Pod Insights The School of Greatness 240 Todrick Hall: From Broadway to MTV, Making Your Dreams a Reality About this episode "Don't wait for opportunity to come knock at your door." - Todrick Hall If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at http://lewishowes.com/240 Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX
Transcript 10,724 words · 3 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 This is episode number 240 with Todrick Hall.
0:07 Lewis Howes? Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.
0:32 Lewis Howes? Welcome everyone to the podcast. Very excited about our guest. His name is Todrick Hall and he's kind of incredible. Now Todrick Hall, this guy is a phenom. If you guys don't know who he is, he became well-known when he auditioned for the ninth season of American Idol, where he made it to the semifinals. Since then, he's been performing on Broadway. He's a superstar. He's got a huge YouTube channel with some incredibly talented videos that he's produced. He's also featured in Forbes Top 30 Under 30 in the Hollywood category in 2014. And we are like long-lost brothers. You're going to see some incredible connection between us over the next 30, 45 minutes.
1:15 Lewis Howes? So be sure to enjoy those connection points that you find between us. The five big things you're going to get from this episode, the biggest lessons he learned from American Idol versus what he learned from Broadway, performing on Broadway, and how he's applied that to his career now. Also, his process before a big moment on a performance. So how he prepares to go onstage, to perform in front of thousands of people and what he does to get ready. He's going to share that secret. Why his first Broadway audition was a hugely spiritual experience and what you can take away from that. The psychological effects of being on a reality TV competition show and what he learned from that.
1:58 Lewis Howes? Also, how Todrick caught Scooter Braun's attention and got signed by him. You know, we've had Scooter Braun on here and he's done incredible things for all of his artists and I can only imagine what's going to happen for Todrick as well. Very excited for you guys to connect with Todrick and also you're going to hear him perform a song. So get ready for some magic to go down with my long-lost brother, the one and only Todrick Hall.
2:30 Lewis Howes? Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness Podcast. Very excited about our guest. His name is Todrick Hall. How's it going, man?
2:36 Speaker 00 It is going absolutely amazing. I'm so excited to be here, yeah.
2:39 Lewis Howes? You're the guy who, I started following you on Instagram and it just looks like you're living the dream right now.
2:44 Speaker 00 I don't know.
2:45 Lewis Howes? Hanging out with Taylor Swift. You got a TV show. You're, you know, blowing up on YouTube and Instagram and Vine and everywhere. And you came from a small town in Texas, right?
2:55 Speaker 00 Yeah, Plainview, Texas. It's in the panhandle between Lubbock and Amarillo.
2:59 Lewis Howes? Okay.
3:00 Speaker 00 And it's exactly that, a plain view. There's nothing going on. It's boring. But I think that because I grew up there, I think that is what I have to attribute to being creative because there was nothing better to do. We didn't even have a mall. There was like nothing going on there. If you weren't at McDonald's or Walmart or Burger King, that you literally had to sit at home and find stuff to do. And I started putting on shows and puppet shows and...
3:24 Lewis Howes? Puppet shows?
3:25 Speaker 00 Yeah, any kind of show I could figure out how to put on. It didn't matter if there was a real audience or not. I just would love to perform from before I even knew what performing was or Broadway or anything like that.
3:35 Lewis Howes? And what was the dream growing up then? Did you have a dream to go to Broadway or to have...
3:39 Speaker 00 Well, I had a lot of dreams, but I didn't really know what Broadway was. Like, I used to watch the Disney Christmas Parade every year and I was like, oh my God, if I could just be Pluto, my life would be complete.
3:49 Lewis Howes? In the parade?
3:50 Speaker 00 Yeah, I know. That was like what I wanted to do. That was like a dream. If I could make it that far in life, then that was like, I had made it. Like, I don't need to be Oprah or anything. I can just be Pluto. No one ever know who I was and be happy.
4:02 Lewis Howes? And did you ever get to fulfill that dream?
4:04 Speaker 00 Well, I didn't want to go to college and my mom was like, made a deal with me. And if I got, I went to audition as a senior for Disney World. And if I got the job at Disney World, then I didn't have to go to college. I did get the job, but I got a job that was better in finances, like than doing a costume character.
4:23 Lewis Howes? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
4:24 Speaker 00 Yeah, but it was just... I was a performer at Beauty of the Beast and I didn't know what unions were, but it was an equity role and so I got paid more money, but I was like, I just wanna be Pluto. Like, that's all I wanna do. I wanted to like demote myself so I could be Pluto, but that never actually happened, so maybe someday.
4:39 Lewis Howes? You always wanted to perform, though?
4:41 Speaker 00 Yeah, always.
4:41 Lewis Howes? Okay.
4:42 Speaker 00 Always.
4:42 Lewis Howes? So, when did you realize that like, oh, I actually have some talent, besides just your family being like, oh, he's a superstar? I'm sure your parents were like,
4:51 Speaker 00 Actually, my family was not like that. They didn't, no one in my family, everybody in my family played sports all the time. My dad was, um, oh my god, I'm the worst. He played for the forty-niner, for Terrell Owens.
5:03 Lewis Howes? Okay.
5:03 Speaker 00 Is that?
5:04 Lewis Howes? Terrell Owens?
5:04 Speaker 00 Yeah. My dad cut his hair for like years and he cut Jerry Rice's hair and I got to meet all these people and I didn't care at all. All I wanted to do was like, watch Cinderella and stuff. But everybody in my family were, were like all football, basketball players. And, um, I remember that Sister Act Two came out and that was like a turning point in my life.
5:25 Lewis Howes? Great movie.
5:25 Speaker 00 Yeah.
5:26 Lewis Howes? Well, Sister Act One was amazing. Lauryn Hill was in that, right?
5:28 Speaker 00 Sister Act, well, she was in Two.
5:29 Lewis Howes? She was amazing. I remember hearing, I was like, this woman is unbelievable.
5:33 Speaker 00 That moment where she was sitting at the piano, singing His Eyes on a Sparrow changed my life. And that's kinda how, the first time I can ever remember singing is I learned how to sing with her in that movie. And my mom was watching by, watching me watch Sister Act Two and she like, it was like a movie, she walked by and then she popped her head back out and was like, is that my baby? And so then, from then on, my mom started making me sing at church every week.
5:56 Lewis Howes? Wow.
5:57 Speaker 00 And I started realizing I could sing. And then, when I was in elementary school, I was tested for the gifted and talented program and we did a show. Um, it was when Leap of Faith, the movie came out. Do you remember that movie?
6:07 Lewis Howes? Don't remember that. What is, who's, who's?
6:08 Speaker 00 Um, I don't even, um, Steve Martin was the lead in it.
6:12 Lewis Howes? Leap of Faith.
6:13 Speaker 00 Anyway, they'd never filmed the movie in Plainview, Texas, but my dad was playing basketball on a basketball court and they asked him to be a part of that movie. He had like a line in it.
6:21 Lewis Howes? Really?
6:22 Speaker 00 Yeah. And so, we made a, a skit of that called Hop of Hope and we had like bunny ballerinas and this lady came in and taught us how to dance and, and then basically I started realizing that I could dance. And then I wanted to learn how to tumble and do backflips. Basically, I was just getting gayer and gayer by today is what I'm trying to get at.
6:39 Lewis Howes? Hey, listen, I am a closet, like if there was one show, you ask me, what's your favorite show on TV? It's Glee.
6:47 Speaker 00 Are you serious?
6:48 Lewis Howes? I am like in love with Glee. I wish I could be on that. I wish I could sing and dance like.
6:52 Speaker 00 Listen, I don't think you need to be able to sing or dance. If Brian Murphy takes one look at your face, it's done. Cause you're it. I just want you to know that.
6:58 Lewis Howes? Yeah, I'll be the guy that doesn't sing, whatever that character is, but I love that show and I love Nashville. I love singing shows for some reason.
7:05 Speaker 00 Both are great shows. We're gonna be best friends. I feel it. We're gonna have our own little show.
7:10 Lewis Howes? I have a family of musicians, musicians. My brother's the number one jazz violinist in the world.
7:15 Speaker 00 Oh, wow.
7:15 Lewis Howes? And my sister's a singer songwriter. My parents were opera majors, but I grew up playing sports.
7:21 Speaker 00 So we live opposite lives.
7:22 Lewis Howes? Exactly. I wish I was like, I taught myself guitar when I was 19 because I felt so ignorant in my family. When they're all playing instruments and singing, I was like, I need to learn something. So it's fun, but I appreciate singers and dancers and actors. Because it's not something I can do as well. And I'm like, God, it'd be amazing to be a rock star, right?
7:40 Speaker 00 Yeah, well, I think it's still in the future for you if you want to pick back that guitar back up. I think you can do it.
7:46 Lewis Howes? There you go. So, so when did you start? So how old were you when you did this movie?
7:51 Speaker 00 Which, which movie?
7:52 Lewis Howes? The movie where you had like the choreography or you.
7:54 Speaker 00 Oh, there was a play. My dad was in the movie Leap of Faith. And I was in a play in elementary school. It was really fun. I was like eight or nine years old and then they took us to go see the Nutcracker Ballet. And all the other kids were falling asleep. I loved it.
8:09 Lewis Howes? That's great. I watch it every Christmas, man.
8:11 Speaker 00 Yeah, you do?
8:12 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
8:12 Speaker 00 This year, that's what we're gonna do to, to seal our best friend-ness. We're gonna go see the Nutcracker.
8:18 Lewis Howes? Let's do it.
8:18 Speaker 00 Okay, a pinky swear.
8:19 Lewis Howes? Pinky swear.
8:20 Speaker 00 This is happening right now. A pinky swear over the table, everybody. So if it doesn't happen, if you don't see on Instagram a picture of he and I.
8:25 Lewis Howes? It's Todd's fault.
8:28 Lewis Howes? Okay, so when did you get the itch that you were like, you know what? I'm probably not gonna be able to stay in Texas to live my dreams. It's Texas, you're in Plano, Texas, right?
8:38 Speaker 00 Well, after high school, I went and moved to Disney World. And we grew up very poor, so like all my friends were like, oh my God. Me and my family went to Disney World again and Universal Studios.
8:47 Lewis Howes? Every year in your life?
8:48 Speaker 00 Yeah, and I would be like, oh, that must be so awesome. It was just not even a fathomable thought for our family that we would be. No one that I really personally knew that well had ever been to Disney World or Disneyland or New York City or Los Angeles. And so it was just like wishful thinking that one day I'd be able to go to these places. And so the first time I ever got to go to Disney World was when I got hired there. And so it was like a really magical experience for me because I had grown up being such a fan. And watching, I lived on the Disney Channel. I watched That's So Raven every day. I was the most devoted fan there was. And I don't know, it was just a dream come true to get to go there and get to see everything and work behind the scenes and see how well they run their business and stuff.
9:27 Lewis Howes? That's cool.
9:28 Speaker 00 Yeah, and I was a spoon.
9:30 Lewis Howes? You were a spoon in what?
9:31 Speaker 00 In Beauty and the Beast. And I was killing it every day.
9:33 Lewis Howes? Crushing it.
9:34 Speaker 00 I was the best black spoon you ever saw in your life.
9:37 Lewis Howes? Dance moves like a machine, right?
9:39 Speaker 00 On every day, except for when I was late, like today.
9:42 Lewis Howes? That's all good. So, so what did that create for you? What opened up for you when you realized like this, this other type of performance with these people will really appreciate it?
9:53 Speaker 00 Well, I was kind of in culture shock because I saw all these people around me who were talking about being on Broadway and performing on cruise ships and doing national tours and like all this stuff that I had never heard of. I never knew anybody who made a living out of being a performer.
10:06 Lewis Howes? It was a whole new world.
10:07 Speaker 00 Exactly, I see what you did there.
10:09 Lewis Howes? You liked that?
10:10 Speaker 00 Yeah, it was very sexy.
10:13 Speaker 00 And so, yeah, so it changed my life. I was just like, okay, now I want to do this. And I started realizing all of the things that I, that I could do as a career other than be Pluto, which was at the top of my bucket list. But I said, if I can't be Pluto. Why not go perform on a cruise ship? So I went and performed on a cruise ship.
10:29 Lewis Howes? Really?
10:30 Speaker 00 And I was also obsessed with Oprah my whole life.
10:33 Lewis Howes? She's amazing.
10:33 Speaker 00 My mom, yeah, she just basically is Jesus's best friend because she's the nicest person in the world. And she created The Color Purple on Broadway. And while I was doing a cruise, um, I was watching the videos my mom would record Oprah and mail them to me on the ship. On a VHS, I was watching Oprah one day and Fantasia came on and I was also a huge fan of American Idol by this point. And I voted for Fantasia religiously every single week that she was on the show. And I found out that there was an audition the next week for The Color Purple on Broadway. And I'd always wanted to be on Broadway, but I'd never been to New York to be able to audition or anything. And so I had danced my whole life and sang in church the whole time. I was a cheerleader in high school. I mean, the list just goes on and on, I'm telling you.
11:15 Lewis Howes? You do acro yoga too?
11:17 Speaker 00 No, I don't do yoga.
11:18 Lewis Howes? A little hand to hand, actually?
11:19 Speaker 00 No, I, I, that's a little too white for me, I think. I don't, I don't go to yoga.
11:24 Lewis Howes? So I was gonna say, if you can do a handstand, I could throw you up in the air.
11:28 Speaker 00 The, the, the list of the reasons why we
11:31 Lewis Howes? Should be friends.
11:32 Speaker 00 Probably were separated at birth. I was probably in your family and you were probably in mine. Something happened, a little switcheroo, but I'm so glad we found each other again.
11:40 Lewis Howes? So you were a cheerleader?
11:42 Speaker 00 A cheerleader. Basically, anything that you can think of that was gay was signs of baton, baton twirler. I did it growing up. My mom had no idea that I was gay, I don't know what she was thinking. But I eventually came out of the closet her and she was in shock, surprisingly.
11:55 Lewis Howes? So with this audition, what happened? Did you take the audition?
11:58 Speaker 00 I went, okay, yeah, I went, I went to the audition. I quit the cruise ship, flew to New York, went to the audition. And it was crazy because my mom, we didn't have money. Like I said, I called my dad and I really wanted to go to this audition. My dad was like not about to pay for it. We had a horrible relationship and he was like, I'm not supporting this. And so my mom, somehow, I still, to this day, don't know how she found the money to do this. But she and my dad got into a huge fight and she came into the room. It was like an Angela Bassett moment. She was like snot running down her nose and crying and she was like, pack your bags, baby. You're going to that audition.
12:31 Lewis Howes? That's amazing.
12:32 Speaker 00 Yeah, it was like a movie.
12:33 Lewis Howes? Yeah, mom.
12:34 Speaker 00 And I was like, okay, and so I packed my bags. And the next day, I flew to New York with just a friend. I didn't know anybody. How old were you? I was twenty years old. Wow. And I went to the audition and I made it to the callback and I'd never seen the show. I just knew that I, they were looking for somebody that was my type. And so I went to the show that night after I got the callback. And it was honestly like a very spiritual moment for me because my whole life growing up, I obviously was African American in my whole family and my church and stuff. But the school that I went to was predominantly a white school and I grew up doing theater and stuff and cheerleading and all my friends were all Caucasian.
13:10 Speaker 00 And so I felt like growing up, I didn't really have like a very good like role model of somebody that I felt looked like me or somebody that I was like, oh, that's what I could be when I grew up. I didn't identify with like a Chris Brown or Usher or like even though I loved those people that I was like, something's off and I don't identify with that. And so it was the craziest thing because the show was amazing, but for me, it was like a spiritual thing that I connected immediately with it. And I was like, it's the first time I can remember being so proud to be African American. Wow. Because the people up there were representing us in such a positive light, amazing dancers. It was an all African American cast. I'd never seen that before. And the way they were singing and it just had, it wasn't just like a tap dancing like musical like what I had known.
13:54 Speaker 00 It was like a soul changing, like you went, felt like you went to church and got the Holy Ghost type mo- moment. Wow. And so at that moment, I was like, I have to be in this. The next day I went to my callback and I was like, I have to be off book. I knew every line. I didn't take my script in. I knew my songs. I, I just realized how big of a moment this was and how I shouldn't take it for granted. And so um, I went in and auditioned and that night I went to go see another show, Legally Blonde. And while I was there, I found out that I, they called me and said, we'd like to invite you to be a part of Col- Col- Oprah Winfrey's The Color Purple on Broadway. And I freaked out and it was just the best thing that's ever happened to me because it changed my life. I got to meet Oprah and work with Fantasia every single night.
14:35 Speaker 00 And meet tons of celebrities and people I had looked up to and admired my entire life. And I would have never dreamt in a million years, I'd get to meet those people in person because I grew up in Plainview, Texas where you could only see people like that on TV and they don't, they don't come and tour near you or anything. So it was just an amazing, amazing experience. Unbelievable. It, I still every day like cherish that moment and I'm so proud that that was my first Broadway experience. How long were you on the play for? I did it every eight shows a week for a year. And um, and then-
15:05 Lewis Howes? And what was your, were you the lead or were you like a-
15:06 Speaker 00 No, I was just in the ensemble and I understudied one of the leads and I had like a small featured role. His name was Bobby, I was a plumber.
15:13 Lewis Howes? Nice.
15:13 Speaker 00 And um, but um, but from being on that show, I got to see how being on American Idol had changed Fantasia's life. And so I decided to go- Yeah, she was the lead. And so I decided to go audition for American Idol.
15:26 Lewis Howes? And when was this, what year?
15:27 Speaker 00 This was two thousand nine.
15:30 Lewis Howes? Okay.
15:31 Speaker 00 By the time, well after, it was a couple of years later. So I did Broadway in two thousand six, two thousand seven and then I went and did other shows. And then in two thousand nine, I decided to audition for American Idol.
15:40 Lewis Howes? And you were twenty-five then, or how old were you?
15:42 Speaker 00 I was twenty-three, almost twenty-four.
15:44 Lewis Howes? Okay, cool. And you made it to the semifinals, right?
15:47 Speaker 00 Yeah, I was in the top thirteen and it was just a crazy eye-opening experience because I had never been on television before. And I was just like thrust and it's like, when you're on American Idol, one day you're just Joe Schmo and the next day it happens overnight. Yeah, because so many people at that point, it was, I mean thirty million people were still tuning in every single day.
16:07 Lewis Howes? It was a lot bigger then than it is now.
16:08 Speaker 00 Yeah, and especially where I'm from, in Texas, American Idol is huge. I mean Kelly Clarkson came from Texas. She was in our hometown. I used to work with her at Six Flags, funny story. Um, and so people really supported the show in that area and-
16:21 Lewis Howes? Everyone voted for you, everyone rallied?
16:23 Speaker 00 Yeah, and well, that year, there was four people in the semifinals from Texas and three of them were from Dallas. And it had never happened that way, so our votes were super split.
16:32 Lewis Howes? Oh.
16:33 Speaker 00 But it was a really good experience. I had never been known as a singer before then. I was a mo- mostly a dancer. Um, and so it was like my first real singing experience and it was on national television. So I was very nervous every night, but um, it, I learned so much and I, and I learned so quickly.
16:50 Lewis Howes? What was the biggest lessons you learned that were different from, from the Broadway performances? Because that's every day in front of a new audience, you know.
16:58 Speaker 00 I just learned that being on television, people are getting to know you and you're not a character. I mean, within a reality TV show, you're, they're getting to know what they think you are. And so people, unlike on Broadway where people are patrons of the arts, they're coming out and they're supporting and they want to see you do well. People, when you're on American Idol, a lot of people do love you and most, most of the people that reach out to you like you, but it was my first time to get like bullied or have people say horrible things about me or not like what I wore or not like how I sang and stuff. So that was kind of hard because I wasn't used to that and on Broadway, no one knows who you are.
17:33 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
17:34 Speaker 00 And so it was really difficult because so you're in the limelight and there was a lot of like controversy and stuff going on and, and just things that, that people would make assumptions about things about your life.
17:44 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
17:45 Speaker 00 And also at that point, I wasn't really, I had told my mom that I was gay, but I had, I had never like come, I didn't come out to people like on television.
17:53 Lewis Howes? But you did on the show for the first time for everyone.
17:55 Speaker 00 No, no, no, I didn't. I was, I was very like trying to pretend that.
17:59 Lewis Howes? Like you're me.
18:00 Speaker 00 I was channeling you. Yeah. Yeah.
18:02 Lewis Howes? Like your brother.
18:02 Speaker 00 And it was hard. I was trying to talk deeper. I was trying to not wave like a princess and stuff and it was just really hard and, and, and every day the producers of American Idol would say, make sure you appeal to middle America. And I'd be like, what the hell does this mean?
18:16 Lewis Howes? You had to be, you almost had to tell a lie.
18:18 Speaker 00 Yeah. And I feel like a lot of people have felt that way. If you remember Adam Lambert didn't say he was gay until after he got off the show.
18:24 Lewis Howes? And he didn't dress differently. He kind of dressed like clean cut, right?
18:26 Speaker 00 He was like a rocker still, but it was very, he didn't put those rhinestones on his eye until the finale when all the voting was already done.
18:32 Lewis Howes? It's interesting. I wonder, um, do you think anything would have been different if you would have been your fully expressed self and you just said, screw you guys, I'm going to wear what I want. I'm going to dress and perform and talk like I want. Do you think things would have been differently?
18:43 Speaker 00 I don't think that the outcome would have been differently, uh, would have been different, honestly, because I wasn't used to, the people that are on American Idol, even if they're just singing at their local bars or local churches, they know the songs that sound good on their voice. And I feel like I made it that far by a fluke. I wrote a song, an audition song that was like funny. And so they kept me going and I always was like, I'm going to go home. So I wasn't trying to pick the songs that I thought would sound great on my voice. And I always wanted to like mash up things and do things differently, which now people appreciate online. But also I just think, I mean, five years ago. Even though it was only five years, the world has come so far.
19:21 Lewis Howes? So different. No Instagram, there's no YouTube, there's none of this stuff online as well, really.
19:25 Speaker 00 Yeah.
19:26 Lewis Howes? That was that big, but people are being more accepted in what you're saying.
19:28 Speaker 00 Yeah, yeah, it was, yeah, everything is just different. The social media is definitely different, but also I think someone being openly gay on American Idol five years ago would play out a lot differently now.
19:38 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
19:38 Speaker 00 And so, all I really learned from that experience is that I feel like I got voted off as someone else. Like, I wasn't being myself, and I always vowed to myself, if I ever get an opportunity to be on television again, I'm gonna use my voice to, to represent people that are all over the world that are like me, that don't have people that are influences in their life, that they can look up and say, I identify with this person. And that's why I think shows like Glee are so amazing, because it's giving people that had never seen someone that they felt parallel to in their life. It, it gives them a voice and it gives them somebody, somebody to look up to that they think is cool.
20:15 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
20:15 Speaker 00 As opposed to being like, well, if I'm not a jock or a cheerleader or a football player, then where do I fit in? Cause before, those characters weren't praised or appreciated.
20:23 Lewis Howes? On TV, yeah.
20:24 Speaker 00 They were there, but they were like geeks and on the side and that, not a person that you would wanna be.
20:29 Lewis Howes? Right.
20:29 Speaker 00 And I think Ryan Murphy has done a really good job at like championing those people and making them seem cool. And giving them a voice and making them talented, and making even people who are like super straight athletes, like watching the show.
20:41 Lewis Howes? Full of it, yeah.
20:42 Speaker 00 Yeah, and everybody can appreciate it, and I think it's not such a foreign concept now. Like, people, you have Ellen, you have Rosie O'Donnell, but you also have like Sam Smith, who just came out.
20:51 Lewis Howes? Amazing.
20:52 Speaker 00 And no one even really talks about the fact that he's gay. He's just an amazing artist, and I think that's what it should be about. If the music is great, then the person should be able to be on the radio and play right and sandwiched in between two straight guys. No pun intended.
21:04 Lewis Howes? I like it. What, did you ever audition for Glee?
21:08 Speaker 00 I did audition for Glee. I put out an audition video for Glee. I never got to go in and actually audition, but they had a MySpace audition, that's how long ago this was. MySpace was still killing it.
21:17 Lewis Howes? Wow, that's a long time ago.
21:19 Speaker 00 Yeah. And so I put up the audition, you should check it out. It's called I Wanna Be on Glee, and it's on YouTube. It's a pretty good audition.
21:25 Lewis Howes? Why didn't they bring you in?
21:26 Speaker 00 They were hatin', man.
21:27 Lewis Howes? What about the years following, you know? It's like they brought on new characters constantly, why didn't they?
21:32 Speaker 00 Honestly, don't.
21:32 Lewis Howes? Were you off the bigger things, you were like, eh?
21:34 Speaker 00 No, I went back to Broadway after I got off of American Idol, so I wasn't living in LA really to be able to audition for it. But, um, I don't know, I just think it wasn't the right fit at the right time, and I was really bummed out about it in the moment. But now, if I had been on Glee, I wouldn't be able to have my own show on MTV, so everything happens for a reason and...
21:51 Lewis Howes? Because those guys can't really do their own thing right now, they're kind of locked in, right?
21:55 Speaker 00 Well, they can do their own thing, but my show right now is about an upcoming artist making a name for himself online and how important it is to be an online presence these days. And if you are a star of Glee, that doesn't necessarily make you an online presence.
22:08 Lewis Howes? You're not a, yeah, yeah.
22:09 Speaker 00 You could also be, but you're a celebrity who just happens to have a YouTube channel.
22:14 Lewis Howes? You're already a celebrity, yeah. So how did you, um, get the show and how did you get on Scooter Ron's radar?
22:20 Speaker 00 Well, I made a video called, well, I, okay, so after I went, got off of American Idol, I made a video of me singing My Order to drive through at McDonald's, and that video went super viral and I started realizing I was getting more recognized from being the McDonald's guy, quote unquote.
22:33 Lewis Howes? And the target guy.
22:34 Speaker 00 Yeah, exactly, from those things than being on American Idol, and so I started saying, "There's something about this YouTube thing, I could probably make a name for myself here." And that way, I don't have to answer to anybody, I don't have to be judged by Simon Cowell. I don't have to have people or producers like projecting me in a light that I don't feel like is really representing who I truly am. I can put myself out the way I want to be represented. Also, being on American Idol, it kind of made me lose a little confidence, and so, being on YouTube was a way for me to film myself with no one really seeing me and being able to put it out and regain my confidence as a performer, because it really does something to you when you're on a show like that and you get kicked off.
23:12 Lewis Howes? And everyone's judging you and this and that.
23:13 Speaker 00 Yeah, it makes you question what you, the talent that you knew you had before. I, I knew that I'd been on Broadway before and that wasn't a fluke that they would cast me in a Broadway show, so I was like, "I clearly have talent," but it took me a while to like, get my swag back, and so, anyway, I made a video called Beauty and the Beat, and it was about, it was the opening number of Beauty and the Beast where Belle is like walking through the village, but she was like in the hood and everybody was ratcheted and all these like ghetto fabulous people were talking to her, and it ended up... Up being really super viral. It got a million views in less than a day.
23:45 Lewis Howes? Wow.
23:45 Speaker 00 And ironically, Justin Bieber's song, Beauty and the Beat, was about to come out the next week.
23:50 Lewis Howes? No way.
23:51 Speaker 00 I had never knew that. No one had ever known the song.
23:54 Lewis Howes? It was the same name.
23:54 Speaker 00 It was the same name, and it was just a God-sent thing that I named it that. They thought that the song leaked, and so people were reaching out to Scooter Braun and me, like, someone's leaked this song. This video's going viral a week early. He watched the video and was like, this is brilliant. I gotta meet this kid. And he scheduled a meeting with me. Had I not done that video, I would not have been represented by him, but.
24:15 Lewis Howes? Amazing.
24:15 Speaker 00 He was like, I don't know exactly what to do with you. You're crazy. You're quirky. I don't know what you're wearing right now, but I think you're really interesting and really talented, and I'd like to work with you. So he signed me immediately, and. Um, the rest is history. It was crazy because when I lived in New York, before I made the decision to move to LA, I watched the Justin Bieber Never Say Never movie.
24:35 Lewis Howes? I'll tell you what, I just had John Chu on.
24:37 Speaker 00 Uh huh.
24:37 Lewis Howes? Last week, we direct, yeah, directed a video with you.
24:39 Speaker 00 And John Chu and I did Virgin America commercial together, yeah.
24:42 Lewis Howes? So I just had him, he was sitting here last week, and I go, dude, Never Say Never. Again, this is telling you who I am. I, I watched it three times, first off.
24:50 Speaker 00 You did not cry.
24:51 Lewis Howes? And I cried. Every time. When the grandparents are talking about him leaving, and I just re-watched it last week because I was like, so inspired after we got in here of how cool that video was.
25:01 Speaker 00 That's so funny.
25:02 Lewis Howes? Sorry, sorry, go ahead.
25:03 Speaker 00 No, it was a life-changing movie for me, and, um, it, it.
25:09 Speaker 00 That's so crazy, dude. You see it. I feel this 5,000 volts of friendship energy going across this table right now. Um.
25:16 Lewis Howes? So the movie cha-changed the game for you.
25:18 Speaker 00 It changed the game for me, and I actually made a bucket list or like a vision board and said, I'm gonna move to LA, and I'm gonna find my own version of Scooter. And ironically, I moved here and found the real Scooter.
25:31 Lewis Howes? Oh my goodness.
25:31 Speaker 00 The real Scooter found me, and it's just a crazy, like, rags-to-riches story because since I've signed there, my life is completely, in the words of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, turned upside down. And, um.
25:44 Lewis Howes? In what ways? Tell me, is this two years you've been with him now?
25:47 Speaker 00 Yeah.
25:47 Lewis Howes? So what has happened? What has he done for you? Or what has happened? Or what doors have opened up that have given you where you're at now?
25:52 Speaker 00 Well, he's just put me, he and his team have just put me in a position with the best lawyers, the best business management, the best agents, and people that really work hard for me. Like, his, his team and the, the lady Penny that he, oh, you know Penny.
26:05 Lewis Howes? She's amazing. She's a text me.
26:06 Speaker 00 She is the most amazing person ever, and she's his right-hand woman, and she is like completely, every night, she's the type of person that will stay up till 6 a.m. If that's what it takes to make somebody's dreams come true. And I'm just so appreciative to have her like as a part of my team.
26:20 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
26:21 Speaker 00 And, um, I mean, I got the Virgin America gig. I mean, just life has just changed and being attached to his name has given me a, a much greater platform. I got to open the Kids' Choice Awards. I did the Virgin America Safety Video, which is such a random gig, but people watched that video every, every day and tagged me in pictures of that.
26:39 Lewis Howes? Really?
26:40 Speaker 00 Yeah, and then, you know, he and his team helped me, uh, work on the deal with MTV to get my show on MTV. And so that was, that was a dream come true because I just, I love the fact that I have a show where people get to see the hard work that goes on behind our videos. Because sometimes you watch a video and you don't realize the lighting and the costumes and the hair and the shoes. You realize that it all looks like it's in place, but it
27:03 Lewis Howes? Takes forever to get it done.
27:04 Speaker 00 Yeah, and if someone was on television with a ball gown, but she had like some Nikes on, you'd be like, oh shit, something's not right there.
27:11 Lewis Howes? Right, right, right.
27:11 Speaker 00 But, um,
27:12 Lewis Howes? It's like recreating a Broadway play every
27:15 Speaker 00 Every week.
27:15 Lewis Howes? Episode, right?
27:16 Speaker 00 Yeah, every, yeah.
27:16 Lewis Howes? Every week, and only doing it once.
27:19 Speaker 00 And with a very small budget is the problem. We don't have a lot of money. We have to stretch the little money that we have and just make it work for ourselves. And so, um, that's what's really hard about it. But it's just been, I'm just so grateful for where I am right now in life. And sometimes I wake up in my house that looks like Pee-wee Herman's Playhouse. I have like eight-foot-tall ice creams everywhere. You should come over. You should come. You would love it.
27:41 Lewis Howes? I'll be out of place, but I'll appreciate it.
27:45 Lewis Howes? I'm curious now, as a performer, is that quadruple threat? Is that what I heard you are? What does that mean, a quadruple threat?
27:51 Speaker 00 Well, a quadruple threat means you're more than a singer, dancer, actor. You also-
27:57 Lewis Howes? Something else.
27:57 Speaker 00 But someone gave me the name octo threat, which I'm now taking on because I direct, I choreographed, I do sing, dance, and act, but I do also the costume designs and I help edit the videos and I cast my own videos. And so, there's just so many aspects of the videos that we do.
28:13 Lewis Howes? Amazing.
28:13 Speaker 00 And I am very, very hands-on, so I do every single aspect of the video.
28:18 Lewis Howes? You're a producer and performer.
28:20 Speaker 00 Yeah.
28:21 Lewis Howes? Essentially everything.
28:21 Speaker 00 Exactly. You gotta come be in a video one day because people would freak out, they would love it.
28:26 Lewis Howes? I don't know what I'd do. I can salsa dance.
28:27 Speaker 00 Oh, I heard. I heard a little birdie told me you could salsa dance.
28:30 Lewis Howes? If you find a girl who's really good at salsa, I will make you look like the man.
28:34 Speaker 00 Okay.
28:35 Lewis Howes? I'll make your video great.
28:35 Speaker 00 Deal. Deal. I definitely know some girls. I know a beautiful girl with a big old bubble butt. She would look amazing. The hourglass figure for days. We call her Kaylee Cake.
28:45 Lewis Howes? She can salsa?
28:46 Speaker 00 She can salsa.
28:47 Lewis Howes? Let's do it.
28:48 Speaker 00 Yeah. She's in. Okay.
28:50 Lewis Howes? Now, I'm curious. So, you've been on Broadway, American Idol, you've got your own TV show, you've done a lot of other performances in between, opening up for Kids' Choice Awards and a lot of other stuff. What is the mantra or process before a performance, a big moment, that you do for yourself? Is there something you say to yourself? Is there a ritual? Do you do something weird or do you ground yourself? Do you pray? Do you? What's something you do?
29:13 Speaker 00 Usually, our life is so crazy and we're trying to do something that should take a normal team of people, that is like a 50-man army, we will be doing with four people. And we're doing something that it would take that 50-man army two months to do. We're doing it in literally-
29:30 Lewis Howes? Two days.
29:30 Speaker 00 Two to three days.
29:31 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
29:32 Speaker 00 So, usually, there's not a moment. We are literally rushing until that moment. But, right before I go onstage, I always just bow my head and pray. I'm not the most crazy, like overly religious person, but I do believe that there's no way I could be here without somebody much bigger than I watching over me and guiding my footsteps and making sure that I was in the room with the right people at the right time. And so, I just like- Have to pray and like ground myself to get myself prepared because otherwise I will I will go crazy. And it's like I always get this calming feel feeling like thirty seconds before I go on. I'm a nervous wreck until thirty seconds before I go on. And then I get calm and I'm like, okay, you can do this. And then we make magic.
30:12 Lewis Howes? Well, I love that. What would you say to someone who feels like overwhelmed and anxious and has a lot of pressure on themselves when they want to perform? Whether it be a business pitch meeting or singing or dancing, whatever it may be, some type of performance going on their first date. What would advice would you give to someone to overcome pressure?
30:30 Speaker 00 I would just say that this whole world is like a big game, you know? And you have to walk into a room and at least have a great poker face. You can be nervous and that's normal. I think a lot of people think that nerves are not normal. And then that means that they're second guessing themselves or doubting the talent that they know that they have. But I don't think that's what it means. I think if you're not nervous, then you're way too confident and and and you're probably not going to get the things that you are looking for. I think anybody who's an artist or really passionate about anything that they're going in for. A a good amount of nerves is important. I think put on a good poker face and go in there and remember that every single person that is in a position to make decisions to guide your career or change your career are also just people and people are attracted to confidence.
31:13 Speaker 00 And if an idea is great or if the talent is truly there, then I think ultimately in the end that will always prevail.
31:20 Lewis Howes? Hmm, that's great. With all the talents you have, what would you say is your superpower?
31:26 Speaker 00 My superpower is that I feel like I I would say my superpower is being a chameleon. And I say that because chameleons can transform into any place that they are. They can talk to anybody, they can blend into any surrounding. I went on.
31:39 Lewis Howes? You blend in?
31:40 Speaker 00 Oh, I don't blend in. I always stand out, just remember that. But but I'm able to like to to change and like.
31:48 Speaker 00 Make sure that I like fit into, I can talk to anybody about anything, I feel.
31:52 Lewis Howes? You can connect with people.
31:53 Speaker 00 Yeah, and I, and like I went to Broadway, had never been in a Broadway show, but I've made myself fit in there. And I went to American Idol, made it pretty far for somebody who wasn't constantly singing and stuff. And I, I also, I don't miss anything. I'm that person, like if something happens behind me, I will see it, I will catch it, I will clock every little detail of any room that when I walk in.
32:14 Lewis Howes? You have a good memory then?
32:15 Speaker 00 Yeah, and that's why I say chameleon, off the, off the cuff, because chameleons also have those eyes that are, they're one of the few animals that their eyes can move differently. At the same time, they can be looking in four different directions.
32:28 Lewis Howes? I love that.
32:29 Speaker 00 Yeah.
32:29 Lewis Howes? What keeps you grounded with all the success you're getting and the recognition and the YouTube crazies?
32:35 Speaker 00 What keeps me grounded is I have the most amazing mom in the world. Not to go on a 20 minute tangent about my mom, but there was no dance studio where I lived. My mom got a new job so she could drive me an hour and a half to, to dance class every day in an hour and a half home. She never let me miss class, she never let me be late. And I don't think without her telling me, even though she had no idea what to do with a child like me, because she'd never seen anybody like this and for me to be her child. I think she really jumped on the bandwagon and just tried to learn as much as she could about getting me out there. And also I have amazing, amazing friends who not only are there to support me at any day, any time, but they also tell me when I'm wrong.
33:18 Speaker 00 And I think that's the most important thing, to keep someone humble.
33:21 Lewis Howes? Yeah, and you're receptive to it probably, it sounds like, yeah.
33:23 Speaker 00 Because I know that they wouldn't lead me astray, and even if sometimes I don't want to hear it, I'm always, always, always so grateful that I have friends that will be like, "Todrick, I love you, but you're being ridiculous right now, and this is not a good move, or this would be better," you know?
33:36 Lewis Howes? Sure, sure.
33:37 Speaker 00 Yeah.
33:37 Lewis Howes? If there was a TV show, a movie, a performance, a play, a video, that you could create, the biggest dream that you could think of, with one person that you want to collaborate with, what would the person, who would the person be you'd collaborate with? And what would the performance be, in what stage?
33:57 Speaker 00 Um, I just thought about this the other day. First of all, Beyonce is like my favorite person in the world, so that goes without saying.
34:02 Lewis Howes? She's one of the two people you're following on Instagram.
34:04 Speaker 00 Yeah.
34:06 Speaker 00 Yeah, so I would love, I would love to work with her. But I think my dream thing that I want to do, and I just decided this last week, is I want to make the first like fairy tale with like two princes. And I don't want it to be like a super gay story, even though that's hard to make, to make that not super gay. But I want it to be a story about two princes that just happened to fall in love. And, because I imagine that in maybe a hundred, maybe a thousand years from now, people will be born and there will be cartoons that have gay characters and stuff. So that a character being on a show and being gay is not the subject of that character being there. That's just also happens to be what they are. But there's no movies about people being straight, like, oh, that's the, the situation that they have to overcome.
34:49 Lewis Howes? Right.
34:49 Speaker 00 And I just think that that would be such, it's such a simple thing. But I think it would be such a beautiful and epic thing if there was a gay couple and their problem was not that they were gay. That just happened to be two princes that fell in love in a fairy tale one day.
35:03 Lewis Howes? So who would play those parts in a performance?
35:05 Speaker 00 Well, I would want to be one of them because not only are they going to be gay, but they're going to be interracial. It's going to be a gay, black prince and Ebony and Ivory. And if you want to play the other prince, we could be two salsa dancing princes in a fairy tale.
35:16 Lewis Howes? I don't know if I could play it, but uh.
35:18 Speaker 00 Just think on it though, just think on it.
35:19 Lewis Howes? If I was gay, I would be a hundred percent in.
35:21 Speaker 00 Awesome, thank you. That's all I needed. That's all I needed for today.
35:24 Lewis Howes? I would be in.
35:25 Speaker 00 Awesome, okay.
35:26 Lewis Howes? Um, but I, I will appreciate and support your choice of who you want to choose.
35:30 Speaker 00 You'll buy a ticket to my movie.
35:31 Lewis Howes? I'll buy a ticket to it. I'll watch it on YouTube or whatever it is.
35:34 Speaker 00 Okay.
35:35 Lewis Howes? But if it could be any actor, who would it be?
35:37 Speaker 00 I would probably choose somebody who is not gay. I would probably choose someone like a Zac Efron or someone.
35:46 Lewis Howes? That'd be interesting.
35:47 Speaker 00 Or my main man, Joseph Gordon Levitt, because I think he's such an amazing actor. And he has become a good friend of mine recently.
35:54 Lewis Howes? He's amazing. He'd be great at that role.
35:56 Speaker 00 Yeah. I just wanted to like break, break boundaries and like be so out of the box, but be so amazing that people are talking about it and everybody has to go see it.
36:06 Lewis Howes? So when you want to create that by?
36:08 Speaker 00 I would like to to be, I have two movies that I want to create before that. I want to be, I want to be the new like mixture between Tyler Perry, because I look up to him so much. He's so hilarious and he's somebody who came from being homeless to creating this huge brand and is now a multimillionaire, um, and Walt Disney, because I love creating content for kids and I just think it's so powerful.
36:30 Lewis Howes? I could see you being that, that's cool.
36:31 Speaker 00 Yeah. So I don't know how many years, but in the next five years, I hope that at least my first great movie is out. And I'm gonna invite you to the premiere.
36:39 Lewis Howes? Please do.
36:40 Speaker 00 And we're gonna salsa.
36:40 Lewis Howes? I'll come and salsa. What, what's next for you? After this show, you know, the show, tell us a little bit about the show and then what's, what's after the show?
36:48 Speaker 00 The show is almost over. We have one more week. This week I'm doing Peter Perry, which I'm so proud of. I'm, uh, it's, uh, telling the story of Peter Pan with all Katy Perry songs.
36:59 Lewis Howes? This is amazing.
37:00 Speaker 00 Yeah, so that comes on this Monday.
37:01 Lewis Howes? It's kind of like Glee.
37:02 Speaker 00 Yeah, exactly. It, I feel like our show is like the reality version of Glee.
37:06 Lewis Howes? Yeah, that's cool.
37:07 Speaker 00 And, um, and, um, what's next for me is I, I would love to EGOT. I would love to go back to Broadway, but I want to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony. So I gotta talk to my team and figure out exactly which one of those we want to go after first. But I would love to have a song on the radio. I think that's like my biggest dream. Um, and one of my songs has been playing on the radio all over the country. It's called Wind It Up and it's doing pretty well. So I'm excited about that. Um, but I would, I would love to go back to Broadway. I would love to be a recurring character on a major network, on a scripted show, not just a reality show. And I would love to be in a huge movie, preferably one that had to do with music and dancing, like a musical movie.
37:46 Speaker 00 Or something that, um, is, is very, um, like life-changing, like something about something powerful.
37:53 Lewis Howes? Epic, yeah. So this is the question from Penny.
37:56 Speaker 00 Oh geez.
37:57 Lewis Howes? I just said, you know, what's the question that I should ask that no one's been, that no one asked him? And she said, no one ever asked him about relationships and love, only about sexuality.
38:07 Speaker 00 Got it.
38:07 Lewis Howes? So I want to ask you about.
38:10 Lewis Howes? Relationships and love, how does love and relationships play into your success? And do you feel like with where you're at in your life right now, are you able to have a great relationship and still pursue your dreams and your passion and have the freedom of flexibility to be creative and artistic? Is it possible to have both with where you're at?
38:29 Speaker 00 Yeah, well, the answer is yes. I only follow two people on Instagram and the other person is my partner and his name is Jesse and he's awesome. And I dated a lot of people before him that it was difficult because my life requires a lot of like me not being around or there's always people around it. There's hardly ever any sleep. Like sometimes we're together for days, but we don't ever get to talk to each other hardly because we literally wake up 6 a.m. and go to sleep at 4 a.m. And that whole day, we were working the entire time. But I just feel like if you find the right person who believes in you so much and wants you to be so successful, then all of the problems that you would normally have with someone not
39:11 Speaker 00 being there or them not feeling loved or supported, go out the window. So I'm really, really happy where I am in my relationship right now. Who knows what the future holds? I can see us being together for a very, very long time and I'm just happy that I have somebody that really understands me and is like not judgmental of the fact that I live in a candy house.
39:32 Lewis Howes? It's literally a candy house.
39:33 Speaker 00 I mean, it's literally, I mean, the chairs are ice creams, the table is a cupcake.
39:39 Lewis Howes? Katy Perry's house, like Pepe Herman and Carrie Harry.
39:41 Speaker 00 Yeah, Katy Perry. That sounds like a bad situation, Katy Perry. But, uh, yeah.
39:48 Lewis Howes? That's amazing. Okay. Well, I'm glad to know that you've been able to make it work. That's really cool.
39:54 Speaker 00 How about you?
39:55 Lewis Howes? We'll talk about that afterwards.
39:56 Speaker 00 Got it. Oh, see, how my how the tables have turned. Okay, we're gonna find out all the juice afterwards and I'll just tweet it to everybody.
40:03 Lewis Howes? So, so I want to do something. I want to have a couple of questions left for you, but I want to hear your voice. I want to hear you, if you're open to it, to singing something. And I should have whipped out my guitar and played something, but I think it'd be better just to hear maybe something, something you love to sing. Here's what I want to hear, something you love to sing. It can be like 30 to 60 seconds, doesn't have to be wrong, that.
40:27 Lewis Howes? Tells about who you are, speaks about who you are, and also shares a message to the world of what you want the world to be. Is there a song, or a verse, or a message that you can sing that would do that?
40:42 Speaker 02 Um, I would say the song that I have, "Haters", is like, a song that, to me, means a lot because I always wished that I had like some anthem that I could rock out to when I got home after people were like making fun of me. And, uh, and when I felt like nobody understood me, I wrote this song and I put it out and people, the kids have like gone crazy for this. And all of these kids around the country are performing this song at their, um, talent shows and their dance recitals and stuff, and, um...
41:12 Lewis Howes? Can we hear a part of it?
41:12 Speaker 02 Yeah, I was, I was... Okay.
41:15 Lewis Howes? Go ahead.
41:16 Speaker 02 Okay. I don't need your love, love, love to tell me I'm good enough. And you ain't worth my time if you don't think I'm fine. And you don't need to lose one more pound to keep that scrub of yours around. If he don't know you're beautiful, if he don't know you're beautiful, then turn the radio up, play that beat loud for anyone that tried to bring me down. This one's for you, this one's for you.
41:57 Speaker 02 So make the radio blast, hands in the air, they can kiss my, ask me if I care. This one's for you, this one's for you, haters.
42:11 Lewis Howes? Wow, I loved that, man. That was epic. That was amazing.
42:15 Speaker 02 I did not think I was gonna be singing anything today, but because I love you so much and because we're best friends and also separated at birth, and also gonna be salsa dancing, and also gonna be gay prince lovers in a video, possibly hypothetically thinking about it, thinking about it, then I was just like, I'll just go ahead and sing this little ditty for him.
42:31 Lewis Howes? That was amazing, man.
42:32 Speaker 02 Thank you.
42:33 Lewis Howes? Thank you, I really appreciate that.
42:34 Speaker 02 Thank you.
42:34 Lewis Howes? Um, wow, I'm inspired. You know, I could listen to people sing all day. It's for me, it's like, uh, it's a dream to be able to do that stuff. And I appreciate the craft and the art and the talent that you've developed because I know it's been a lot of hard work over the years, so. Um, couple final questions.
42:50 Lewis Howes? If all your videos were erased for some reason, all the shows you've ever done.
42:55 Speaker 00 Oh my god, I just almost panicked.
42:58 Lewis Howes? Or let's just say, let's say they're all up there.
43:00 Speaker 00 I just got hot a little bit, a little bit.
43:02 Lewis Howes? I know how much hours has been into that.
43:04 Speaker 00 Yeah.
43:04 Lewis Howes? Let's say they're still there, but there's one final message that you want to share with people. There's a message that is everything you've learned from now until you were born about three truths of what you've learned about life, the three simple truths. If you had a video that was 60 seconds long, it was you in a video, no costumes, no music, no dancing.
43:27 Speaker 00 Got it.
43:28 Lewis Howes? And you got to say, here are the three, the three simple truths. By Todrick, what would you be, what would you say are the three simple truths?
43:38 Speaker 00 I would say the first truth is make sure that you are nice to every single person that you ever meet and anybody that you encounter, always treat them as if they, as if how you would treat the Beyonce or whatever of your life, because you never know where someone will be tomorrow and where you will be next week.
43:59 Lewis Howes? That's number one.
44:00 Speaker 00 Number two, I would say keep great people around you that love you and that are really, truly friends, and if people show you who they are, don't give them a million chances, because more than likely what they showed you the first time was who they really are. And thirdly, I would say be true to who you are, like above and beyond anything else. I think before I was like, I just want to be famous at whatever cost, even if it means I don't ever tell people that I'm straight, I mean, that I'm gay, or that I don't, you know, whatever the situation may be, I would rather now be 10 times less famous and be happy and be at least successful doing what I love to do, and maybe I will never sell
44:42 Speaker 00 out Staples Center or Madison Square Garden, but I will sell out a 500 seat theater with fans that really love and appreciate me and my voice will be a voice for people who really need to hear what I have to say. So I think being true to yourself, as cliche as that sounds, is the most important of those three things.
45:00 Lewis Howes? I love that. Very cool. Um, one final question before I ask.
45:06 Speaker 00 Okay.
45:06 Lewis Howes? I want to acknowledge you for a moment.
45:07 Speaker 00 Okay.
45:08 Lewis Howes? For your gift, your unique gift to inspire and entertain and make people think and open up and love in a different way. I think it's really beautiful what you've created over your whole career and your life by being true to who you are.
45:22 Speaker 00 Well, thank you.
45:23 Lewis Howes? It's really inspiring and I want to acknowledge you for maximizing your gifts because you're impacting the world in a major way, even if you don't think you are. So I acknowledge you for that.
45:33 Speaker 00 Thank you.
45:34 Lewis Howes? And my final question, it's what I ask all my guests at the end.
45:37 Speaker 00 Okay.
45:37 Lewis Howes? This is the school of greatness.
45:38 Speaker 00 Wait, wait, wait. Can I say one more thing?
45:40 Lewis Howes? Yes.
45:40 Speaker 00 I wish that I had four things. This is really important. The fourth thing is don't wait for the opportunity to come knock at your door because we live in a day and age where anybody can make their own dreams come true. And I think that is the most important thing. I should have said that in there. That's how I got, I've gotten here is not waiting for opportunity. I go seize those opportunities.
45:57 Lewis Howes? Okay.
45:58 Speaker 00 As you were saying.
45:59 Lewis Howes? So as being the school of greatness, I would ask you, what's your definition of greatness?
46:04 Speaker 00 The definition of greatness is someone who naturally can command an audience and have a voice that is authentic and true to themselves and not have to have gimmicks or anything. I would say the definition of greatness is Beyonce.
46:21 Lewis Howes? I love it. I love it. Where can we connect with you online? Where do you want us to hang out? YouTube, where should we go?
46:27 Speaker 00 You can connect with me online on, um, at Twitter and Instagram at, at Todd Rockstar. I'm on Facebook. You can look me up there. And also, um, on my YouTube channel, search Todrick. My mom came up with a really unique name, so I think I'm the only one. T O D R I C K. And I will pop up and entertain you.
46:45 Lewis Howes? Are you on Snapchat and everything else as well?
46:47 Speaker 00 I'm on Snapchat, but I'm a little iffy. I'm inconsistent in that, in that department, but I will be there occasionally.
46:53 Lewis Howes? Awesome. Todd Rockstar, thanks so much for coming on. I appreciate it.
46:55 Speaker 00 Thanks so much for having me. It was great.
46:59 Lewis Howes? And there you have it guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode with the one, the only Todrick Hall. Make sure to share this with a friend. If you know someone who would be inspired by Todrick's message, please email them, lewishouse.com/240. Send them this email and say, "Hey man," or "Hey girl, check out this episode. I think you're gonna be really inspired by Todrick's message. Check it out." Also, share it with your friends over on Twitter, on Facebook. Tag both of us over on Instagram. Again, the link is lewishouse.com/240. You're gonna get all of the show notes back if you go to that link as well, to see how you can connect with Todrick on all of his social media accounts. We'll put up a video
47:43 Lewis Howes? there that he did of Taylor Swift remake that is incredible, so you can check out how talented this guy is on video and see all the great things he's doing. Make sure to check out his TV show. You can watch the replays online as well. A lot of great stuff by this guy. I feel very connected to him. I want you guys to connect with him as well. And again, make sure to share this with your friends. The link is lewishouse.com/240. I appreciate you all so very much for coming on every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for all the greatness that we put out together. And it's all because of you that I continue to get amazing guests like Todrick. So, thank you all for showing up in a powerful way
48:26 Lewis Howes? in the world. Thank you for bringing your truth to what you're doing and for living a passionate, powerful life. You guys know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.
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