Andy Grammer Channels Grief from Late Mom’s Breast Cancer in New Album, Monster (Exclusive)

As for Andy Grammer, he follows the age-old advice of “write what you know.” And since 2009, when his mother Kathy died of breast cancer, the singer has been channeling his grief into his music career.

On October 4, the 40-year-old singer releases his new album Monsterhoping to show a more vulnerable side of the singer, who is known for his upbeat and inspirational songs.

Speaking with PEOPLE ahead of its release and for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Grammer opened up about the devastating loss of his mother 15 years ago and how his music career continues to be a way to honor her.

Grammer was 25 years old when his mother died of an illness. “We caught him very late,” he says. “It was pretty quick from the time we found out about it to the time she actually passed away – within a year.”

Her death, he says, was hard for him to bear, but it influenced the way he approaches not only life but also his career.

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Nick Walker

At what point did you become an advocate after your mother’s battle with breast cancer?

Breast cancer has always been something that has had a huge impact on my life and is very personal and very real to me. But I became an advocate when I started to have some cultural significance.

So I’ve partnered with a lot of amazing organizations on that. And Susan G. Komen is the latest and they are fantastic. They asked me to be the new ambassador and it was a simple yes. As much as everyone knows about breast cancer, there are still more people who are affected by it. So it’s really good to talk about it as much as possible, make sure people get their shots.

I really think there is a chance that if we had caught her earlier, my mom could still be here.

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Nick Walker

In what ways has your personal experience with breast cancer translated into your music career?

I’m doing this single man show right now and one of the topics is like this quote that I read [my mother] passed, which alluded to the idea that good deeds done on behalf of people who died somehow helped them where they were. The way I kind of processed my mom’s death was I did something called “Kathy Grams”.

At shows, I’d say, “If you or anybody is going through trouble, if you tell me what’s wrong, I’ll try to write you a certain Kathy Gram,” a little song as a way of honoring my mother. So I did that for a long time. I sing some of the songs I wrote for people and that was one of the ways I kind of got through it.

There aren’t that many pop singers who sing about sadness. It’s kind of a crazy thread to write a rant about. The age-old advice is to write what you know. So when my mom died, I became quite fascinated with the very idea of ​​what happens when we die. And then the idea of ​​how to honor the people who have passed away.

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Nick Walker

As you continue to pay tribute to her, who was the inspiration behind your new album, Monsterand how does it differ from past projects?

There are many parts of ourselves that we keep hidden and it is different for each person. As for me, I like to keep the peace and make everyone happy. I am a card carrying people pleaser. But I think I just got to a point in my life where some things in my personal life and my business life were more important than keeping the peace.

That’s where Monster it comes from — these things we keep hidden. You can’t really be authentic because you’re hiding a part of yourself. So I was singing about things that made me a little angry, I was a little nervous. I’m known as a super upbeat guy, but I’ve found it really helpful and healing to sing about it.

And the monster is not as scary as you think it is.

Given that this is a very vulnerable album for you, what are you most looking forward to when it comes out? Monster?

Stories. A lot of my music people use almost like they take Advil when they’re going through something. When I get on the bus after a concert, there’s a bunch of people who want to tell me why they used “Keep Your Head Up” for a certain thing they’re going through or my song “I Am Yours” and talk about how they’re walking down the aisle to it on their the wedding. So I’m really interested in a whole new set of songs, probably in a year’s time, stories about getting used to it. And I feel super connected when they share it with me at a meetup.

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Source: HIS Education