Olly Alexander tells of joy when Lil Nas X broke into music industry

Olly Alexander has said he wanted to run through the streets “screaming with happiness” when Lil Nas X broke into the industry.

The Years And Years singer said he has often felt during his career as though he was the only gay artist at a particular event, and it was “amazing” when the Montero singer went to number one in the charts.

Lil Nas X, 22, is a two-time Grammy winner and has become one of the most prominent LGBT figures in pop since the release of viral hit Old Town Road in December 2018.

Speaking to Apple Music 1, Alexander said: “I’ve got to say, being a gay artist, I’ve felt so many different types of ways about that label and going into lots of situations where I feel like I’m the only gay person on the line-up or whatever, but there have been all these like punches and little inroads into mainstream culture, but way before I was making music.

“But now, I don’t know, earlier this year of Lil Nas X… I just wanted to run through the streets, screaming with happiness.

“When he went to number one, I was just like, this is so amazing. He’s so undeniable and brilliant, and so gay. It’s so good.”

The 31-year-old also said he had been listening to the 2021 winner of the Brits Rising Star award Holly Humberstone long before she won the prize.

He said: “I have been listening to her for the past year and this song, Scarlet, as soon as I heard it, I was just, ‘Oh my God, this is a killer song.’

“I watched her perform it live on an American chat show and she’s blown up basically. But I was just very moved by how tender it feels, but it just hits me right in the spot.”

Alexander had a successful music career before he turned his hand to acting, and his third studio album, titled Night Call, is due to be released in the new year.

Talking about naming the album, Alexander said: “I knew all these songs, a lot of them about hook-ups or about kind of encounters at night-time.

“So it was an album that I imagined being played at night-time. And then I was thinking of really other terms for hook-ups.

“And ‘Night Call’, it pleased me because I felt like it worked on lots of different levels. It just felt like something that would… It was a little mysterious, but it felt sexy as well.”