The Power of Being You

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

share

my life take me from what i

am cause i’ll never

change all my colors for you

[Music]

take my

[Music]

just all that you were

and everything that you do

i don’t really need to look very much

further i don’t want to have to go

where you don’t follow i won’t hold it

back again

don’t make me closer

there don’t walk away from me

i have nothing nothing

nothing if i don’t

have you

[Music]

you see through

right through the heart of

me you break down my

walls with the strength of your love

i never knew

i don’t really need to look very

much further

there’s

i don’t wanna hurt

don’t walk away from me

i have nothing nothing

nothing

no make me

i don’t wanna hurt anymore

don’t walk away from me

don’t walk away from me

don’t you dare walk away from me

i have nothing nothing

nothing

if i don’t have

you

[Music]

[Laughter]

if i don’t have you

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

hello i’m brian justin crum and i’m

so honored to be sharing with you guys

today

some of you may know me from america’s

got talent but before that i had an

extensive career performing on broadway

in wicked and greece and the pulitzer

prize winning next to normal

i even got to perform alongside some of

the original members of queen

in their musical we will rock you i

started performing at just six years old

a playful joyous little flamboyant kid

i knew i was gay at a very young age i

grew up in the church

and quickly realized that the world

around me

thought there was something very wrong

with me

mix that with growing up and performing

in musical theater where i was always

being told that i was

easily replaceable it’s safe to say that

my

sense of self was very warped

those negative thoughts became like a

broken record in my head

and the thoughts got a hold of my mind

they became truth in my heart

and once they had a hold of me it was

really hard to quiet them

freedom and self-expression in art was

always this

very foreign concept to me i was told

what to wear

what to sing and to butch it up

i had lost or maybe i had never really

found

my true sense of self

my mom talks about this very much

single-mindedness that i had as a kid

i had a goal and i was going to achieve

it no matter what

i got my ged i left high school

and made my way to new york city

i spent eight years performing on

broadway and touring with musicals

i had achieved every childhood dream

that i had but i was still sad

i was lost and i felt like a fraud

i moved to los angeles with absolutely

no idea what i was going to do

but i knew that i needed a change

so i auditioned for america’s got talent

and in the blink of an eye my entire

life got turned upside down

my first performances went viral and

in the blink of an eye i got that change

that i wanted

the strange part was i was there

but again i was being told what to wear

what to sing and on and on and on

it was an incredible opportunity that

i’m still

so grateful for but i was there to fill

a role

that they had deemed worthy of their

show

i wasn’t allowed to talk about this

successful career in theater that i had

worked my entire life for

i was this little gay boy who was

bullied and who had suffered

and they were there to save me

it made for great tv absolutely

but i was left feeling like is this

all that i am once the show had finished

i was left to my own devices i had

amassed this incredibly

supportive group of fans who were really

eager to see

what i would do next

what am i going to do next i had never

had the opportunity

of choice in my life

i thought to be relevant in music i had

to write my own pop songs

with big production and minimal vocal

effort which is

literally the exact opposite of how i

love to sing

while i don’t regret any of my original

tunes

they never felt like me and they

absolutely

never filled my soul cup

that voice in my head that was

constantly telling me

if you don’t get this right now you will

be replaced

and you will be forgotten that voice

informed

every decision that i made

i was trying so hard to be something

that i thought people wanted me to be

but

people just wanted me to be me

and i had no idea who that was

i was go go go i was touring i was

performing

and then on march 13th everything

stopped

this deadly virus had taken a hold of

all of us

and life as we knew it had to be put on

pause

i had totally forgotten what stillness

felt like and it was extremely

uncomfortable

i lost all motivation to create i didn’t

want to sing

i didn’t want to do anything but i did

discover

my love of plants like many of you out

there i’m sure

i started collecting these rare tropical

plants and they

quickly took over our entire house and

our greenhouse that we had built years

ago

taking care of these little plant babies

gave me this

strange sense of self-worth i

loved taking care of them and slowly

over time i started daydreaming

what would it be like for me to not let

these voices

dictate my entire path

i started asking questions what do i

want to do

what do i want to sing

you know i’ve always fancied myself at

great interpreter of songs and of

telling stories

so i decided i was going to make a list

of all the artists and the songs that i

had loved

and turns out they were all women

so i put together this project to honor

these women who had not only inspired me

to sing

who had really taught me how to sing

i felt excited for the first time in a

really long time

and it felt right for me

i’m taking control and i’m letting my

spirit

decide each failure along the way has

given me a gift and

i’m gathering what works and what

doesn’t work for me

as an artist and as a human it was

the pause that gave me

the freedom to explore self-expression

and to create again

i wanted to honor the opportunity of

choice

we have all been led to water by society

and

taught how to drink whether you’re a

singer who sings

a builder who builds or a mother who

mothers

we all know what it’s like to feel like

we’re constantly coming up short

we all know that voice in our head that

is reminding us that we aren’t good

enough

productivity and performance has become

the focus at the sacrifice of self-care

and dreaming

this idea like life is constantly

evolving but the reality is

we all have a choice

what would it look like for you to pause

and ask yourself who am i what do i want

to say

who do i want to say it to and how

thank you

you