Olly Alexander: Years & Years split was on the cards for a really long time

Olly Alexander has said his split from his Years & Years bandmates had been “on the cards” for a “really long time”.

The singer and actor, who won critical acclaim for his performance in Channel 4 drama It’s A Sin, announced in March that the band was becoming a solo project.

Mikey Goldsworthy will still play live with Years & Years, while Emre Turkmen will focus on his solo work as a writer and producer.

Alexander, 31, told the PA news agency the split came after the group began to disagree creatively “more and more”.

He said: “It had been on the cards for a really long time, in many ways, because we had changed so much as a band.

“We all still get on and we loved going on tour and playing songs and everything – but when it came to it creatively, we disagreed more and more. It became obvious that we all wanted to do different things.

“But I definitely didn’t imagine I would be in this position until… I didn’t really know what was going to happen so it felt quite sudden in a way and at the same time I was like, ‘Well this has actually been on the cards for quite a while’.”

Alexander, whose first solo Years & Years record, Night Call, was released on Friday, said he now appreciated the freedom of working alone.

He told PA: “When I went back to making music it was a good feeling in lots of ways because I had been used to battling over music a lot.

“We would always have just from normal discussions to arguments about music. That’s just the nature of being in a band. And then suddenly that being taken away, I was like, ‘Oh wow, this is a new feeling’.

“But then I didn’t know what I wanted to do at all. So then it took me a while to figure out like, ‘Oh actually, what kind of music do I want to make?’

“But it was good to have that freedom. I definitely appreciated that. And I think I put that into the record – the spirit of me trying to have fun.”

Night Call by Years & Years is out now.