Spoilers ahead for Episode 7 of Queer Eye Season 2. In Season 2 of Queer Eye, the Fab Five meet their youngest hero so far. 18-year-old Sean is an aspiring musician who largely hangs out with people decades older than he is. For that reason, the guys roll up their sleeves to young-ify the budding musical talent, teach him some useful social skills, and give him the confidence he needs to succeed in college. So what's Sean from Queer Eye up to now, after such a dramatic transformation?
Queer Eye's interior design specialist Bobby, said in a March interview with Variety that they filmed Season 2 right after Season 1. What's more, a little digging can pinpoint when exactly Sean's episode was filmed, thanks to a quick glance at the musician's public Facebook page. There is a post from Aug. 5, 2017 featuring a slick, made-over Sean as he performs at The Foundry in Athens. "Thanks to everyone who came to The Foundry last night and made the event such a massive success!" the post reads.
This is most likely the performance Sean gives at the end of the episode, which means it's been almost a year since the Fab Five made over The Real Sean VanMeter. And since he was about to start attending Piedmont College (a private liberal arts school located in Demorest and Athens, Georgia), readers can reasonably assume that Sean just finished his freshman year there.
As viewers see in the series, Sean is from Maysville, Georgia, and was raised by his godmother, Lulu. She has helped him get his musical career off the ground, organizing his set-list, honing his persona, and choosing his performance outfits. While this is all very sweet, Sean initially dressed like a young Elton John and had his name stitched onto the backs of all of his flashy, sequined performance jackets. It was his signature look.
As the episode starts out, Sean is also about to start college after being homeschooled throughout high school. As a result, he hadn't had a lot of experience with people his own age — in fact, he appears to hang out solely with Lulu's friends. Luckily, Karamo steps in and encourages him to make small talk with some kids his age, and they end up playing paintball together. "He's starting to realize he's just a normal kid!" the culture expert exclaims. "I'm like a proud daddy right now, looking at my baby bird off in the world, chirping his way through life!"
And by the time Jonathan and Tan are done with Sean, gone are the scraggly beard and "Scooby-Doo haircut," as Jonathan calls it, as are the flashy, Rod Stewart jackets. Tan gives Sean a more youthful wardrobe, allowing him one pair of sparkly black shoes, but mostly sleek bomber jackets paired with loud, colorful button-ups and fitted slacks. There are — understandably — no jackets with "Sean" stitched into them. Bobby, meanwhile, remodels Sean's new apartment (which is also gigantic?!) into a cool bachelor pad, complete with a kitchen, living room, and big-screen TV.
Sean's makeover culminates with his aforementioned performance at The Foundry — a venue in Athens, Georgia. Some of his old friends from his first band, Death of the Peanut King, attend, and Sean exudes confidence and swagger as he performs a song at the piano — with "The Real Sean VanMeter" on the side of it, naturally.
Sean has made four albums, according to his personal website, the most recent of which, The Real Sean VanMeter, was released in 2016. He even started his own foundation, aptly titled The Sean VanMeter Foundation, which seeks "to help people find the music that lives within us all," according to the (now-defunct) website. Volunteers from the organization travel around and play live music for those — such as nursing home residents — who may not be able to easily access it otherwise. However, it's unclear when exactly Sean started the organization or how active he is with it on a day-to-day basis. It's pretty impressive that Sean is keeping up with freshman electives, running a non-profit, and launching his musical career all at once.
As to what Sean is up to now, he still appears to be playing his music. A recent post on Sean's Facebook page, for instance, announced that he would be performing at Pelican Pete's (a tiki bar and grill in Gainesville, Georgia) on June 19. He's only posted a few times on Instagram since his makeover last summer, but it appears as if the young musician is adjusting to college life, attending a school formal and posting a selfie of his #OOTD, like any college guy.
And since school is now out for the summer, the young pianist is most likely being pampered by his doting godmother back at home. Hopefully viewers will be hearing much more from The Real Sean VanMeter in the future.
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