Pop-Culturalist.com

Michael Longoria captivated Broadway audiences as Frankie Valli in the Tony Award-winning musical, Jersey Boys. Night after night, he commanded the stage, showing his innate ability to connect with the audience. Since then, he’s released two critically acclaimed albums that have left music lovers hungry for more. Well, the wait is officially over. This October, Michael is bringing us back to the movies with a collection of love songs from all of our favorite films. Pop Culturalist caught up with Michael to chat about his new album, Like They Do In The Movies.

PC: You have a new album coming out on October 11. Tell us about Like They Do In The Movies and the process of selecting which iconic songs from the silver screen you would cover.
Michael: It started last summer when I was recording a Christmas album called Merry Christmas Darling. I wanted to put a song on it called “It Must Have Been Love” by Roxette from the movie Pretty Woman. I fell in love with the song. It’s about a breakup on Christmas, and I thought that was a very interesting concept. I wanted to put it on my Christmas album, but it didn’t work out because the Christmas album was going to be more of a ’60s theme. But even after the album was done, that song kept lingering in my brain and in my heart.

So I started to explore other songs from the movies to see if there was something there. I listened to every song from big hit movies from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s onwards. I wrote down songs that spoke to my heart. They’re not all breakup songs. They’re songs about the kind of love that’s so epic. We have “I Will Always Love You” and “My Heart Will Go On.”

I decided to take on these songs that are well known by these brilliant women as a man in New York City who is openly gay, and single again for the first time in a decade. These are the songs that we grew up with. If you didn’t grow up with them, you’ve heard them before. But it was about interpreting them and discovering what they mean now. Dolly Parton, for example, when she wrote, “I Will Always Love You,” it was a specific journey for her. But it spoke to my experience today. I didn’t want to make an album of covers. I wanted them to be emotionally connected to who I am and what I’m going through.

PC: When you’re interpreting these beloved classics, how challenging is it for you to find that right balance of making it your own but still paying homage to the original?
Michael: It’s funny because the two that I was the most scared about were “My Heart Will Go On” and “I Will Always Love You.” These are popular songs that everyone knows and they really spoke to me. It wasn’t just their vocals. There’s something in the spirit and soul of these songs and the words that the songwriters wrote. The most challenging thing was not trying to sing it like they did.

I started to assign each song to a specific person or moment in my life. For “I Will Always Love You,” I assigned it to the breakup that I was going through. Once I did that, all of sudden, The Bodyguard and Whitney Houston were no longer there. It was about what this story meant to me and how I sound coming out of this heartbreak.

In the specific recording, I left myself crying on there because it was authentic and real. It wasn’t acting. It’s just me telling the story. What’s interesting is that I’m telling a story about what Dolly Parton went through with a coworker of hers back in the day, but through me, all of those lyrics meant something different. It’s beautiful that a songwriter can do that. They can take a moment in their own life and release it to the world. Then someone like me will be inspired by it and make it my own version.

PC: What was the biggest takeaway from putting together this album and what did you learn about yourself?
Michael: Well, one of my biggest fears was that the album was going to sound all over the place. They’re coming from different genres and movies. It wasn’t like my Christmas album, which came from a specific era, or my Broadway album, which was all Broadway songs. But once I had the fifteen songs, I knew that what brought them together was making it true to myself.

I think the fact that I was newly single and experiencing new relationships, friendships, and life in general informed my singing in the studio with this album. It’s very personal, but it’s also a rediscovery of these songs. I want the listener to be like, “Wait a minute, I know this song,” but not know from where. I want them to rediscover these gems through a different voice.

PC: The album also features a debut original. Tell us about “Kiss Me” and the inspiration behind that track?
Michael: I wanted to write a song that was movie-related because that’s the theme of the album. Even though I was doing a bunch of covers, I thought it was important to have my own words out there. It was a goal of mine. Once I started to write it, I couldn’t help relate it to what was unfolding in my life. I started to ask myself, “Is it possible to feel this epic love in one kiss?” One of my biggest complaints in most of my relationships is once the fire’s gone, where’s the romance?

Once you stop being romantic with your partner, is it possible to reignite it, like they do in the movies? That’s where the initial idea came from. I was going through my breakup at the time, so the song turned into the desire to save a romance in a kiss. It’s like pleading with your partner, “Kiss me like they do in the movies. Kiss me like you would in the last row of a movie theater.” You know when you’re dating someone for the first time, and you’re so in love, you don’t care who’s walking in the aisles while the credits are rolling by. You’re sharing that final kiss, and you don’t care who sees. It’s like kiss me or let me go. When you listen to the song, it’s very upbeat, and you think it’s really happy with all these beautiful harmonies, but then you look into the words and you’re like, “Wait a minute—it’s a breakup song.”

The most challenging part was letting my heart be completely open and honest. So many times, you want to sugarcoat it. But with my songwriting, my goal is always to tell the whole truth. Let the truth be known no matter how ugly or heartbreaking it is because other people are going through it too. Hopefully, they’ll listen to it, and realize it’s time to move on. It’s about realizing what you want or what you need.

To keep up with Michael, follow him on Twitter or Instagram.