Olly Alexander teams up with Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke for groundbreaking duet
By Will Stroude
Olly Alexander has teamed up with Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke for a groundbreaking new duet.
The pair of openly gay artists, who are among the most high-profile LGBT+ musicians in the UK, have collaborated on a romantic new track about a same-sex relationship, which it’s hoped will help break down the lasting taboo about mainstream gay musicians acknowledging their sexuality in their songs.
‘Grounds For Resentment’ sees Olly and Kele sing about a romance from two different perspectives, marking a still all-too-rare rare example of two artists of the same sex singing to each other about a gay relationship.
The lilting, piano-led track features Kele’s upcoming third studio album, Fatherland, and the 35-year-old indie rock star says he was inspired by previous remarks Olly made about the lack of same-sex pronouns used in songs by otherwise out and proud musicians.
“I remember reading something that [Olly] wrote about the use of pronouns in pop music for gay artists that I thought that was very perceptive and intelligent – that the use of pronouns was the last frontier for gay artists,” Okereke explained recently in an interview with The Guardian.
“There are lots of gay acts that avoid using the term he when singing about same sex desire. It will just be a neutral term, whereas Olly understands from what I read that there is a long way to go for gay musicians in being able to describe love and desire authentically.
“So I was very happy to sing a romantic duet with him on my album, because I couldn’t think of a precedent of any out gay musicians singing a love song to one another without having to hide behind codes.”
Kele releases Fatherland on October 6 ahead of a 10-date UK tour. Tickets are available from 9am on Friday 4 August and you can check out the full list of dates below:
Monday 16 October – Deaf Institute, Manchester
Tuesday 17 October – The Cluny 2, Tyne & Wear
Wednesday 18 October – Saint Luke’s, Glasgow
Friday 20 October – The Chapel, Leeds
Saturday 21 October – Arts Club Loft, Liverpool
Sunday 22 October – O2 Institute 3, Birmingham
Tuesday 24 October – Ramsgate Music Hall, Ramsgate
Wednesday 25 October – Islington Assembly Hall, London
Thursday 26 October – Rialto Theatre, Brighton
Friday 27 October – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
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