Music fans know me as VINCINT—an out gay musician with a big voice and an even bigger story. For the last 12 years, I’ve called Los Angeles home, after spending my formative years in Philadelphia with my parents and six siblings. Los Angeles is where I came to build the dream. But the East Coast is the foundation that serves my soul.
I knew that I was gay at a young age. My parents monitored me, and I guess from their point of view, they wanted to see who I would become and take it from there. Growing up, I spent a significant amount of time with two cousins who were always at my grandmother’s house with me. We would regularly hang out with a group of boys—each of whom knew who I was. They would always tell me, ‘We don’t care if you’re gay. We just care if you can fight.’ Because if somebody says something smart to you, I need to know that you’re able to defend yourself and that you’re not going to punk out.’
I knew who I was, and I was not gonna fight with anyone about it. Coming out as gay for the first time as a teen and again as a college student at Berklee School of Music in Boston–I just needed to say it to my peers again as a maturing young adult–my second coming out as a nonbinary person who uses they/them pronouns was during a conversation with my mom over the phone. The conversation took a hilarious turn almost immediately, ending with me being like, “Okay, I love you so much, and I understand that this is a lot to take on because your mind is still trying to juggle everything that comes along with me being gay.” She had done so well at supporting me. But she ended the call with, “All right, well, I love all y’all, and I’ll call you later.”
Coming into myself was never an issue, but realizing that, like my father, I had the gift of song was life-changing. My dad was a gospel singer, and his group would always rehearse at my house. I learned about music by listening to them.
How about we take this to the next level?
Subscribe to our newsletter for a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today
My dad heard me singing one day and said, “You should try singing in church.” And I was like, “I’ll pass. But thank you so much.” I did not grow up in church. It was not how I was raised, but it was a part of my life. And so was Keystone State Boychoir. I found solo singing in that choir. I found my love for music. I traveled to every continent with the choir before I was 16. So it was an eye-opening experience to the world of music and the world in general, and taught me that I could have a life in this.
Take Me Higher
I fell on the radar of most people during my time as a contestant on season two of The Four, a now-canceled singing competition show. It might be surprising to hear that I hate singing shows. I think they send a bad message. I don’t think you should be competing with your voice against other people. It feels crazy to me. So needless to say, I didn’t want to do the show.
Plus, I didn’t want to give a sob story. I didn’t want to be the Black gay person who has had to overcome everything in the world to come and sing this song for Katy Perry. I told the show’s producer I’d consider it if I can go on, sing, and just be myself. I’m not doing anything extra. I’m not putting on any wigs. If I want to wear a skirt, it will be the skirt that I’ve picked. And they agreed.
I got on the second-to-last episode of the series, and it ended after season two. It was the best time to be there. But I was also exhausted. I sang Creep during soundcheck because they were really giving me a hard time about singing a particular KC and JoJo song. I don’t sound like KC and JoJo. Can I sing it? Sure. But I need to sing a song that feels right in the moment. And so I went to the musical director, and I was like, “This is the version I love. We could try to change it and try a different time signature.” And he said, “Great, let’s try it.” I sang it in the sound check, and the producers were watching, and they all went, “Great, we’ll have that.”
It was in the middle of the night when we shot that performance. I got off stage, and the clip went up that night. My phone broke because it wouldn’t stop buzzing. The screen cracked, and smoke came out of it because it wouldn’t turn off. And so that’s when I knew something was up—something good. It’s been 10 years since that happened, but the clip still goes viral every year.
Years later, I auditioned for American Idol because the producers reached out to me. I completed the process and reached the judges. There was something in me the entire time saying, “You do not need to be here, and you should leave.” I got the golden ticket, but it didn’t change my intuition; and I told them I wouldn’t be coming. And so I left and washed my hands of it.
Then in 2020, as the world shut down, and a year after my father’s passing, I dropped “HIGHER,” the first single from my debut EP, “The Feeling,” without any idea what I was doing. I wasn’t with a label. I was with a distribution company, but I had been pushing it online, and I was like, “I’m going to put out a single in a couple of days, and I hope you all like it. It’s just to make you feel good. If anything, turn it on, go up to your roof, and just dance to it. The response to the song was so overwhelming. During/ a time when we couldn’t touch each other, it felt like my music was a connector.
I had so many people send me messages, emails, and videos of themselves. There was a woman in Spain on her rooftop, and her friends were on another rooftop, playing the song and dancing. She was crying, and she was like, “This is the first time in months that I have felt like maybe this will pass.” I love giving people a release in whatever form that can be for them.
After losing both of my parents and surviving the pandemic, grief doesn’t consume me now. It’s about love–for my family, love for friends, and love for myself.
It is a testament to how good love is that I could hurt for it even when it’s not present. It’s everything, and I think it keeps me optimistic about my life. Especially in moments when I think this may not work, or this may be hard, or this may not be expedient. And it may not be all fulfilling as you would hope for it to be, but it does something that nothing else can—it fills a void. Love for me right now is paramount.
I have an album coming out this year, and it’s some of the best music I’ve ever made in my entire life. It is filled with everything I’ve lost and everything I’ve gained, and it all tends to come out in the wash when I do music. It has been this culmination of really, really beautiful feelings. And I think it’s time to share them.
A commanding live performer, VINCINT has appeared on The Today Show, performed at Coachella, Sydney Mardi Gras, and major Pride stages worldwide, and built a reputation for turning every stage into a statement. Last year, VINCINT appeared on HBO’s The Sex Lives of College Girls, returned to the Coachella stage, and released the single “I Forgot.”
As VINCINT expands their artistic footprint across music, television, and global live performance, they continue building a body of work rooted in vocal excellence, emotional transparency, and fearless, queer-forward pop ambition.
GLAAD To Share features prominent and everyday LGBTQ+ people sharing their experiences in their own words.
Sign up for the Queerty newsletter to stay on top of the hottest stories in LGBTQ+ entertainment, politics, and culture.
