Top 60 Olly Alexander Quotes

I think music can be therapeutic and a really positive thing, but that seeing a therapist is the best form of therapy you can get.

I think everyone knows what it is like being in love. It’s never a smooth thing. Whether you are happily together or not.

I’m the person I am because of all the support we have but inside there is still a scared, gay kid, worried he’s going to get bullied and people aren’t going to like what I do.

We can’t police the way people express their sexuality.

I think there’s strength in being honest and open about yourself and your struggles. But it can also be a challenge. This is my life, I live with my own mental health, and that is happening to me every day. I can talk about it from a position of ‘Oh, I’ve done this’ but I’m still living that existence.

I’ve done bits of writing for other people but when I’m writing music as Years & Years, I’m using my life and my stories and my experiences. I want it to be authentic and real but also to work as a pop song – I never want to just put in a cheesy line.

What’s great about being gay is that you can celebrate all types of sexualities, because we understand that being queer means you might also be gender nonconforming or bi or whatever.

I just feel lucky to be able to do stuff I enjoy.

Women are so appallingly represented in movies.

I love being alone.

I’m fascinated by technology and how it is changing the way we live and view our humanity.

We used to have quirky weird bands that made dance music like the Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode and I think people have still got an appetite for that type of music-melody and darkness.

I don’t want to be normal, I don’t want to grow up.

I’ve mostly worked in weird films playing weird characters, probably because I’m a weird person.

School was like a hostile place. I just hated being at school. I think some people really thrive in that environment. I was a good student, but I just didn’t enjoy school. I found it really tough.

I always had really, really bad nightmares, like night terrors or whatever they’re called. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to move… I’d hallucinate and have really scary visions and dreams, so I wouldn’t want to sleep.

Everyone has a different definition of what they find sexy, so why do we so often get given one version of what sexy is time and time again?

It’s just a very weird thing to have a relationship that’s commented on by the world wide web.

Felt really low as a teenager and hearing music from artists that could express their pain in a way that is beautiful and made me feel better about the way I felt and I think that is something that anyone can relate to.

Blackpool is a hilarious place. It’s kind of like the Las Vegas of the U.K. It’s by the sea and there’s a lot of casinos and resorts.

I get trolled. The usual stuff – sometimes it’s homophobic, like gay hate.

As young as 10 I started fancying boys. It’s a common experience but I just wished I wasn’t gay up until the age of 18 or 19.

I had such intense self-loathing for so long.

I would love it if less bands were hetero.

I’ve been writing a lot of songs about my personal life and identity. That can be a real healing process.

Solitude is very restorative for me, especially because I spend so much time around other people and performing to people.

I get to do my own thing with music. I get to write the songs and sing the songs. As an actor, you have to do what someone else tells you to do and say someone else’s words. And you’re limited by the way you look and music is just more rewarding creatively for me.

If you’re making something tangible, whether it’s clothing, a song, a piece of art… when you create something that’s outside of yourself you take a bit of the pain and it’s released, you let it out a little bit. That’s my Oprah Winfrey moment.

My mum’s super Labour, and my gran. We all love Jeremy Corbyn in the family. Those are very deep roots and I feel like I could never not vote for Labour. Or I could never vote for the Tories because of that.

My lyrics are about same-sex relationships, because that’s who I am. It was important to me that I felt comfortable expressing myself.

There was just this stage where I realised that people were listening to what I was saying and I could actually say something I believe in and, like… why wasn’t I doing that? It’s not because I think I have a responsibility as a pop star or whatever; it’s because I think I have a responsibility as a human being.

When I go on stage and perform, I’m an extreme version of myself.

Personally, I’ve always been ashamed of my body and I’ve hated being so skinny – I had an eating disorder for so long.

I get a real thrill for being ‘overtly queer’ in my aesthetic.

We are traumatized by growing up in a world that doesn’t really accept us. Obviously, we’ve made great leaps and bounds, but I think there’s a tendency to force a narrative onto queer people that once you come out… you have to be really happy and really successful and proud all the time.

Pop music has a pretty good track record of embracing queer culture.

I like how it presented this contradiction because traditionally gay people have been shut out from the church, so ‘Sanctify’ was claiming a bit of that back and saying, ‘My sexuality is holy.’

We have to listen and learn from each other to lift each other up, so we can all live the life we deserve.

I’ve always loved sci-fi and fantasy.

Justin Tranter is an incredible queer voice in pop music and he’s writing for Justin Bieber: it’s genius.

I’m a real left-winger. I fancy Jeremy Corbyn!

You can’t have a nuanced debate on Twitter, it’s just people shouting.

When I was a bit younger, I loved Rufus Wainwright – just the fact that he existed.

My sexuality is part of my music, part of my identity.

When I meet gay kids and they know who we are, I remember that’s amazing because literally every gay person in every gay story I knew growing up was doomed to die. There weren’t any positive gay stories and it’s incredible that has changed.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me – I don’t know why I only get picked to play strange characters!

At 13 I taught myself piano from an old song book, and Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides Now’ was the first song I learned.

My mum listened to stuff like Alanis Morissette and Tori Amos, but she also listened to a lot of ’80s stuff like Heart. I still quite like Heart.

I think the word ‘twink’ is pejorative. There’s something endemic about the gay community where we praise masculinity more than anything else.

I want to do a song with Rihanna – we need to make that work.

I identify as a gay man all the time, but I also like to identify as queer.

I was a fan of Belle and Sebastian. I didn’t really know a lot of their music – I only knew the kind of bigger songs because I had a friend, when I was younger, who was really into them. But I have always really respected Belle and Sebastian for what they are, what they do. Yeah, they’re just great.

I was obsessed with Jeff Buckley for a while – I was convinced that Jeff Buckley and I were communicating with each other through time.

My dad had been very absent, even when he was there. Then he left the family and moved away. Our relationship, it feels to me, ended when I was 13.

I think kids are all focused on their hierarchy and status, and I was low status or something.

I just listen to true-crime podcasts, do some weights and pretend I know what I’m doing.

I used to travel a lot as a kid and when I first moved to England I felt lonely and my parents were splitting up at the time.

I used to be scared of people thinking I was gay but now I’d be shocked if they didn’t.

Now, to be a mainstream act, you have to be firing on all cylinders on so many different platforms. You’ve got to have a social media voice. You’ve got to do promo on TV. You’ve got to tour everywhere.

I’m a big believer that if you want things to change you have to embody that change.