In the lead up to the new album, Years and Years’ Olly Alexander talks about what lead to taking the band solo.
In March of last year, the band put a statement on social media announcing that “Years and Years will continue as an Olly solo project”
Alexander reassured fans that he would remain “good friends” with departing members Emre Turkmen and Mikey Goldsworthy.
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In a recent interview with The Guardian, Alexander explained that he kept the band’s name because he “just didn’t want to let Years & Years go.”
“It might have been a bit simpler for everyone if I had just been like, ‘Oh, I’m a solo artist now’” he explained. “But I just didn’t want to”.
Though the bands separation seemed civilised, Alexander describes the group as a “marriage”.
“Any separation is difficult, and I think it went as well as it could… Perhaps this was sort of inevitable”
As the band continued to gain popularity, the group developed different ideas for what the future of Years and Years would look like.
“Early on, we were more or less on the same ship, trying to steer in the same direction, and then just clearly we weren’t any more”
“I love pop music. I wanted us to play our song on The X Factor for instance… But that was a huge issue with the group, because that felt like it would be too pop, and that being on TV like that was kind of lame.”
“It was definitely the best thing for us, to go our separate ways, rather than try to make it work.”
“It was coming for a long time.”
Speaking about the new album, Alexander explained that “all [he] wanted to make was uptempo music you could dance to in a club. It’s a tribute to night life and freedom, and the sex that can go with it.”
Olly Alexander will release Night Call under Years and Years on the 21st of January.
