A man has shared how discovering musician Olly Alexander and his band Years & Years helped him come to terms with his bisexual identity while teaching English in South Korea. The anonymous individual, originally from the west coast of Ireland, said he first glimpsed Alexander in a BBC Glastonbury clip in 2015 and was transfixed by the singer's unashamedly fluid and graceful stage presence.
After searching online to identify the artist, he began listening to Years & Years' debut album 'Communion' on repeat. He noted that in several songs, Alexander referred to a love interest as 'boy', a detail that left him feeling electrified. At the time, he was out as bisexual but had never been with a man, partly due to discomfort with his own masculinity.
The man described growing up in a relatively liberal area but where homophobic language was common. He had come out aggressively, later realising it was a defensive reaction because he was not entirely comfortable with his sexuality. 'It made me feel vulnerable to accept that I was interested in men because it messed with my sense of masculinity,' he said.
He also incorporated the album into his taekwondo training, listening to 'Communion' while practising the martial art. He described taekwondo as a hypermasculine sport but also elegant and dance-like, and the combination of the music and movements helped him feel he was 'pulling together the two parts of my own nature' and finding balance between masculine and feminine aspects.
The music unlocked something in him, leading him to pursue relationships with men for the first time. His first sexual experiences with men coincided with his discovery of 'Communion', and he later dated his first boyfriend around the release of Years & Years' second album 'Palo Santo'. 'Olly Alexander's music doesn't just sound like lust to me. It also sounds like love,' he said.
