It’s a big week for Olly Alexander as he represents the United Kingdom in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The soon to be 34-year-old, started his showbiz career as an actor with parts in several films and TV Shows as well as live theatre (acting alongside Ben Whishaw and Dame Judy Dench in the West End play ‘Peter and Alice’ in 2013). He joined Years & Years as the singer in 2010, but it wasn’t until a few years later they had their big break. Now, a solo act, come with me as I share ten songs that will help you get to know Olly Alexander.
1. ‘King’
Years & Years became a 5-piece when Olly joined and released a few tracks between 2012 and 2014, but subsequently two members left, leaving Olly, Mikey Goldsworthy and Emre Türkmen as a trio. It wasn’t until they had caught the attention of Polydor Records that they really took off. Their first top 10 track came as a feature on ‘Sunlight’ by The Magician which peaked at #7 in 2014 and was followed by their first solo Top 40 hit with the brilliant ‘Desire’ (#22). It was their next track ‘King’, that catapulted them into the public consciousness when it hit the top spot in 2015 and spent several weeks in the Top 10 of the Official UK Singles Chart.
Follow up ‘Shine’ just missed out on becoming their second No.1 when it spent three weeks at No.2 in the summer of 2015. The group’s debut album ‘Communion’, which housed the three above mentioned singles, also hit the No.1 spot and went on to be certified double Platinum in the UK, recognising sales in excess of 600,000 copies.
2. ‘If You’re Over Me’
The group’s second album ‘Palo Santo’ (Spanish for Holy Wood – in interviews at the time, Olly joked many songs were written about men who thought their wood was holy!) was released in July 2018 and featured the lead single ‘Sanctify’ (#25) and the album’s biggest hit, ‘If You’re Over Me’ which spent 17 weeks on the Official Chart Top 40 and peaked at No.6. ‘If You’re Over Me’ was written by Olly with Steve Mac who has worked with everyone from Clean Bandit to Westlife, Little Mix to James Blunt. This single was certified double platinum in the UK recognising 1.2million sales/sales equivalents.
3. ‘Play’
Towards the end of 2018, Olly provided vocals for UK DJ/Producer Jax Jones’ ‘Play’ which peaked at #8. Jax had expressed an interest in working with Olly due to his unique vocal style and the pair co-wrote the track along with MNEK and producer Mark Ralph who had a long-standing working relationship with Years & Years.
4. ‘Dreamland’ (Pet Shop Boys feat. Years & Years)
At the end of 2019, Years & Years worked with the Pet Shop Boys with Olly co-writing and providing vocals on the lead single from their 14th studio album ‘Hotspot’. The track ‘Dreamland’ was produced by Stuart Price who had previously worked with Madonna on her ‘Confessions On A Dancefloor’ album and Kylie Minogue on her ‘Aphrodite’ album, amongst others.
5. ‘It’s A Sin’
In a serendipitous moment, Olly was cast as one of the leading actors in Russell T Davies 2021 TV drama ‘It’s A Sin’ which was set in the 80s and detailed the AIDS epidemic. Olly recorded a gorgeous stripped back, piano-led cover of Pet Shop Boy’s song of the same name. At the BRIT Awards 2021, Olly was joined by Elton John (who played piano and sang) to perform the track and they released their version in aid of Elton John AIDS Foundation following the show.
Speaking of covers, Olly has also recorded a version of Lady Gaga’s ‘Edge of Glory’ to celebrate the 10th Anniversary reissue of the ‘Born This Way’ album and in 2022 he released covers of Crystal Waters ‘100% Pure Love’, Estelle’s ‘American Boy’ and Lil Nas X’s ‘Montero’.
6. ‘Starstruck’
In Spring of 2021, Years & Years announced that it would be carrying on as Olly Alexander’s solo project, in an amicable split (although Mike would still be part of Olly’s live band). The first track to come from Years & Years as a solo act was ‘Starstruck’ – a feel good, uplifting track – which saw Olly gain another Top 40 hit (#31). A remixed version was released in May that featured vocals from Kylie Minogue. ‘Starstruck’ was the lead single from Years & Years third album ‘Night Call’ which hit the No.1 spot on the UK Official Albums Chart and also featured the singles ‘Crave’ and ‘Sweet Talker’.
7. ‘A Second To Midnight’
Olly is a big Kylie Minogue fan and appeared with her at her Kylie Christmas show at the Royal Albert Hall in 2016 to sing ‘Better The Devil You Know’ where the pair obviously made a good connection. Fast forward to 2021 and, as mentioned above, Kylie lent her vocals to a remix of Olly’s ‘Starstruck’ single. Not content to leave it there, Olly returned the favour by appearing on the lead single to Kylie’s Guestlist Edition of her ‘Disco’ album which was released towards the end of 2021 and featured ‘A Second To Midnight’. Written by Olly, Kylie, Biffco and Martin Sjølie, the accompanying video is a real mind-bender as Kylie dresses as Olly and Olly dresses as her.
8. ‘Sweet Talker’ (feat. Galantis)
To end 2021, Olly released ‘Sweet Talker’ as the last single from the ‘Night Call’ album. The track was a collab with Galantis, a duo formed of Swedish producer/DJ Christian ‘Bloodshy’ Karlsson and Linus Eklöw who previously had hits including ‘Peanut Butter Jelly’ and ‘No Money’. Christian is also one half of Bloodshy & Avant who have worked with Britney, Kylie, Madonna, J-Lo and many, many more. ‘Sweet Talker’ was certified Silver in the UK.
9. ‘Hallucination’ (Regard and Years & Years)
In 2022, Olly teamed with European dance producer Regard to release ‘Hallucination’ which features a sample of a french track ‘Don’t Be So Shy’ by Imany from 2015. This new track topped both the Bulgarian and Russian charts, and peaked in the UK at #56. Olly said the inspiration for his lyrics was an ex-lover trying to come back into his life, leaving him confused and unsure what to do.
10. ‘Dizzy’
In December 2023, Olly was announced to represent the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with the track ‘Dizzy’ unveiled in March this year. The pop/dance banger is classic Years & Years with perhaps a hint of Pet Shop Boys in the middle 8 and 80s electro influences throughout. Olly co-wrote the track with Danny L Harle who has recently worked with Dua Lipa on ‘Training Season’ and ‘Houdini’ as well as working with Charli XCX, Caroline Polachek and more in the past. Olly will perform the track tomorrow night in Malmö, Sweden and the rest is in the hands of the judges and Eurovision fans across the world.
Listen to tracks from Olly in a new compilation playlist he’s released on streaming called ‘Odyssey’:
