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1. I feel like listening to sad songs are a way of narrating your life and confirming your identity.
2. We can’t police the way people express their sexuality.
3. 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.
4. If you look at pop stars through the ages, we’ve had camp, glam popstars from the 80s — your George Michaels and what have you — but then people went back to the closet a bit, and became more homogenised and generic.
5. The likelihood is that you or someone you know closely will suffer from a mental health condition in your lifetime.
6. I don’t know what’s wrong with me — I don’t know why I only get picked to play strange characters!
7. I get a real thrill for being ‘overtly queer’ in my aesthetic.
8. I used to be scared of people thinking I was gay but now I’d be shocked if they didn’t.
9. For a long time — when we first started getting a much higher level of attention — I really struggled with feeling like I was letting people down. Because when you do a show, there are, like, a hundred fans waiting to see you afterwards, and sometimes you can’t see them.
10. I’m fascinated by technology and how it is changing the way we live and view our humanity.
11. I hear bands say they don’t know what country they are in at times. Now I understand because we sleep at weird times and are always in different places — but I’m not moaning. It’s all fun.
12. I feel like you could listen to any Bon Iver song and it would make you cry. They’re all so heart-wrenching.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. I’m a real left-winger. I fancy Jeremy Corbyn!
16. 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.’
17. 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.
18. I think everyone knows what it is like being in love. It’s never a smooth thing. Whether you are happily together or not.
19. I would love it if less bands were hetero.
20. I love TLC and Aaliyah and all those early-millennial R&B singers.