Grounds For Resentment

Album: Fatherland (2017)
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Songfacts®:

  • Kele Okereke is joined by Years & Years' frontman Olly Alexander on this breezy piano-led number. Both artists are gay, and the Bloc Party frontman chose Alexander as his duet partner, because of his willingness to be clear he is addressing another male in his love songs.

    "I remember reading something that [Olly] wrote about the use of pronouns in pop music for gay artists that I thought that was very perceptive and intelligent – that the use of pronouns was the last frontier for gay artists," Okereke told The Guardian about the track. "There are lots of gay acts that avoid using the term he when singing about same sex desire. It will just be a neutral term, whereas Olly understands from what I read that there is a long way to go for gay musicians in being able to describe love and desire authentically."

    "So I was very happy to sing a romantic duet with him on my album, because I couldn't think of a precedent of any out gay musicians singing a love song to one another without having to hide behind codes."

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