Olly Alexander on how reuniting with boyfriend after 10 years apart gave ‘new perspective’ on music (EXCLUSIVE)
"This idea of returning to love was really on my mind"
Olly Alexander has said his reunion with a former boyfriend has served as creative fuel for his new album Polari.
The ‘Cupid’s Bow’ singer, who appears on the new cover of Attitude, released the new LP last Friday.
Getting back together with his ex, says the former Years & Years singer, gave him “a different perspective to write from” resulting in loved-up songs like Eurovision song ‘Dizzy’ and recent single ‘When We Kiss’.
“We didn’t speak for a few years and ended up coming back together” – Olly Alexander
Explaining how the relationship led to Polari sounding self-assured: “The reason for that is very simple. It’s because I got back together with my partner. We were together, like, 10 years ago; we dated for a year and then broke up. We didn’t speak for a few years and ended up coming back together.
“So, this idea of returning to love was really on my mind. I had all these different points of this relationship that had gone up and down.”
The 34-year-old added: “Now we’re in a very domestic, grown-up relationship. I’ve never experienced that before. I felt like I had a bit of a different perspective to write from.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Olly told us of his latest sound: “It felt really obvious. I had done It’s a Sin, and my music had already drawn from that period. I wondered if I should do something completely different. But then I kept going back to who my heroes were, like Pet Shop Boys and Erasure and George Michael. That time was just speaking to me.”
Issue 363 of Attitude magazine is available to order here, and alongside 15 years of back issues on the free Attitude app.
