Years & Years’ Olly: Five reasons we love Britain’s best new gay pop star
By Will Stroude
For Years & Years, it’s been a monumental year indeed. After following in the footsteps of artists like Sam Smith, Adele and Ellie Goulding by winning the BBC Sound of 2015 poll, the electro-pop trio have gone on to score their first UK number one single with King – and if the fact their debut LP Communion is currently outselling the rest of the top 10 combined is anything to go by, soon to be a massive UK number one album too. Their rise has also catapulted their softly-spoken yet feisty frontman Olly Alexander into the spotlight.
Olly’s quickly ascended the ranks to become nothing short of our favourite gay male pop star. Speaking with refreshing candour and comfort about his sexuality before any success was assured, his attitude towards his sexuality seems to have marked a turning point for young gays in the industry, and his relationship with Clean Bandit’s Neil Amin-Smith is not only adorable, but also one of the rare examples of a young celebrity gay couple who are at ease with themselves and each other in the public eye.
So in celebration of his 25th birthday today (July 15), here are our top five reasons we love the sparkly Shine singer…
5) He’s an outspoken gay rights supporter
He might have an avid young female fanbase, but that’s never not stopped Olly (and Neil) from championing causes like the Irish ‘Yes’ campaign and US marriage equality all over their social media channels.
4) He’s got more than one string to his bow
Before his music career took off, Olly was already making a name for himself onscreen, with appearances in Skins, Penny Dreadful and even big budget movies like Gulliver’s Travels and The Riot Club. He also starred in darling indie musical God Help The Girl – directed by Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch. Throw in an H&M campaign and we got ourselves our very own triple threat.
3) He’s been open about his sexuality from the start
Speaking to Attitude in a candid chat about music, life and his sexuality earlier this year, he addressed the still-common problem of PR hush-ups of up-and-coming singer’s sexuality. “I’ve kind of got that impression from certain people. Not with anyone I work with, but people have been like ‘Are you not afraid of turning people off?’” he told us. “But I actually think those people are really out of touch and don’t know what they’re talking about. “I was never worried that it would be a problem. I don’t think it is a problem anymore. I think it’s a really outdated thing to think that you have to sell this romantic fantasy that a singer is straight so that girls want to sleep with them. It’s insane.”
2) He and Clean Bandit’s Neil are officially Britain’s cutest couple
I mean, can we just take a minute…
1) He’s changing the nature of pop
As well as littering the charts with emotional electro-pop tracks like Shine, which he wrote about his budding relationship with Neil, on Years & Years’ debut album Olly takes the still all-too-rare step of using male pronouns in his songs, admitting it’s “sad” that some artists still feel like they can’t. In a recent interview with DigitalSpy, he explained: “I get asked, ‘How do you feel about being a spokesperson for gay issues?’, and what I’ve come to think is I can’t speak for all gay people, because there are so many different issues, and experiences, and different shapes and sizes.
“But I can speak for myself, and that is what I’m doing if I’m going to be writing songs and giving interviews, I want to be able to speak about something I care about. I also believe if you want the world to change, or you want to see social change, you have to be an embodiment of it, so I am 100% for pushing equality and equal rights always.
“I guess that is as much part of the agenda as the music is really, because it’s just who I am.”
Many happy returns Olly. Here’s to many a year more of you leading the world of gay pop.