At 13 I taught myself piano from an old song book, and Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now' was the first song I learned.
— Olly Alexander
All the best songs have an element of sadness.
I get to do my own thing with music. I get to write the songs and sing the songs. As an actor, you have to do what someone else tells you to do and say someone else's words. And you're limited by the way you look and music is just more rewarding creatively for me.
I used to travel a lot as a kid and when I first moved to England I felt lonely and my parents were splitting up at the time.
I think everyone knows what it is like being in love. It's never a smooth thing. Whether you are happily together or not.
I hear bands say they don't know what country they are in at times. Now I understand because we sleep at weird times and are always in different places - but I'm not moaning. It's all fun.
There was just this stage where I realised that people were listening to what I was saying and I could actually say something I believe in and, like... why wasn't I doing that? It's not because I think I have a responsibility as a pop star or whatever; it's because I think I have a responsibility as a human being.
I've done bits of writing for other people but when I'm writing music as Years & Years, I'm using my life and my stories and my experiences. I want it to be authentic and real but also to work as a pop song - I never want to just put in a cheesy line.
I've been writing a lot of songs about my personal life and identity. That can be a real healing process.
I used to be scared of people thinking I was gay but now I'd be shocked if they didn't.
I want to feel sexy with the body I have.
I would love it if less bands were hetero.
I feel sorry for straight people.
So many queer people come out constantly for the rest of their lives, ya know? To the people they work with, to people in taxi cabs. Whatever it is, it isn't the one day.
Well, I moved around quite a lot so I was born in Yorkshire and then I moved to Blackpool, which is like North England.
I can't play guitar well at all, so I had to learn that.
Everyone has a different definition of what they find sexy, so why do we so often get given one version of what sexy is time and time again?
I'd love to work with SBTRKT if he'd have me.
I feel like listening to sad songs are a way of narrating your life and confirming your identity.
The first artist I really loved was Stevie Wonder. That opened the doors to other soul singers like Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin.
Felt really low as a teenager and hearing music from artists that could express their pain in a way that is beautiful and made me feel better about the way I felt and I think that is something that anyone can relate to.
I think all of the best songs are about heartbreak and love.
I want to do a song with Rihanna - we need to make that work.
I get trolled. The usual stuff - sometimes it's homophobic, like gay hate.
I think there's strength in being honest and open about yourself and your struggles. But it can also be a challenge. This is my life, I live with my own mental health, and that is happening to me every day. I can talk about it from a position of 'Oh, I've done this' but I'm still living that existence.
With anxiety and depression, what's been most helpful to me has been learning a toolbox - a set of skills I can use when I'm in periods of low mood or feel an anxiety attack coming on. When Years & Years took off it felt like I needed that toolbox really quickly.
We can't police the way people express their sexuality.
I think the word 'twink' is pejorative. There's something endemic about the gay community where we praise masculinity more than anything else.
I love TLC and Aaliyah and all those early-millennial R&B singers.
I like how it presented this contradiction because traditionally gay people have been shut out from the church, so 'Sanctify' was claiming a bit of that back and saying, 'My sexuality is holy.'
When I meet gay kids and they know who we are, I remember that's amazing because literally every gay person in every gay story I knew growing up was doomed to die. There weren't any positive gay stories and it's incredible that has changed.
I was a fan of Belle and Sebastian. I didn't really know a lot of their music - I only knew the kind of bigger songs because I had a friend, when I was younger, who was really into them. But I have always really respected Belle and Sebastian for what they are, what they do. Yeah, they're just great.
The word queer first started being used in the late 1980s by members of the community who wanted to reclaim something negative and turn it into a positive. It's still a painful word for some, and lots of people don't identify with it. But for me it's a helpful and empowering term that unifies an ever-growing community.
Most of the pop videos I've seen that have any male/female interaction are usually centered around a romance - and that's great, I am all for romance. But let's face it, there are a lot of other sexualities and identities that are well-deserving of some shiny pop video love.
I feel like you could listen to any Bon Iver song and it would make you cry. They're all so heart-wrenching.
Now, to be a mainstream act, you have to be firing on all cylinders on so many different platforms. You've got to have a social media voice. You've got to do promo on TV. You've got to tour everywhere.
My mum listened to stuff like Alanis Morissette and Tori Amos, but she also listened to a lot of '80s stuff like Heart. I still quite like Heart.
We could perform in space or be the first band to play moon, but we want to be the first 'Star Wars' band.
We used to have quirky weird bands that made dance music like the Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode and I think people have still got an appetite for that type of music-melody and darkness.
I am obsessed with Matt Healy.
Justin Tranter is an incredible queer voice in pop music and he's writing for Justin Bieber: it's genius.
If you're making something tangible, whether it's clothing, a song, a piece of art... when you create something that's outside of yourself you take a bit of the pain and it's released, you let it out a little bit. That's my Oprah Winfrey moment.
I get a real thrill for being 'overtly queer' in my aesthetic.
Dating shows should exist for people who aren't straight. They're out there, there aren't enough of them. Whether you try and squeeze a format that already works into something else. I don't know.'
When I was a bit younger, I loved Rufus Wainwright - just the fact that he existed.
What's great about being gay is that you can celebrate all types of sexualities, because we understand that being queer means you might also be gender nonconforming or bi or whatever.
We are traumatized by growing up in a world that doesn't really accept us. Obviously, we've made great leaps and bounds, but I think there's a tendency to force a narrative onto queer people that once you come out... you have to be really happy and really successful and proud all the time.
If you look at pop stars through the ages, we've had camp, glam popstars from the 80s - your George Michaels and what have you - but then people went back to the closet a bit, and became more homogenised and generic.
Blackpool is a hilarious place. It's kind of like the Las Vegas of the U.K. It's by the sea and there's a lot of casinos and resorts.
Pop music has a pretty good track record of embracing queer culture.
