Darren Hayes announces first album in ten years, ‘Homosexual’ and new single
"Now is the time to be as loud as possible about who I am."
Words: Alastair James; pictures: Supplied
The former Savage Garden frontman, Darren Hayes, is releasing his first album in more than 10 years and it’s called Homosexual.
The album, which is available to pre-order now before being available on 7 October, was written, performed, and produced by Hayes himself over the last two years.
Explaining the album title Darren says: “I named my album Homosexual for a variety of reasons. The most obvious is that I’m a gay man who grew up in an era when that word was used to shame and vilify people like me, so I wanted to reclaim it.”
He adds that it was partly inspired by “the attempted erasure of my true identity from the marketing department of a major record label” as an up-and-coming artist.
“But perhaps the most important reason I chose this title,” he goes on, “is that in 2022 I’m living in a time and in a country where the freedoms of LGBTQI+ people are more at risk than they’ve ever been.
Pointing to the passage of the ‘Don’t Say Gay, Don’t Say Trans’ bill in Florida, he says it’s clear that “now is the time to be as loud as possible about who I am.”
The album cover sees Darren lounging proudly beside the word ‘homosexual’ written in pink neon writing, which Darren also explains was “a word the 11-year-old me used to be terrified of.”
“Now it’s my word. Now it means whatever I want it to mean. If you haven’t worked it out yet, I think it means something magical, amazing, unique, and essential. My name is Darren Hayes. And I’m a proud Homosexual,” he says.
Darren has also released his first single from the album, ‘All You Pretty Things’ which sees the singer pay tribute to LGBTQ pioneers as well as those who lost their lives at the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016, which the singer describes as a “wake up call”.
“Like everyone else, I was devastated by the loss of human life, but I couldn’t shake the thought of the fact that this was so personal. These victims were ‘my’ people, my queer family, dancing and singing in a sacred space that our community had always assumed was a safe space.”
He reveals the inspiration for the song came from a People magazine article memorialising those lost in 2016 and which highlighted the lost’s best qualities.
“I decided to write a song about their happiness frozen in time in a way they deserved to be remembered. I connected that joyful moment to the LGBTQI musical pioneers who have inspired me, now long passed, and those political activists responsible for the freedoms I enjoy today and I came up with my own way to say thank you with a simple phrase: We’ve Got To Dance to Remember Them.
“Ultimately, that’s where my own freedom began. I really came out and into myself on the dance floor and that’s where my tribute continues.”
Darren will soon embark on his Do You Remember? tour across the UK which will celebrate 25 years of Savage Garden and Darren’s solo career.
To purchase tickets, visit gigsandtours.com, ticketmaster.co.uk, and darrenhayes.com.
The Attitude September/October issue is out now.
