How performing is "self-therapy" for Grammy-nominated artist Gallant

When Christopher Gallant began writing songs as a teenager, he wasn't really thinking of becoming a performer.

"It was weird for me cause I had always approached music in a very, just for my ears only -- this is therapy for me -- type of -- with that kind of mentality," Gallant said.

"And what was it you got?" "CBS This Morning: Saturday" co-host Anthony Mason asked him.

"I got this sense of, sense of freedom," Gallant said. "It just made me feel like I was really getting over something, I was really making headway and working on a problem or an issue. And just that feeling of self-improvement really attracted me and pushed me forward." 

Raised in Maryland, the 23-year-old singer studied music at New York University and graduated in just three years. But when he tried to break into the business, he was told his lyrics were too odd.

"After the fifth or sixth meeting that I had with some suit and tie, I just realized that this isn't for me," Gallant said.

"Did you look at the music business and just say 'I'm not going to fit?'" Mason asked.

"I said that eventually, yeah. But people kept telling me that I wasn't fitting," Gallant said.

So Gallant went west to Los Angeles for a fresh start, quietly making music his own way and releasing it on the internet.

"And what were you going for?" Mason asked.

"I was going for a sculpture of myself. I was going for making a mirror image that I could really sit back and analyze," Gallant said. "And I think that when I put out my first EP on the internet, it was the first time that I actually started to see a face in the sculpture." 

Gallant started doing shows in small Los Angeles clubs.

"Most of the audience was pretty small. I would say four to 10 was the max," he recounted.

"Ten was the max," Mason said.

"Maybe 11 if I was lucky," Gallant said.

But it helped Gallant land a management team and a record deal, and word about his dynamic stage presence began to spread. Billboard said Gallant's set at Coachella this past spring, with Seal making a guest appearance, was the festival's finest moment.

"What happens to you on stage?" Mason asked.

"I think a lot of things that I feel like I wasn't able to express for whatever reason start to kind of creep out," Gallant said. "I think that I'm always looking for that self-therapy, and I guess what I do on stage is the closest thing to that self-therapy."

His debut album, "Ology," is nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album in the 2017 Grammy Awards, up against artists including Beyoncé and Rihanna.