was the symbol of self-reliance, the symbol of going off and doing something that I wanted to do, whether anybody would listen, whether anybody cared about it but me."
Watch his IG Live performance below, and keep an eye on our IGTV channel for more interviews and live events.
