Entertainment

Todrick Hall Says He’s ‘Gonna Keep Fighting’ for Success as a Black Gay Artist

From collaborating with Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and RuPaul to his own solo music career, Todrick Hall has proven his success time and time again. But in a new interview, the singer says he still has plenty more to accomplish.

On the newest episode of Apple Music’s Proud Radio, Hall told host Hattie Collins that he still aspires to greater success, even though the path to getting there as a black, gay artist is still rocky at best. “It’s hard to do this every day, and to fight and fight and fight knowing that no matter how much success you get, you might not get to the level of a Troye Sivan or Sam Smith or even the accolades Adam Lambert has gotten,” he said. “And they’re all people who I know and love.”

The 35-year-old singer gave an example, saying he one day wants to sell out Staples Center in Los Angeles or Madison Square Garden in New York City — and he hopes to be “the first gay Black man to do something like that” as well. “I’m gonna keep fighting even if it doesn’t happen until I’m 55 years old,” he said. “I still want to make that happen because it’s just one of my biggest dreams, and I think that for the first time in my life I can proudly say that I think it is possible for that to happen.”

Hall also took a moment to address Beyoncé, saying that she and Jay-Z serve as excellent examples of what it means to be an LGBTQ ally in the black community. “I think that Beyoncé has been an ally to the LGBTQ+ community long before it was a cool thing to do for anybody,” he said. “They are able to shift, so strongly, the viewpoints and mentalities of people in the Black community.”

Check out clips from Hall’s full interview below: