Grace Semler Baldridge, or Semler, is a queer singer/songwriter currently holding the #1 spot on the iTunes Christian Music Charts. Their latest project Preacher’s Kid was written and recorded entirely at home on a USB mic. During quarantine Semler began to reflect and unpack their experience as a queer Christian raised in the Church. The unprecedented success of Preacher’s Kid is largely due to support from TikTok where Semler has been vocal and viral about their mission for LGBTQ+ inclusion. Aside from music, Grace has been nominated for a GLAAD Award in 2020 for Outstanding Digital Journalism for this episode of their documentary series, State Of Grace. The episode dives into the exclusionary practices of the Christian Music Industry and served as a launching point for Semler creatively.
Hi Grace and welcome to OLC! How have you been and how are you managing during this covid period?
Hi! Thanks for having me. I think, like most people, I have good days and bad days in this never-ending year that has been Covid. I’m lucky to have two dogs who entertain me at home, and my wife and I just downloaded Disney+ so that’s been keeping us busy.
So tell me where you developed your passion for music and who was your biggest inspiration?
Some of my earliest memories are writing songs in my head as a kid. I grew up very much in a church environment, and my dad was the Episcopal priest and would book Christian acts to come through and perform. That was very mesmerizing for me as a kid. In terms of inspiration, I grew up listening to a lot of Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac, and all the pop-punk bands on the Christian scene in the 90’s and 2000’s.
Now you have a new EP called “Preachers Kid”, which you recorded during quarantine, how difficult was it for you to make this record?
I think it was actually pretty easy once I got down to it and had the songs written. Recording everything alone in quarantine gave me a lot of freedom to experiment, and I just tried to lean into the limitations of music production at home. I embraced a grungy, homemade sound rather than trying to fight against that.
I know this EP had a lot to do with some of your personal experiences growing up and being raised in the church, can you tell me more about that and why that’s so important to you?
My foundational memories are all from growing up in a Christian environment. More recently, I’ve started to unpack how complicated and sometimes painful that experience was as a queer person. With Preacher’s Kid, I wanted to finally express some reflections and inner turmoil that I had kept private for a while in the hopes of finding like-minded people who could relate to this perspective.
Now TikTok has gone absolutely bonkers as of late, so tell me how you decided you wanted to utilize the platform?
Mostly it was boredom when I first started on TikTok. As the algorithm adjusted to my interests, I started finding a lot of inspiration in the other creatives using the platform to share their work or tell their story. The cool thing about TikTok is it can be just for fun, or it can really be a tool to grow your audience and find people interested in your work.
You got your start with a docuseries about “the intersection of human rights, sexuality and faith”, how did the idea for that docuseries come about?
It started as a conversation between a friend of mine after another friend had rejected me on the basis of her religious beliefs. I was venting to this friend who had recently become a producer at Refinery29, and through that first conversation, we started thinking that there could be a show to explore these really difficult subjects that intersect with faith. This sort of turned a moment of heartbreak for me into something that ended up being really healing.
You hit the top of the iTunes Christian Charts, how did that feel?
I’m still trying to wrap my mind around everything. It was really unexpected. It feels surreal. I think there’s just an overwhelming sense of gratitude that so many people showed up for this project, and that we’ve found a new sense of community in sharing our experiences with harmful theology.
What song on your EP “Preachers Kid” means the most to you and why?
I think “Jesus from Texas,” because it was the first song I wrote for Preacher’s Kid. It proved something to me about how vulnerable I could get as a songwriter.
What advice would you give young people entering the church today?
I would say: ask a lot of questions, be specific, and be cognizant of church leaders who are evasive in their responses. I think that we need to be comfortable holding leaders of faith accountable, and I want to normalize that for any young people interested in finding a community of faith of their own.
Grace thank you so much for being here, but before you go what message do you want people to take away from your EP?
I hope this EP can serve as a source of comfort for anyone who has ever felt alone or isolated by people acting in the name of God. I hope it reminds them: you were never alone, and there are people out there who love you and want to hear your story. Also, I hope it serves as an invitation to those people claiming to act in the name of God to lean in a bit closer and be more open-minded to people who look different from them.
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