Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears surprises fans with solo music video, album announcement
Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears is officially back.
The Filthy/Gorgeous band have been on an “indefinite hiatus” since 2012, with lead singers Jake Shears and Ana Matronic both moving on to other projects.
But Shears is now staging a fully-fledged comeback.
The out singer this week dropped the fabulously-queer video for his first solo single Creep City, and announced his first solo album, Jake Shears.
The Creep City video serves more sequins and glam than a RuPaul’s Drag Race runway, with the singer on fine flamboyant form in the cabaret-inspired clip.
He tweeted: “Absolutely thrilled to finally announce my debut, self-titled solo album out August 10th!”
A product description teases: “The album isn’t a big departure from the Sisters sound we’re familiar with, but adds a swampy, Southern feel — likely inspired by his move to New Orleans in 2015.”
He also revealed the tracklist:
Introduction
Good Friends
Big Bushy Mustache
Sad Song Backwards
Everything I’ll Ever Need
All for What
S.O.B.
Creep City
The Bruiser
Clothes Off
Palace in the Sky
Mississippi Delta (I’m Your Man)
It’s been a busy year for the singer so far, dropping his memoir Boys Keep Swinging, as well as a stint in Broadway musical Kinky Boots.
In an interview with The FADER, Shears said: “Every song on the record is one live take with eight or nine people playing together. It was exhilarating to not feel confined to a grid.
“We basically ditched the middleman, and I was able to create something that was truly my own. I’ve never felt so cocky about anything I’ve made.”
The Scissor Sisters last year broke their hiatus to release a new single to benefit survivors of the Pulse club massacre.
Their track SWERLK was a collaboration with producer MDNR, and all proceeds from the song go to a charity that benefits survivors of the Orlando Pulse gay club shooting, the Contigo Fund.
Of the decision to give away the proceeds, Jake Shears said: “We are glad to support such a great cause.
“Through music hopefully we can help to bring people together and provide support for the LGBT Latinx community in Orlando.”
Scissor Sisters guitarist Babydaddy added: “The community that brought Scissor Sisters and MNDR to life experienced an incredible loss that we can’t allow to be forgotten.
Shears recently said: “It’s important that as society becomes more inclusive, we’re allowed to marry each other, that we keep our queer values.
“People do their own thing. Not everyone needs to assume the mould.”
Shears, who resides in New York, said that he was “violently harassed” as an openly gay teen in his hometown of Mesa, Arizona.
“I remember being in the principal’s office because I’d been harassed by other kids in the school violently.
“I came out when I was 15 at school, and I realised I had put myself into a precarious situation. It was a very hostile environment for me and a lot of kids had it in for me. It was a scary situation. I was very impatient. I wanted to grow up now.
“When I went into the office he told me that if I’d just kept your private life to yourself, none of this would be happening. Tears just came to my eyes; I was so mad.”
