Darren Hayes Announces ‘Homosexual’, His First Album in More Than Ten Years

August 18, 2022

Darren Hayes has shared the new single ‘All You Pretty Things’ and announced details of his fifth solo album, Homosexual. Set for release on Friday, 7th October, Homosexual will arrive more than ten years after Hayes’ previous effort, 2011’s Secret Codes and Battleships.

The album will be out in time for Hayes’ ‘Do You Remember?’ national tour, which is due to hit arenas and entertainment precincts in January and February 2023. Homosexual is coming out via Hayes’ own label, Powdered Sugar Productions.

Darren Hayes – ‘All You Pretty Things’

Hayes produced, arranged, composed and performed ‘All You Pretty Things’, which is accompanied by a lyric video. The video begins with the message, “Dedicated to those we lost at Pulse,” a reference to the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando Florida, which resulted in 49 deaths.

It’s also a nod to the broader themes explored on Homosexual. “I named my album ‘Homosexual’ for a variety of reasons. The most obvious, is that I’m a gay man who grew up in an era when that word was used to shame and vilify people like me, so I wanted to reclaim it,” Hayes said in a statement.

He continued, “I’m also a recording artist who came up in an era where being openly gay was frowned upon and I experienced first hand, the attempted erasure of my true identity from the marketing department of a major record label.”

Hayes was also driven to name the record Homosexual by the fact that, even in 2022, rights for LGBTQI+ are far from secure. “Moments like the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill in Florida, or the constant attacks on trans people, have made it clear to me that now is the time to be as loud as possible about who I am,” Hayes said.