Fifteen years ago, Andy Grammer stood on the Santa Monica pier singing his heart out for tips. Today, he’s a multi-platinum-selling recording artist whose songs like “Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah),” “Keep Your Head Up,” and “Don’t Give Up on Me” have become anthems of hope and inspiration for millions.
Andy’s done—and learned—a lot during those years. He got married, had three kids (all girls), toured multiple times, created a one-man show, started a podcast, launched a kindness-themed clothing line, and more. His sixth studio album, Big Stupid Heart, comes out October 16th. He calls this album “a fierce, joyful defense of optimism and staying open-hearted in a complicated world.”
I sat down with Andy to talk about music, positivity, creativity, family, “reckless sweetness,” and more. What a delight. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
On optimism, cynicism, and staying grounded
Upworthy: You say that this album is ‘a defense of optimism.’ What is your personal definition of optimism?
Andy Grammer: Everything in life is there for you to grow. So even if you’re going through some terrible thing at the moment, there’s something to be taken from it to grow from. And if that’s true, and you can see life that way, then you can kind of always be optimistic.
There’s beauty to be found in everything. And a lot of times, in the hardest, gnarliest times in life, there’s even more beauty. I don’t wish terrible things upon myself. I don’t choose it. But it’s not up to me. Life will kick you hard a lot. So, if you can smile through it, not in a naive way, but in, like, a deep knowing way, then that seems to be the best for me personally.
How do you handle cynicism, either from other people or when you feel it creeping up in your own heart and mind?
It just doesn’t really get me anywhere. It feels very constricting. And I deal with it all the time, but I find the door out of that feeling is either action or service to someone else, like taking action in service of other people, or in service of my art, or just like moving through it. I’m more like an action-oriented guy.
Wallowing in it doesn’t do that much for me. I’ve tried to do meditation, and I’m getting better at that, and that’s really hard, too. It’s either action or just complete stillness with myself. I’m better at the action piece. The sitting with myself does work. It’s just way harder for me personally.
How do you stay grounded in the chaos of the world that, in many ways, feels like it has accelerated since you started putting out your music?
If you zoom out too much and go, ‘The whole world is terrible, and there’s nothing I can do about it,’ that is very paralyzing. But if you look in your mile radius of your life and you go, ‘What do I have to offer that could just recklessly be kind, or sincere, or sweet? Could I throw a party that brings my community together?’
For me, it’s songs. So, for my community, I go like, ‘Man, does anybody need a pick-me-up song? I’m going to just recklessly write you a song. I don’t even know if my record label is cool with that, but I’m just going to like hear what you need and then write you a song.’
Those steps of action towards reckless kindness, reckless sweetness—if you take that action, then the world gets really bright quickly, rather than thinking that I could somehow save the world.
One of the easiest ones—and I keep searching for more that are as easy as this is—if you have the means, when you’re getting a coffee, you’re in the drive-thru, you buy one for the person behind you. It’s the simplest, dumbest thing in the world. My little girls are in the car, and they now know that we do it every time. And you’re just sending off an anonymous shot into the universe that’s, like, people are sweet…
It’s so easy to poke holes in that. It’s so easy for someone to say so many things to yuck the yum of whatever that feeling is. And so that’s the courageous piece: knowing that you will be sometimes called naive and stupid, and you just got to take the blows of what that path requires.
How Big Stupid Heart carries a hopeful ‘war cry’
Big Stupid Heart is your sixth studio album. What did you learn from your previous albums that contributed to this one?
I’ve learned you just get better and better at trusting the process and knowing that it will show up. So, in the beginning, you’re just terrified as a creative that even if you throw your full self into something, the magic won’t show up. And the more that I’ve done this, the more that I have really relaxed into the idea that it will show up for me.
I have no control of whether it shows up for the world. Once I make it, then who the hell knows whether everybody’s going to like it? But the most important thing is…is the thing that makes your eyes well up with tears, or that makes you feel connected in a really beautiful way, or that lights you up—will that show up? Now the fear that it won’t come has gone way down. So, it’s a lot more fun.
You’ve been a successful musician for a good 15 years. Let’s go back in time to that young guy singing his heart out on the boardwalk in Santa Monica for tips, who had no idea that his wildest music dreams were going to come true. What would you go back and tell that guy?
I would tell him that you can be even more specific than you think. That what is true for you will be true for a lot of other people. And I think I dialed it pretty close to what I’m known for. But I could have even…
There was still a lot of experimenting in places. Listen, you got to experiment. That’s what art is. But experimenting out of joy is one thing. Experimenting out of, like, this is interesting and crazy and who knows what’ll happen down this weird rabbit hole. Or experimenting out of, like, ‘Oh, I got to make sure that I fit into the box so that I can still be able to do the thing that I want.’ I would hold his shoulders and be like, ‘Never do that. That’s not what you need. That’s never going to work. People don’t want that. That’s not what’s necessary.’
There’s a whole community of people, much like that follow Upworthy, that really want music this way. So don’t compare yourself and just try your hardest to make that.
Do you have a favorite song on the album? Or one that you particularly enjoy performing?
The type of person at this point in my career that shows up, buys a ticket, is like freaking out with the hoodie on, and jumping up and down—I know who they are. They are Upworthy people. They’re like the people that are very interested in the conversation that we’re having right now.
And so Big Stupid Heart is kind of sad, you know? And so to come out and be like, belting that, and have everybody be like, ‘Yes, me too! Same thing!’ That’s probably my favorite at the moment.
And the community of struggle and pain around bringing optimism, and seeing it in each other’s eyes, and being like, ‘We’re in the place where it’s totally cool. Let your guard down. We’re going to do this for an hour and a half,’ is very moving.
What do you want people to walk away from listening to this album feeling?
For the type of person that we are talking about, which wakes up and goes like, ‘Man, the world feels dark. What can I do? Am I alone in this feeling? Is it cheesy? Is it naive to wake up with a smile in 2026?’ I want them to be fully encouraged to spread love and to just be in on the fight.
It’s just very courageous to be sincere, like super courageous to be sincere and happy and hopeful. Those are all, like, light words, and underneath, like, right under the surface of those words, is a war cry. And so that’s what I want people to feel from this album.
‘Showing up’ for others and the world
Tell us about your podcast, Showing Up with Andy. What made you want to start a podcast, and what is it all about?
Similar to what we’re talking about, it’s just more people that show up in the world in the way that I aspire to…where I’m like, ‘Oh, I love the way you’re showing up and bringing joy and sweetness and sincerity into the world. Let’s talk about that.’ I probably have a lot to learn from all these different places…We’ve had athletes and magicians and all these people…it’s really fun.
And then, to kind of really put my money where my mouth is, we had this idea that I could write a song each episode as my way of showing up for this podcast and how I like to show up in the world. People send in voice notes of who could use a pick-me-up song. And I write a song every episode, which is so brutal.
I’ll go into my studio once a week to write these songs, and I just listen through the most intense pain of society. This person’s been through this thing. This mother has a special needs kid who’s getting bullied at school—could you write him a song? You’re like, ‘Oh my God.’ Or my son was the only match for a kidney transplant to his sister, and a lot of the attention in the family’s been going to her. Could you write him [a song]?
So literally, I just go into the studio, I cry hard for like 30 minutes, and then when a through line of the universe shows up in, like, a hook way, I just write it as fast as I can. And then we sing one of those songs every episode.
One of the other songs right now live that has been really, really beautiful is the first single, ‘Best Hearts.’ And I wrote that for someone who sent a voice note in, and the idea is, the best hearts are broken. Going back to all what we’ve been talking about the whole time, it’s like people that have shown up to life with a balloon and a smile and been like, ‘I’m here, life! This is me!’ And life goes like pop, punches them in the stomach, and they like fall down, and they’re like, ‘Is this what life is?’ Those people that brush themselves off, stand back up, and then smile again. I’m like, you are my f****** people. I’ll write songs for you for the rest of my days.
At Upworthy, we’re all about bringing out the best in humanity. If you could offer one piece of advice or one nugget of wisdom to our audience on that theme, what would it be?
Action. Take action on the little whispers of good that show up in your brain. It’s like a skill that you get better at—hearing it and then just acting without thinking about it. Like…’What would be cool is if I did this for this person,’ and then immediately, when you have that idea, I don’t know why, but the next idea is like, ‘That’s a really dumb idea.’ They get pushed down, and then you don’t do it.
So, I think that there’s little inclinations all across the world that are not being let out and put into action. And I think ultimately it’s because… like, one out of 15 times, if you do act on it, you will be misunderstood and you will be scrutinized. And that’s just par for the course. dude. That’s just the game.
And so sometimes, of the 15, the first time you do it, that’s the one of 15. But the other 14 are people being like, ‘Oh my god, you just made this whole day so much better. You really reminded me of the goodness of humanity. Thank God you did that. Thank God you were here to do that thing.’
And so I would say, really work that muscle. That’s a muscle we all need to be working daily…these little inclinations of, ‘Man, I should call my friend and just like encourage him about that thing…that’s really cool that you did that,’ and then we don’t. Or, ‘There’s this senior home down the street. They’d probably really like it if I came in and just played songs for them.…ah, never mind.’ Bring them to life and be really courageous about your action-based kindness in the world.
Watch the full interview here, and look for Andy’s Big Stupid Heart album Oct. 16, 2026.
