Get To Know Johnny Manuel In His Revealing New Interview
Johnny Manuel is a veteran of reality singing competitions having competed on America’s Got Talent and The Voice Australia. Now, having written his first EP Younger Skin, Johnny is ready to launch his solo career and has opened up in an interview with Queerty about his recent celebrity crush, his dream collaboration and his guiltiest pleasures.
Johnny is also featured in our latest issue DNA #275 – First Nations Issue – read more about his Younger Skin EP there.
ALL ABOUT JOHNNY
Johnny Manuel has had a stellar career beginning with his time on America’s Got Talent; his performance of I Have Nothing won him a place in the semi-finals. Anyone who can sing Whitney Houston and walk away proudly is a vocal force to be sure. After the show wrapped, Johnny joined the group Equinox to represent Bulgaria at Eurovision where they sang Bones.
Although he made it through to the finals of The Voice Australia, Johnny says that he isn’t a fan of reality competition shows. “I have to be completely transparent here, I don’t watch reality competition shows so I honestly don’t know if I’d be good at any of them. I’d actually never seen America’s Got Talent before I competed on it,” he says to Queerty.
Growing up gay there can be a lack of media representation for LGBTQIA+ youth. Johnny Manuel says that shows like Queer As Folk and Noah’s Arc were much-needed havens for him. “I desperately wanted a group of queers to call my own like they had. I hadn’t realized it was a possibility until then,” he says. To this day, he still enjoys LGBTQIA+ media having binge-watched Elite recently. Paired with his love of ordering Uber Eats, designer fashion and Gossip Girl’s Evan Mock, Johnny reveals more about who he is in a way that makes him seem relatable.
When asked about what music he’s listening to and what would be his dream collaboration, Johnny had this to say: “[I can’t get enough of] Stay by Alicia Keys and Lucky Daye. It’s feel-good music… Marvin Gaye has an album of covers called Romantically Yours released in 1985, and he covered The Shadow Of Your Smile on it. The thought of collaborating with him on that is a bit overwhelming. I would have loved that opportunity very much.”
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