Antler Drum Dancer

This and that and other things.

[maddysgems]

[yearsblog]

Olly meets Amy, who teaches him all about knitting for kittens.

[antlerdrumdancer]

This might be one of the best things ever

[antlerdrumdancer]

Times Wembley Review

Nice review from the Times. Source requires subscription:

A lot has changed since the last time I saw Years & Years in 2015. For a start, the London synth-pop quartet were in a venue a tenth of the size. Since then they’ve had a No 1 single and album. There was a bigger difference, though, and it was in their frontman, Olly Alexander. Then, Alexander had a mean falsetto but his stagecraft was too polite. Dressed down in beanie hat and T-shirt, he didn’t demand your attention.

What a difference a year makes. Alexander opened the biggest show of his band’s career by rising through the stage surrounded by a cage of laser beams. His hair in a blond crop, he was wearing a red tunic with silver shoulder pads: think Joffrey from Game of Thrones dressed by Barbarella. He gyrated like a lap dancer during the first song, a pulsing power-ballad called Foundation. And you couldn’t take your eyes off him. He had become, in short, a proper pop star.

Some of Alexander’s confidence could stem from becoming a poster boy for the anti-bullying movement, having been picked on as a skinny gay kid at school in Wales. There was a touching moment when he twirled a rainbow flag donated by a fan. Some of it, though, was just old-fashioned cockiness. “I just had an outfit change,” he shrugged, after reappearing in silver tank-top and matching trousers. “Don’t worry about it.” By the end he was wearing what looked like a floaty pink nightie.

Crucially, Years & Years had the tunes to match their frontman’s newfound flamboyance. Shine and King are among the most powerfully melodic pop songs of this decade, and there were two sparkling covers: a sweeping take on Drake’sHotline Bling and an exuberant duet with the Danish singer Mø on Brandy & Monica’s The Girl is Mine.

Yet the most telling song was a new one, a prismatic piece of electro-pop called See Me Now. It was hard not to be moved as Alexander belted out the chorus: “If you could see me now.” I certainly wouldn’t have predicted such glories 12 months ago.

[antlerdrumdancer]

Neil and Olly are "eligible bachelors".

Neil and Olly have both made Out’s 100 most eligible bachelors list. Out is asking readers to vote for their favourite bachelor. You can vote here.

NOTE: At the time of posting, voting results have Olly at 19th and Neil at 61st.

[sweetcheeksstylinson]

Dan Wonton is slayed by Neil Milan from Clean Bandit on Twitter 👏🏻

[antlerdrumdancer]

Olly on his mental health. Longer video than the one on the Guardian website.

What a great thing Olly is doing speaking so frankly about this issue.

[sumairu-hiro]

If you could give an award to anyone in your life, who would it be and why?

[antlerdrumdancer]

He was clearly asked for a lot of selfies that night. (x)

[antlerdrumdancer]

Years and Years singer will celebrate Brits nod with vintage shop

Years & Years lead the way at the Brit Awards with four nominations after their hugely successful breakthrough year. But frontman Olly Alexander insists the London electronic trio won’t splash out too much in celebration — saying he prefers simple pleasures such as trawling through charity shops in Hackney, as well as the vintage clothing store where he worked before finding fame.

Awww... he bought his mum a car for Christmas.

[olly-love]

What a wonderful thing to wake up to!

[antlerdrumdancer]

And there was A LOT to celebrate

Olly may have been emotional during the Brit nominations show, but he had clearly bounced back by the after party.

“After the nibbling and the mingling it was time to hit the dancefloor (...)  but nobody was boogying as much as Years & Years singer Olly Alexander. The band were nominated for four awards yesterday so we can’t blame him for celebrating.”

[antlerdrumdancer]

Olly is on GQ’s 50 Best-Dressed Men in Britain

39. Olly Alexander

(New entry) "Olly reflects the style that my menswear collection is inspired by. He shows no fear with experimenting, mixing and matching colour and prints." Markus Lupfer, designer. GQ says: The Skins and Bright Star actor and lead vocalist for Years & Years is a natural clothes horse.

[ollynyears]

jmoc95: NYE BITCHES 🎉

[antlerdrumdancer]

jmoc95   NYE DRINKS 🍾🎉

[antlerdrumdancer]

Olly is the best version of himself. Mikey and Emre want to bring back scat, much to Olly’s annoyance.

[antlerdrumdancer]

@lucca on Instagram: “Jean-Paul, Simone, et @ollyyears”

He’s alive and doing one of my favorite activities: visiting the burial sites of famous writers and thinkers. 

I may or may not have once recited Ozymandias out loud to Shelley’s grave in Rome. I might have also had a word or two with Oscar Wilde’s monument in the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris (amazing cemetery: Piaf, Jim Morrison, Heloise & Abelard, just to name a few).

[yearsblog]

dylanyears: That’s it for 2015!! Merry Christmas I hope Santa brings you everything you desire ❤️⛄️❤️ see you next year xxx

[antlerdrumdancer]

Good god