Years and Years' Olly Alexander joins The Rebecca Judd Show on Apple Music 1 today to discuss his UK No.1 Album "Night Call" and shares the stories behind some of the tracks on the record.
Olly Alexander Tells Apple Music About The “Crazy Pressure” He Felt Around ‘Starstruck’…
This song, it was actually the hardest one to finish and get right for this album. I think partly because I knew it was going to be the first song to be put out, like everybody agreed on ‘Starstruck’. But then it kind of just put this crazy pressure on the song for it to be perfect. And we had this big argument. Well, it was a discussion, let's say, not an argument, but a lot of discussions about the tempo of the song. And we went back and forth over a slow version, a slower version, a faster version. So yeah, it was hard to get this right, but I love how it ended up.
Olly Alexander Tells Apple Music Why ‘Crave’ Is The Track He Is Most Proud Of…
This song, I would say I'm proudest of on “Night Call”. I'm proud of all the songs. But writing ‘Crave’, it was a really good experience. Sometimes when you're song writing or you're going to all these sessions, it can feel like hard work, but then I don't know what happens. You get like a strike of inspiration and everything comes together and it flows in the moment. And the song just comes out of nowhere, just writes itself. And that was ‘Crave’. And it, for me, when I hear it, it's like this really sweet spot because it's kind of spooky, but it's also sexy. It's upbeat. It has a middle eight that takes you somewhere else. So yeah, I'm proud of this one.
Olly Alexander Tells Apple Music About The Importance Of His Mum’s Opinion…
As soon as I got the demo [of ‘Consequences’], I was so excited by it. It really kind of represented a new direction and a boldness that I was just so excited by and I really wanted my mum to hear it and see what she thought. And she loved it, which I was so happy about because it so... It's kind of nerve-wracking, but your mum is a good person to send your music to because they're going to love it no matter what. And my uom does anyway. But she's also... She's got such a good ear.
Olly Alexander Tells Apple Music About ‘Muscle’…
There’s one song I wrote for this album called ‘Muscle’. And it was such a fun song to write because I wanted to have this song that was kind of inspired by all these gay guys that go to the gym and work out a lot. And I thought, "Oh, it would just be really fun to have a song that's just like, 'I'm going to ask for what I want and I'm not ashamed.'" You know what I mean? Like, "I'm going to get what I want and I'm going to ask for it." And ‘Muscle’ is just, it's all about that. And as soon as you hear the bassline, it's just designed to make you move and let yourself go. So I cannot wait to do this live. It's going to be such a moment.
Olly Alexander Tells Apple Music About Why He Struggled Writing His New Album…
So this is my third album. This is the third Years & Years album. Oh my gosh. So yeah. I've done it once. Done it twice. And you know what? Every time, it's been its own challenge. I guess if it was really easy, everyone would do it. And I've loved them all in different ways. But this time around, I struggled mainly because I just really had no idea what direction I wanted to go in. And it took me a long time to figure out, yeah, how I wanted the music to sound, like what the vibe was going to be. And there was one song that ended up really encapsulating the whole album and that was ‘Night Call’. Obviously, it became the title of the album too.
Olly Alexander Tells Apple Music About The Album’s Title Track ‘Night Call’…
I just loved ‘Night Call’... I loved how it was a play on words because it can mean a booty call, but it's like a little bit more elevated. It's a little bit more magical than that. It can be something that happens at night. And I'd also been really into this character that I was trying to express in these songs that was confident, that wasn't afraid to ask for what they wanted. And that was kind of a side to myself that I hadn't really expressed before so much, I would say, in previous Years & Years albums. So it took a while to kind of like, yeah, like figure out how to feel good doing that.
