Olly Alexander: Years & Years single Sanctify is about straight guys who experiment with gay sex
Years & Years singer Olly Alexander says the band’s new single Sanctify is about straight men who experiemnt with their sexuality.
The band this week released the video for track Sanctify, which depicts Alexander as a slave in a futuristic cyborg dystopia.
Speaking to Apple’s Beats1, the singer revealed that the track has a specific meaning.
He said: “I wanted to write a song that was inspired from some experiences I’ve had with guys who identify as straight but I’ve had something a bit more than just a friendship with them.
“I was interested in what’s happening in that interaction, which inspired the song. Also, it spoke a bit to my own coming out journey as a gay guy.
“Then the music side of it, I wanted something that felt like it could be Britney-era ‘Slave 4 U’ meets Timberland… that’s my favorite kind of stuff to listen to.”
The song includes the lyrics: “In the night, you come to me/’Cause I’m the one who knows who you are.
“Give me your confession, saying/Lately, life’s been tearing you apart”.
It adds: “You don’t have to be straight with me/I see what’s underneath your mask.
“I’m a man like you, I breathe the rituals of the dancer’s dance.”
The singer has earned a large following in the gay community through his willingness to feature queer romance in the band’s music and videos.
Alexander previously opened up about his sex life.
He said: “I think if you’ve got confidence and self respect… if you have those two things I’ll probably be up for having sex with you.”
The singer continued: “I shouldn’t feel ashamed to want to talk about sex and try to have good sex.
“If you’re a gay man, from my personal experience – you’re [seen as] like this raving sex-crazed maniac, that’s one of the extreme stereotypes.
“That’s great but that’s not all gay men, and neither are all gay men sipping mimosas and talking about interior design.”
He also spoke about the lack of inclusive sex education in UK schools.
Alexander said: “My sex education was all about how not to have sex, it was all about how you should not get a girl pregnant, which fair enough is good advice.
“Me and my friend used to draw diagrams and be like ‘OK, if you’re a guy and you’re having sex with a guy, what happens when your dick’s in him… what about that other dick, what happens with that dick? Where does it all go?
“It’s too many dicks!”
The singer has also spoken about being branded a ‘twink’.
Speaking to Broadly, he opened up about the tendency for gay men to fancy ‘twinks’ – a term for young, skinny men with little body hair.
He said: “I think the word ‘twink’ is pejorative. There’s something endemic about the gay community where we praise masculinity more than anything else.”
He continued: “[Twinks are] powerless—they’re skinny and weak—but twinks can be pretty and cute.”
The singer has previously opened up about his “difficult” relationship with food as a teen, explaining he often skipped meals due to his body issues.
Alexander said: “I want to feel sexy with the body I have.
“I shouldn’t have to have muscles or look a certain way for society to say I’m sexy, but nobody’s really stood in the way of people taking my clothes off if I want to.”
