Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke shared “Grounds for Resentment”, a new collaboration with Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander which he teased in a recent webchat at The Guardian.
Said Kele:
I remember reading something that [Olly] wrote about the use of pronouns in pop music for gay artists that I thought that was very perceptive and intelligent – that the use of pronouns was the last frontier for gay artists. There are lots of gay acts that avoid using the term ‘he’ when singing about same sex desire. It will just be a neutral term, whereas Olly understands from what I read that there is a long way to go for gay musicians in being able to describe love and desire authentically.
So I was very happy to sing a romantic duet with him on my album, because I couldn’t think of a precedent of any out gay musicians singing a love song to one another without having to hide behind codes.
And Olly was thrilled by the experience as well:
can't explain how happy I am to have collaborated with one of my heroes ❤️ thankyou kele 😍😊 listen to the song below ! Xxx YAY LIFE !! https://t.co/E9qWTN10Ym
— olly alexander is 🌟STARSTRUCK🌟 (@alexander_olly) August 3, 2017
Listen:
