Renee Elise Goldsberry isn’t here to politely tiptoe into the music world — she’s showing up with jazz hands, a 40-piece marching band, and a sly grin that says, “Yes, I can do all of this.” The Tony-winning Hamilton star has been on cast albums, concept albums, and just about every other kind of album that didn’t have her name at the top. Now, with Who I Really Am, she’s finally putting her own flag in the ground — and planting it in about a dozen different genres at once.
“This is all me,” she says, though “all me” turns out to mean Broadway belting, Ani DiFranco-style storytelling, Gaga swagger, and a reimagined “Satisfied” that might actually be illegal in three states. It took her four years and enough unused tracks to fill three more albums, but Goldsberry didn’t want to be boxed into a single lane. “For so long, I was told you had to be in a very narrow lane to be legitimate,” she says. “That’s not who I am. We really can be everything.”
Sometimes that means turning a college heartbreak into “Love Returned,” a half-sung, half-confessional coffeehouse monologue. Other times it’s “Staring,” a groove so slinky her Nashville session players told her not to touch a note of the original LA demo. “I tried to re-record it,” she says, “but one of the greatest bass players I know said, ‘Whatever that guy’s doing, leave it alone.’” The lyrics are a playful objectification of her husband. “He loves it,” she laughs.
There’s “God Smiling,” full of sunshine and winks, and “I Met Someone” paired with “I Don’t Want to Love You,” the latter a Sarah Bareilles hand-me-down that fits like bespoke couture. “They feel like two sides of the same coin,” Goldsberry says. “Sarah is one of the greatest songwriters that’s ever lived, and somehow she’s my sister.”
Of course, “Satisfied” makes an appearance — rearranged for her live band after she realized she couldn’t exactly drag the Hamilton cast on tour. It sits in the middle of the record like a crown jewel, legitimizing the whole “all genres welcome” approach. “How could I say who I really am without including that song,” she says, “when it’s the song that set me up to have an album?”
Her Broadway family just reunited at the Tonys for the show’s 10th anniversary, a moment she’s still buzzing from. “We’re still all so high from it and missing each other already,” she says. Her Girls5eva family is quieter for now — Netflix is in “holding pattern” mode — but Goldsberry dreams of a comeback in a decade: “It’ll be even funnier when we’re older, dressed alike, and trying to take over malls that probably won’t exist.”
For now, she’s focused on the strange new challenge of promoting her art, not someone else’s. “Standing up for myself is trickier,” she admits. “The answer to ‘Who are you really?’ keeps changing — and that’s good.” Judging by Who I Really Am, the answer might just be: whoever she wants to be, as loudly and joyfully as possible.
Watch the full interview above and then check out the track below.
