Hot off the heels of a glorious show at Glastonbury on Pride weekend, Years & Years now announce the 8th and final single to be taken from the record – ‘Worship’ – due for release next on Polydor.
The release of popular album track and a long-standing live highlight, ‘Worship’ will mark yet another moment in the Years & Years ascent. In year since the release of their brilliant #1 debut album ‘Communion’, Olly Alexander has become one of the most important voices of his generation, most recently with his inspiring LBGT speech at Glastonbury, and the accompanying video for the new single sees him once again make a bold and powerful statement about sexuality. Directed by Matt Lambert, the video has been choreographed by Ryan Heffington (Sia, Florence & the Machine) who previously worked with Olly on the ‘King’ video. Of the intention behind the video, Olly says –
When we get the chance to make a video I start by asking myself a bunch of questions – what should it look like? How can we portray the songs meaning in the video? Is there a “statement” I want to express? What am I trying to say and what if it’s misconstrued? I go round and round like this and recently I’ve been questioning nearly everything, asking myself I’m doing enough, if I’m helping at all and what use, if any, do I have as a singer in a band? Honestly, I don’t know the answers to these questions. I can’t pretend I haven’t felt, at times, profoundly discouraged and disheartened. I feel like I won’t ever be able to do enough. So, reality check, I make pop music. This is a video for a pop song. However, the visibility of queer people feels more important to me now than ever.
I couldn’t have been more excited and grateful to work with two artists I massively respect, Matt lambert and Ryan Heffington. Their super charged magical queer creative energy was a real privilege to be a part of. This video is a collaboration between us and I am very proud of it.
I want to stare down fear and intolerance with the queer eyes in my queer face. I want to try to not be afraid. I know I’ll make mistakes, but I want to keep going. I’ve seen the incredible amount of support and love from our fans and I’ve learnt a lot from them. I can only hope that the dialogue continues and we trust each other enough to carry on. To keep making people sit up and think, to start the conversations that tackle identity, gender, gayness, queerness and the inter-sections between them all. I know that I’m not going to be quiet about it.
