Savage Garden’s Darren Hayes Releases New Album ‘Homosexual’

Australian artist Darren Hayes, best known as the frontman and singer of the pop duo Savage Garden, has released a brand-new album titled Homosexual. This is his first solo project in 10 years.

Breaking away from the restraints of a major label at the beginning of his career, Hayes’ path of self-discovery and reclamation of his truth have flourished over the years. Through the album’s 14 tracks, Hayes is in confession mode, revisiting his painful teenage years, examining his relationship to his sexuality, and reclaiming the experience of surviving a violent childhood and bullying. Ultimately, he is ridding himself from shame through the lens of queer joy.

Hayes first introduced the music off Homosexual early this year with the release of “Do You Remember?” and “Let’s Try Being In Love.” Elsewhere on the album is the deeply personal single “Poison Blood,” articulating Hayes’ experience with depression and suicide, and “All You Pretty Things,” which is a tribute to the 49 victims of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting.

Coinciding with the release of Homosexual, Hayes announced three North American headlining dates on his 2023 Do You Remember? Tour. Tickets go on sale Friday, October 14.

OFM caught up with the multi-award winning performer to ask him a couple questions.

Homosexual is your first solo album in 10 years. How does it feel to release this project out into the world?

It’s very special because, I don’t know if you’re aware, but I didn’t think I was going to make any more music around 10 years ago. I kind of quietly disappeared. I started when I was 19, I’m now 50, Savage Garden was an extraordinary period in my life, and then I had a solo career that wasn’t really a big success in America. A huge part of that was due to sort of being buried by a major record label.

I had a wonderful reception in Europe and Australia as a solo artist. I released four solo records, I played wonderful tours and places like the Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House, and I did have an extraordinary career, but by the time I reached 40, it had taken its toll on me. For lots of reasons, I kind of decided to step away.

So, this record means so much to me because it’s on my own terms, and I’ve been able to take that breath and understand how much of my sexuality was kind of buried against my will. A lot of that’s addressed on this record, in the photographs I’ve taken, and the music videos that I’ve made. To answer your question, releasing this project is very liberating.

Would you say this is the most important record of your career?

You know, I haven’t thought about the weight of that, but politically, I would say yes. In so many ways, there’s been this reckoning in terms of the film and television industry with women, the Me Too Movement, and the horrible misogyny that women have faced. Now, we’re living in a time, I live in America, where the queer community, especially trans kids, are being targeted and under attack to score political points. For me, as an older gay person, it’s terrifying to see that a lot of the freedoms that I took for granted and enjoyed are up for debate. It’s weird.

Even though we’ve had wonderful artists like Lil Nas X, Troye Sivan, and Kim Petras, as well as these political movements go forward, it’s almost like I’m glad that I’ve sort of come out of retirement because a lot of the things that I’m talking about are still very relevant today. Just the basic facts that I didn’t choose to be who I am. I think a lot of the things I’ve been talking about in terms of the lead up to this record might seem shocking to young people. People in their 20s, who arrive so beautifully formed, proud of themselves, and resistant to be categorized as any one thing.

I come from an era where, even the title of my record, was considered to be a divisive and horrific thing anyone could say to a young child. A team of people in a marketing department could take an artist like me, and without ever directly saying it to my face, they could decide to make decisions about me, my future, and my career that would result in essentially erasing me just because they felt that my sexuality was unmarketable. To many, that doesn’t seem possible today, but it still is.

You released a few singles beforehand including “Poison Blood,” “Let’s Try Being in Love,” and “All You Pretty Things.” How were they received by listeners?

Enthusiastically! Honestly, I went into this record not giving a shit. The whole point was, I’m going to be free, and I’m not going to care if a song gets on the radio. If one does, great, but I’m not going to care how long it is, I’m not going to care if it sounds current, I’m not going to care what the title is, and I’m not going to care what people think about me anymore. I feel free. If I’m going to go through what feels like childbirth, then I am going to make sure that I enjoy every aspect of this.

I imagine for some people; it’s taken some adjustment. Even in the first music video, I present myself as a sexually viable human being next to another man, making out, and being sexual. It’s all the things that I wasn’t allowed to do, and I love it. My criteria for this record were to make sure that I felt happy, and my core audience, I believe they’re happy that I’m happy. I think that’s been the general reaction.

There are songs that are uptempo, colorful, and joyous because the album does go to some pretty dark and sad places, and I was tired of that. I came out of such a sad period, so I didn’t want to launch the record with that sadness.

I love that “All You Pretty Things” is dedicated to the Pulse Nightclub shooting victims. What motivated you to write a song honoring them?

I was shocked by the violation of the safe space of a club. As queer people, there was this naive thought that our places were safe spaces. Prior to dating apps, I come from a generation where once you are inside those hallowed grounds, they were the places where you knew you weren’t going to get beaten up. You knew that if you looked at a man or whoever you’re attracted to, it wasn’t going to be taken the wrong way. There was this illusion of safety that was shattered when that moment happened, and especially because most of the victims were part of an even smaller community. The Latin community.

I think a lot about that. When you talk about the queer community, it’s such a small section of society, but this was an even smaller section. This was so specific, a Latin Night. Look, I’m not stupid. I know I have a lot of privilege being a white man because I can hide who I am very easily. Ever since Black Lives Matter, it really shocked me into recognizing how privileged I am. I could choose to mask my sexuality, but when a Black person gets arrested by the cops, they are already disadvantaged by all the prejudice that comes from just existing.

Then when it comes to just being queer and Black or queer and Latin, all the prejudice that comes from the religious struggles and the cultural wars that exists within those communities, trying to be yourself is much more of a battle. So, it really broke my heart, and I didn’t have a voice at that time to make an impact. I get so angry about gun control in this country. I grew up in a country that has its own problems, but one thing we don’t have is mass shootings every day. When I wrote this song, I didn’t want to give an ounce of attention to the person who did it. I wanted to give those verses to the people who were lost at that moment.

The other great context, I thought a lot about how in queer culture, we’ve always used the dance floor as a way to cope with pain. Like the AIDS crisis, which Ronald Reagan took a big dump on. I think of the thousands of lives that could have been saved if the Reagan administration just dedicated some funds to research. I don’t know about you, but I personally have lost friends to HIV. We didn’t have to lose them. They could be here today had they been given access to medication that so many people live with now. HIV is not a death sentence anymore.

So, I wanted to write a song that used Pulse as one example of how we as a community can come together and honor the people that we’ve lost with joy. Not with anger, not with revenge, but with joy because that’s the one thing we have. We have resilience and joy, and that often comes from dance music. When I think back to my earliest memories of the sadness and guilt that I felt for being born gay, I remember listening to Madonna. She would say, ‘Only when I’m dancing can I feel this free. At night, I lock the doors, where no one else can see.’ It’s just this moment on the dance floor to say we’re going to dance to remember them.

At the top of next year, you will launch the Do You Remember? Tour, which will include some North American tour dates. What can you tell us about this?

Look, I am so sorry I’ve been away for so long. Part of it was self-imposed exile, and I have a lot to apologize for. In North America, it’s only three dates, but I can’t wait. It’s been a dream of mine to bring 25 years of music back to America. I’ve lived here for so long, and a lot of my friends are like, are you really a pop star? In Europe and Australia, I really do play these big shows, but I’m not as successful in North America anymore. I used to be in the 90s or whatever, but it means a lot to me that American and Canadian fans have remembered me and what these shows are.

There’s only a handful of them, but I’m going to be playing everything from my first Savage Garden records, all the way through to songs from Homosexual. I’m working with Willie Williams again, who I’ve worked with since my first arena shows with Savage Garden. It’s going to be camp; it’s going to be fun, and it’s a setlist that really encompasses everything. It’s not a show where I force the audience to sit through being like, I suffer for my art, so you’re going to suffer through my new album (laughs). It’s a show that spans 20-25 years of music, and a lot of them are hits from the 90s.

What more do you hope to accomplish with your career and platform?

I want to be happy on stage and show audiences that I’ve accepted and love who I am. At the very peak of my fame and career, I didn’t love who I was, but I truly accept who I am now. I want to re-introduce myself to audiences as the person I am today, which is a lot more forgiving, loving, and comfortable in my skin.

I also want to have fun now. There was a lot of pressure back then, and I used to be so hard on myself. My standards for myself were so impossibly high, and this is me really wanting to look people in the eye and say thanks. Let people see me with my flaws and all. Well, not all my flaws. I’ve been working out (laughs). But realizing that the songs do belong to people’s memories, and I want to give them back.

Stay up-to-date and connect with Hayes by following him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @darrenhayes, or visit his official website, darrenhayes.com.  Homosexual is now available on all digital streaming services, and click HERE for more information on the Do You Remember? Tour.

Photos courtesy of Lindsay Adler