Olly Alexander on how reuniting with boyfriend after 10 years apart gave ‘new perspective' on music (EXCLUSIVE)
Olly Alexander has said his reunion with a former boyfriend has served as creative fuel for his new album Polari.
The , who appears on the new cover of Attitude, released the new LP last Friday.
Getting back together with his ex, says the former singer, gave him 'a different perspective to write from' resulting in loved-up songs like Eurovision song 'Dizzy' and recent single 'When We Kiss'.
Explaining how the relationship led to Polari sounding self-assured: 'The reason for that is very simple. It's because I got back together with my partner. We were together, like, 10 years ago; we dated for a year and then broke up. We didn't speak for a few years and ended up coming back together.
'So, this idea of returning to love was really on my mind. I had all these different points of this relationship that had gone up and down.'
The 34-year-old added: 'Now we're in a very domestic, grown-up relationship. I've never experienced that before. I felt like I had a bit of a different perspective to write from.'
Elsewhere in the interview, Olly told us of his latest sound: 'It felt really obvious. I had done It's a Sin, and my music had already drawn from that period. I wondered if I should do something completely different. But then I kept going back to who my heroes were, like Pet Shop Boys and Erasure and George Michael. That time was just speaking to me.'
Issue 363 of Attitude magazine is , and alongside 15 years of back issues on the free .
The post Olly Alexander on how reuniting with boyfriend after 10 years apart gave 'new perspective' on music (EXCLUSIVE) appeared first on Attitude.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
How life changed for a 102-year-old woman after viral moment: "I got a million calls"
A chance meeting at Chicago's airport has transformed 102-year-old Beatrice Stieber into an unlikely social media sensation, spreading her simple philosophy of life to millions around the world. CBS News contributor David Begnaud first encountered Steiber during a layover earlier this year. Their impromptu interview, in which the centenarian shared her secrets to longevity, garnered nearly 9 million views and more than 17,000 comments on social media. "The secret to me is attitude and gratitude," Steiber told Begnaud during their initial meeting. "Attitude and gratitude, attitude and gratitude." The overwhelming response prompted Begnaud to return to Chicago, where Stieber has lived since 1953, for a follow-up visit. Despite her age, Stieber maintains an active lifestyle in her apartment building, where she has resided for more than 40 years. She grocery shops independently and deep cleans her own home. Building manager Ken noted her sharp mind, saying he would never guess she's over 100 years old. "I always get taken for 70," Stieber said. "Not only that, there are a couple of 70-year-olds that look like they're 102." Stieber was married to her late husband, Robert, for 52 years and raised two sons, Jay, 77, and Dean, 68. She continued driving until age 98. Her philosophy on life remains refreshingly simple after more than a century of experiences. "You plot along and you find the humor and you say thank you for the trees, thank you for life," she said. "Life is a miracle." The viral fame has brought unexpected connections. Fans from Long Island, New York, and New Jersey called Stieber, sharing how her message of gratitude has impacted their lives. "She changed my life for the better," said Carmel from New Jersey. "Sometimes I used to be a little bit sad, but after I saw her, I want to live." The visit concluded with a celebration of Stieber's 102-and-a-half birthday at her favorite Chicago restaurant, surrounded by family — a fitting tribute to someone who believes every moment deserves celebration. "Thank you, God, for everything," Stieber said while making her birthday wish. Her unexpected internet fame hasn't gone to her head, though she admits the attention has been overwhelming. "I got a million calls," she said."I live in a world where I couldn't even imagine the response. I couldn't even imagine we met by accident." David Begnaud loves uncovering the heart of every story and will continue to do so, highlighting everyday heroes and proving that there is good news in the news with his exclusive "CBS Mornings" series, "Beg-Knows America." Every Monday, get ready for moments that will make you smile or even shed a tear. Do you have a story about an ordinary person doing something extraordinary for someone else? Email David and his team at DearDavid@


Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Inside Allee Willis' fabulously kitsch party house that inspired a pop-up book
When you walk into Willis Wonderland, your eye doesn't know where to land. The North Hollywood house, which songwriter Allee Willis first purchased in 1980 and turned into a living ode to all things kitsch, is awash in trinkets and tchotchkes. But also in coveted art pieces and stylish furnishings. The living room alone features a lavender Plycraft chair and a Sputnik chandelier as well as a Weltron Space Ball Retro stereo boasting an Earth, Wind & Fire 8-Track and a 'Sock It To Me' squished beer ashtray. It's all just the way Willis had it before she died in 2019 at 72. And now, for those who have always wished they could tour this most fabulous of L.A. houses where everyone from Lily Tomlin, Paul Reubens and Cassandra Peterson once partied, comes a new pop-up book that brings it into your own, likely less fantastical, home. 'Willis Wonderland: The Legendary House of Atomic Kitsch' was written by Willis' friend Hillary Carlip and Trudi Roth, designed by Carlip, illustrated by Neal McCullough and paper-engineered by Mike Malkovas. And, like the house it hopes to capture and mythologize in equal measure, the pop-up book is a celebration of Willis' own 'more is more' sensibility. 'When you walk in, it's full of surprises,' Carlip tells me as we walk around the house on a sunny Friday morning and admire the Jason Mecier portrait of Willis made of trash trinkets. 'You keep finding new things. I've been here hundreds of times, and I saw something today I hadn't seen before. I wanted to do that with the pop-up book. To have easter eggs and things where you pull and spin and open and that kind of thing. I just think the interactivity, where you really immerse yourself in it, is really important now, especially since so much is digital.' The tactility of the book encourages you to explore every nook and cranny of the house, which does already feel like a museum of sorts. Of kitsch, perhaps, but also of Willis herself. The more you get to learn both about this well-kept building (once rumored to be an MGM party house), you also learn more about Willis' extraordinary career. Willis is perhaps best known as the songwriter behind such hits as Earth, Wind & Fire's 'September' and 'Boogie Wonderland.' But over her four-decade career, she also co-wrote the songs for Broadway musical 'The Color Purple'; penned a Grammy-winning tune for 'Beverly Hills Cop'; and worked with acts as varied as the Pet Shop Boys, Dusty Springfield, Patti LaBelle, Cyndi Lauper and Taylor Dayne. But she was also a visual artist, a designer, a sculptor and an avid collector. With her signature asymmetrical haircut, her loud, fashionable outfits and a penchant for all things off-kilter, the Detroit-born artist made little distinction between her work and her life. It makes sense her abode, a pink William Kesling single-family house (one of only 15 built in the Los Angeles area in the 1930s) dotted with bowling balls and palm trees, would serve as a continuation of her wild, wondrous aesthetic. When Willis died, the question of what to do with her Willis Wonderland was entangled with how to further cement her legacy. Her partner, animator and producer Prudence Fenton, knew the famed house would need to be cared for. And, perhaps more importantly, memorialized. When Fenton and Vincent Beggs — the executive director of the Willis Wonderland Foundation, launched in 2022 — came up with the idea of a book about the house, they knew it couldn't be just any kind of book. They toyed with a sleek coffee table book with gorgeous photos of the house. But that would've been too sterile. Too staid. Willis, they knew, deserved something bolder. The pop-up book offers as immersive a tour of the house as you can dream of. The scene at the so-called 'kitsch-en,' for instance, wonderfully captures Willis' commitment to playfulness as a central design conceit — something all too rare in a world often dressed in basic neutrals. A pink-leather dinette anchors a space that's all but drowning in tiki mugs, salt and pepper shakers and adorned with artworks (including a collection of Zel caricatures). Willis' humor is clearly prevalent throughout. That's nowhere more obvious than in her 'Rec Room.' A blue-hued linoleum floor made to look like an aquarium, replete with singing fish and turtles, brightens the dark-wooded downstairs space and echoes the nautical elements Kesling introduced into his Streamline Moderne homes. Here, this underwater space serves as a repository for 'Allee's Legendary Landfill of Esthetic Essentials.' The shelves, as the book shows, are filled to the brim with collectibles, many of them part of the collection of Black culture, which her friend James Brown first helped her curate. Lunchboxes, magazines, records, action figures and sculptures all but beg you to spend hours upon hours examining each and every one of them. This is thrifting as cultural history. Kitsch as historical remembrance. In Carlip's pop-up version of this room, you can see, among many other things, a crowned Miss America Vanessa Williams Corn Flakes box, a slew of Afro picks ready for the taking, a Harlem Globetrotters coloring book, a Diana Ross doll and a Chubby Checker Twister game. 'It's a funny thing, because Mike, the paper engineer, who's done many other books and clients and everything, kept saying, 'You can't have so much detail. You have to edit,'' Carlip shares. 'And I was like, 'Nope.' I just stood my ground. I was like, 'It's Allee. It's all got to be in there.' But then I finally relented and said, 'How about there's a downloadable poster where people can get descriptions of items and see them up close?'' In that poster, you can see 'Libby the Lovely Liberated Lady' doll, a Women's Liberation toy that's as hilarious as she sounds (you're encouraged to pull her skirt for a surprise). And you can also see a photo of the famed Riverside Market sign that adorns the house's outdoor pool next to a portable bar Willis had hand-sculpted from Motor City-found items. As the future of the house as it stands remains up in the air, with Carlip unsure what the Foundation has planned for it, the pop-up book (like last year's 'The World According To Allee Willis' documentary) hopes to make sure Willis' artistry is preserved in ways she would most enjoy. 'I just think it really captures her whimsy, her thoughtfulness, her creativity and the joy,' Carlip adds, about the house and book alike. 'Everything she created had so much joy in it. I think when people come into this house, they feel all those things, they're inspired to create. I think just the breadth of her creativity is infectious. You cannot help but be inspired by being in here.' Carlip points to a painting that sits atop the fireplace right above a Sascha Brastoff gold ceramic bull. The piece features a blue-hued woman whose irregular features (bold neon lips, perky colorful nipples) are intentionally meant to evoke a certain famed artist. It is signed 'P. Picasso.' 'People would always ask her, 'Is this …?'' Carlip recalls with a laugh. 'It's not. I mean, it's called 'Girl with Blue Period.''


New York Times
5 days ago
- New York Times
Andy Bell of Erasure's Magical Mystery World
For years, Andy Bell of Erasure has been drawn to women of a certain age. 'Women like Catherine Deneuve or Deborah Harry have this innate royalness about them, this sense of fully being,' he said. 'I've always admired that.' Imagine his joy, then, when, upon turning 60 last year, he began to feel that way about himself. 'It's almost like seeing yourself from the outside and appreciating who you are,' Bell said by video call from his vacation home in Majorca, Spain. 'How lovely to feel that way!' The feeling gave Bell so much confidence, it helped inspire him to release his first solo album outside of his hit band in 15 years. Titled 'Ten Crowns,' after the Tarot card that signifies finding balance in your life, the album extends Bell's legacy of making effervescent dance music, but with a twist. Instead of working with Vince Clarke, his usual partner in Erasure, he paired with the songwriter, producer and remixer Dave Audé. 'It did feel a bit like cheating,' Bell said with a laugh. The prime subject of the songs — love — echoes the theme of Erasure's classic synth-pop hits of the '80s like 'Oh, L'Amour' and 'Chains of Love.' (The band will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year.) As usual, the new songs sharply contrast ecstatic music with yearning lyrics. 'For me, love is an unreachable destination,' Bell said. 'To love someone unconditionally is almost an impossible task.' It's far easier, he finds, to love the things that make up his list of 10 essential inspirations. Interestingly, none have anything to do with music. Instead, they show a heightened sense of the visual world though, to Bell, they're intimately related. 'I definitely see things as sounds,' he said. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. I love that illusion. It brings you to a place where reality meets fantasy. I think my interest stems from when I first saw Andy Warhol's 'Flesh for Frankenstein' with Joe Dallesandro. What's not to like? Want all of The Times? Subscribe.