Olly Alexander: ‘I can’t believe this year is nearly over. It’s been quite the rollercoaster’

Then in March he announced he had parted ways with his Years & Years bandmates Mikey Goldsworthy and Emre Turkmen but would continue as a solo project. And now he is gearing up to release his first album as a bona fide solo artist – a personal collection of songs that are a definite departure from his previous work.

“It’s fun to talk about this album,” he reflects over the phone from his London home, sipping on his morning coffee. “Because it was really my escape during lockdown.

“It’s a project I’ve been working on for like three years – and it took way longer than I thought it would. So the fact that it is coming out and it has reached the finish line, and I feel happy with it, it’s definitely nice to focus on that happening.”

It’s been a journey for the actor and singer, who was born in North Yorkshire and attended school in Gloucestershire and Wales.

Five years after Years & Years formed in London, Alexander got his first true taste of fame when their synthpop-y single King went to number one in the UK – and entered the top ten all around Europe. Suddenly they were headlining festivals abroad and Alexander, who is gay, was a spokesperson for the LGBT community.

But Alexander notices a different kind of attention now, following his starring role as Ritchie Tozer in the Russell T Davies-created It’s A Sin, which chronicles the lives of a group of gay friends living in London during the 1980s Aids crisis.

“It was a surreal experience because I don’t think anything can prepare you for the first time you feel like you’re becoming famous,” he explains. “I thought I had experienced what that felt like in 2015, when King went to number one and Years & Years took off. But then after It’s A Sin it did feel like this whole new experience.

“I was like, ‘Wow, this is a bit next level’, because people really felt connected to that show, so it was quite overwhelming. Off the back of the pandemic and everything feeling like we live inside a dystopian reality, it was quite strange. I can’t believe this year is nearly over. It’s been quite the rollercoaster.”

With his album finally finished, Alexander is pleased to be talking about music again.

Night Call, which is due for release in January, is not a radical departure from the Years & Years sound, but it is adventurous enough to please old fans and win over new ones as well. The influence of French house (think Daft Punk, Stardust and Cassius), Pet Shop Boys, George Michael and classic disco runs deep.

“I had come off the back of making It’s A Sin and really immersing myself in 80s music,” he recalls. “An incredible era for music. So much of it really captured the spirit of liberation on the dance floor, the euphoria despite the pain, and how that narrative took on so many different perspectives and was so relevant to that time with people suffering with HIV and Aids.”

Night Call charts Alexander’s own sexual history as a gay man and looks at how lockdown has changed how we think about intimacy. “That ever-evolving part of my identity,” he says.

While Alexander may have found a new creative freedom in the studio, he is keen to stress his relationship with his former bandmates remains friendly. Goldsworthy will still play live with Years & Years, while Turkmen will focus on his solo work as a writer and producer.

“It had been on the cards for a really long time, in many ways, because we had changed so much as a band,” he says of their split. “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’.”

A guiding figure among the chaos of the last 12 months has been one Sir Elton John, who reached out to Alexander following the success of It’s A Sin.

The pair later delivered an emotional version of the Pet Shop Boys track that inspired the programme’s name at the Brit Awards, against a backdrop of multi-coloured strobes. A single of the track was released to raise money for the Elton John Aids Foundation, and Sir Elton’s husband David Furnish appeared before the performance to highlight its work.

“It meant a lot to him, having lived through that period,” Alexander offers. “So I got a phone call from him one day. I can’t even describe what it’s like when Elton John calls you and his voice is coming down the phone.”

He adds: “He’s so passionate about music still, and he gets such a kick out of collaborating with other artists. He’s so good at lifting up other artists and to be around him, he is like a little kid, he gets so excited about new music.

“I was like, ‘Wow, it’s amazing to see another part of this legend that I’ve grown up with’. It’s a very humbling experience because he’s been through so much and done so much.”

After a rollercoaster of a year, Alexander plans to focus on his music in 2022. But that’s not to say he has ruled out a return to the screen entirely.

“I don’t have any plans to do any acting in the near future,” he says. “If something came along that was amazing I would try and do it. But I don’t know. I would quite like to develop something myself.”

– Night Call by Years & Years is released on January 7.