Quotes from Olly Alexander

Everyone has a different definition of what they find sexy, so why do we so often get given one version of what sexy is time and time again?

My dad had been very absent, even when he was there. Then he left the family and moved away. Our relationship, it feels to me, ended when I was 13.

It's just a very weird thing to have a relationship that's commented on by the world wide web.

My mum's super Labour, and my gran. We all love Jeremy Corbyn in the family. Those are very deep roots and I feel like I could never not vote for Labour. Or I could never vote for the Tories because of that.

Pop music has a pretty good track record of embracing queer culture.

I like how it presented this contradiction because traditionally gay people have been shut out from the church, so 'Sanctify' was claiming a bit of that back and saying, 'My sexuality is holy.'

At 13 I taught myself piano from an old song book, and Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now' was the first song I learned.

I had such intense self-loathing for so long.

So many queer people come out constantly for the rest of their lives, ya know? To the people they work with, to people in taxi cabs. Whatever it is, it isn't the one day.

I love TLC and Aaliyah and all those early-millennial R&B singers.

Personally, I've always been ashamed of my body and I've hated being so skinny - I had an eating disorder for so long.

Well, I moved around quite a lot so I was born in Yorkshire and then I moved to Blackpool, which is like North England.

I've been taking medication for depression and anxiety ever since I was a teenager and I've had treatment for both.

It's like any other part of your body - your mental health gets sick, and it needs treatment.

I had what would now be called sleep paralysis, from six years old until maybe I was 16.

I think everyone knows what it is like being in love. It's never a smooth thing. Whether you are happily together or not.

I think the reason I've been so committed to advocacy is because I see so many people in pain.

Solitude is very restorative for me, especially because I spend so much time around other people and performing to people.

I think anything that happens to you between the ages of zero to 18, and probably further on, has a lasting impact on you.

I feel like listening to sad songs are a way of narrating your life and confirming your identity.

What's great about being gay is that you can celebrate all types of sexualities, because we understand that being queer means you might also be gender nonconforming or bi or whatever.

I used to travel a lot as a kid and when I first moved to England I felt lonely and my parents were splitting up at the time.

My mum listened to stuff like Alanis Morissette and Tori Amos, but she also listened to a lot of '80s stuff like Heart. I still quite like Heart.

There's entrenched homophobia behind the scenes at all levels of the music industry.