Grace Semler Baldridge (born November 12, 1990), known by the stage name Semler, is an American host and alt-Christian singer-songwriter.

Biography

Baldridge's father is a priest in the Episcopal Church. They spent their early life in Delaware but their family moved to Waterloo, Belgium, when they were in third grade. They returned to the US to attend Elon University. Baldridge is

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

. They met their future wife Elizabeth Capel during their time at Elon University. The two married in August 2018 in an Episcopalian ceremony, and the couple's wedding was featured in an episode of the

Refinery29 Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Vice Media. History Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Refinery29 i ...

series ''World Wide Wed''. Their Twitter post giving

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

advice to themselves as a teenager attracted national attention. As of 2021, Baldridge and Capel live in Los Angeles, California. Baldridge is

genderqueer Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

and non-binary, and has stated that "all

pronouns In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the part of speech, parts o ...

are totally fine".

Music

Baldridge writes and records music as Semler''.'' The name was chosen because of both the name's links to their maternal family history and they prefer their music to be experienced from a gender-neutral viewpoint. In February 2021, they released an EP, ''Preacher's Kid'', about being a queer Christian, which they recorded at home and promoted themselves. Shortly after release, it reached the top of the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Christian chart, supplanting Lauren Daigle's '' Look Up Child''. Michel Martin interviewed Baldridge about ''Preacher's Kid'' for NPR in March 2021, discussing their faith and music and playing the single "Jesus from Texas". The album earned support from several figures in the Christian music industry, including Kevin Max,

Trey Pearson Trey Pearson is an American singer-songwriter. He founded the American Christian rock band Everyday Sunday in 1997 in Columbus, Ohio. He currently resides in Columbus and produces independent pop music as a solo artist. Everyday Sunday (1997– ...

Derek Webb Derek Walsh Webb (born May 27, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter who first entered the music industry as a member of the band Caedmon's Call, and later embarked on a successful solo career. As a member of the Houston, Texas-based Caedmon's C ...

Josh Lovelace Josh Lovelace is a singer, songwriter and musician best known as the keyboardist for the rock band Needtobreathe. In 2017, he made his solo debut with his family-album ''Young Folk''. Career Needtobreathe In 2011, Lovelace began playing keys ...

. Their second EP, titled ''Late Bloomer'', was released on October 22, 2021. Like its predecessor, it reached first place on the

Christian charts, once again displacing Lauren Daigle's ''Look Up Child''. Their third EP, titled ''Stages of a Breakdown'', was released on April 13, 2022. They toured with

Katie Pruitt Katherine Nicole Pruitt (born March 4, 1994) is an American singer-songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. Her debut album, ''Expectations'', was released in 2020 by Rounder Records. Early life and education Pruitt grew up in the suburbs o ...

in 2021, and

Relient K Relient K is an American rock band formed in 1998 in Canton, Ohio, by Matt Thiessen, Matt Hoopes, and Brian Pittman Board Message during the band members' third year in high school and their time at Malone University. The band is named after ...

in 2022.

Media presenting

Baldridge has been a regular guest host of '' The Young Turks'', and co-hosted the former TYT Network show ''Pop Trigger''. They created and hosted the TYT-associated YouTube series ''Murder with Friends'', which was nominated for Best Non-Fiction Series in the 7th Streamy Awards in 2017. In 2020, Baldridge hosted a documentary series entitled ''State of Grace'', which covered being LGBTQ and Christian, produced by

. The first episode, "The Life Threatening Dangers Of Gay Conversion Therapy", was nominated at the

31st GLAAD Media Awards The 31st GLAAD Media Awards is the 2020 annual presentation of the GLAAD Media Awards, presented by GLAAD honoring the 2019 media season and held on July 30, 2020. The awards honor films, television shows, musicians and works of journalism that ...

for the Outstanding Digital Journalism – Multimedia award.

Discography

Albums

* ''Six Feet Under All the Same'' (2018)

EPs

* ''Preacher's Kid'' (2021) * ''Late Bloomer'' (2021) * ''Stages of a Breakdown'' (2022) * ''Night Aches'' (2023)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Semler 1990 births 21st-century American Episcopalians 21st-century American LGBT people 21st-century American singer-songwriters American Internet celebrities American multi-instrumentalists Christian music songwriters Christians from Delaware Elon University alumni LGBT Anglicans American LGBT singers American LGBT songwriters Living people Songwriters from Delaware The Young Turks people American singer-songwriters American non-binary musicians Non-binary singers Non-binary songwriters