Alex Newell says singing in 'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist' filled a void in him that he didn't know about

Prior to the return of the series, MEAWW caught up with Alex Newell who plays the role of Zoey's gender ambiguous neighbor and a DJ
UPDATED JAN 30, 2020
Alex Newell (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Alex Newell (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

NBC's fan-favorite musical dramedy 'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist' is all set to return to our screens on February 16. 

'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist' includes a star-studded cast with the lead played by Jane Levy from ABC's 'Suburgatory'. Apart from Jane, the series includes Skylar Astin, Alex Newell, Peter Gallagher, Lauren Graham and Mary Steenburgen.

The series that revolves around Zoey, a computer coder who gets a paranormal gift of hearing everyone's innermost thoughts and feelings in the form of a song. Though at first, she questions what she sees and finds it to be a curse, eventually she learns that it might be a blessing too.



 

Prior to the return of the series, MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) caught up with Alex Newell who plays the role of Zoey's gender ambiguous neighbor and a DJ on the red carpet for NBC Universal's Winter Press Tour. Alex talks to us about getting to sing on camera once again after his role on Glee. 

Talking about how it feels to be back on camera and being able to do both singing and acting once again, he said, "It filled a void that I didn't know I needed filled. I mean, I was on Broadway for a whole year, like eight shows a week. But I guess doing that the same thing eight times a week for a whole entire year and a half, you're just like, 'I'm good'. So this is the growth and finding new things and nuances and singing different songs all the time there's so much heart in it. I love it. I miss it. I needed it."

Alex Newell attends NBC and Vanity Fair's celebration of the season at The Henry on November 11, 2019, in Los Angeles, California. (Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)

Without spoiling the forthcoming episodes, Alex revealed his favorite song that he got to sing on the show. "I got to sing in the pilot 'Morning Has Broken' and I was just like, 'this song is so boring, but it's so pretty'. So I pulled out my old opera training card and I said, 'I'm just going to dabble really fast, dabble and paint.' So that was a motif that I gave." 

'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist' returns to NBC on February 16 at 9 pm ET. Check your local listings for more information.

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