BILLY CULLUM ON HIS NEW SINGLE, HIS ROLE IN IT’S A SIN AND EMBRACING HIS QUEERNESS
“The success of ‘It’s A Sin’ has proved there’s a hunger for visual queerness, and I think now more than ever it’s needed”
Image Credit: Stafi Samaki
“I’ve always been writing, but I think in the past I’ve been a bit nervous to step out of myself and – in the words of ‘The Greatest Showman’ – really say “right, this is me!”’, Billy Cullum laughs on our Zoom interview, which could have easily lasted all afternoon.This aspect of insecurity seems somewhat hard to imagine in this London-based musician and actor; friendly and open, Cullum is now confident in himself and his art, not least due to its unashamed foregrounding of same-sex love.
This point is epitomised by Cullum’s new single ‘Kiss Away’, which marks the beginning of his self-described ‘new era’ of music, and, fittingly, opens with the line ‘the boy is mine’. A marked departure from the material on his 2017 album ‘Lonely Hearts Club’, the release of ‘Kiss Away’ represents the first time he has explicitly referred to the subject of a track using male pronouns, as opposed to a more ambiguous ‘you’. “This is the first time I’ve properly stepped into my queerness in my music, I guess”, Cullum acknowledges. “I was thinking about what the best introduction would be for the people who have already listened to my music and liked it, and I just thought “if you enjoy [the new material], come along for this ride – it’s going to be incredible. If you don’t, well then… bugger off””, he laughs. “I was nervous because there’s a lot of people who know I’m queer, but then having that put into your art feels really exposing in a weird way. But I was also so excited, because it feels so right. For the first time I’m really doing me, and I’ve been so excited to share that with everyone”.
However, that’s not to say that expressing his queerness more openly has been entirely smooth sailing for Cullum, as he explains some of the ignorance he has encountered from industry folk: “I remember playing ‘Kiss Away’ to some people and them immediately comparing me to artists like Sam Smith. They were trying to make it part of the music but no – musically, we’re not similar, and I’m not similar to MNEK either!”, he laughs exasperatedly, “the only thing we have in common is queerness”. This temptation to group queer artists together – as if their sexuality is a genre – is indicative of a lack of tact and cultural intelligence within the industry more broadly, as Cullum’s anecdotes succinctly demonstrate. “It was actually in the last meeting I had, I remember them talking about how “they don’t know whether what I’m saying, and my purpose, is really ‘relevant’”. You can sense from someone what they’re going on about, and I’m pretty sure from other words that were said that it was that they didn’t quite know how to handle maybe selling or pitching a queer artist – a lot of the music industry feels like it’s taking a risk doing that”.
“It’s not a controversial topic, what I’m singing about, not at all. There are millions of pop songs that talk about that first touch, that first kiss, that little bit of attraction”
Industry ignorance aside, Cullum’s wholehearted musical embrace of his queerness has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response from individuals and larger platforms alike. “[‘Kiss Away’] has made Spotify’s New Music Friday playlists, the new Pop UK playlist, and then Grindr put it on their playlist; that has a big gay following, so I’m having so many messages come through saying “it’s so refreshing to hear a song like this about our community!”. And isn’t that mad – that it’s just a cute little love song, really? It’s creating that reaction in people because there aren’t enough of those songs out there”. There’s a strange contradiction in the idea that ‘Kiss Away’ is notable – and brilliant – because of its explicit queerness, but simultaneously that this aspect of the song shouldn’t necessarily have to be worth commenting on. Cullum agrees, explaining that “it’s not a controversial topic, what I’m singing about, not at all. There are millions of pop songs that talk about that first touch, that first kiss, that little bit of attraction. But the fact that it’s same-sex attraction – it’s causing a talking point, and it’s funny that that’s happening in the first place”.
Of course, ‘Kiss Away’ has been received in the immediate wake of Channel 4 drama ‘It’s A Sin’, which became a national talking point following its phenomenal success and in which Cullum himself had an acting role. He played a young man named Hector, with whom Olly Alexander’s character Ritchie has an intimate experience at the beginning of episode two in Ritchie’s hometown on the Isle of Wight. While only a relatively short scene, the interaction between Cullum’s and Alexander’s characters is pivotal in reflecting the changing attitudes towards HIV/AIDS – and therefore queer people – in Britain more broadly. Cullum agrees, explaining that “Russel’s writing just gets you in the thick of these two young guys and their sexual attraction, and then just Ritchie’s mention of the word ‘London’ switches it. You see the fear start bubbling away inside Hector, that fear of the unknown, and so that scene was showing the lack of knowledge that everyone had around that time about the situation”.
Prior to ‘It’s A Sin’, Cullum had extensive experience on stage, but the Channel 4 drama marked his first foray into the world of screen acting. “And it’s so different!”, he exclaims, “on stage there’s so much pressure to deliver each night to sell out audiences, and I get quite a bit of anxiety, on screen it feels like the real world for your character, so I felt so much more chilled on set then I would maybe on stage. It was like real life, just with words in your mouth”.
“That’s one of the things which leaps out from ‘It’s A Sin’, the authenticity. When I finished that last episode I literally couldn’t sleep, and for a good week it was so thick in my mind”
Indeed, part of the immense power of ‘It’s A Sin’ stems from the fact that its story is rooted in reality, something which Cullum is all too aware of: “That’s one of the things which leaps out from ‘It’s A Sin’, the authenticity. When I finished that last episode I literally couldn’t sleep, and for a good week it was so thick in my mind. It’s that line [in the show], isn’t it? “If this had happened to the heterosexual boys, there’d be absolute uproar”. I think people are starting to pick up on that because of this series, and the amount of people that have watched it is staggering – I think over 19 million people now. I was blindsided by it, in a way, and considering my part was so small I was welcomed by absolutely everyone from the get-go. I literally cannot believe I’m a part of it”.
The overwhelming response to ‘It’s A Sin’ is perhaps indicative of the lack of authentic queer stories mainstream audiences are exposed to, yet equally demonstrates that there’s not just a market for them, but a desire. As a cultural moment, there’s never been a better time for Cullum to be fully embracing his queerness in his music; in fact, it’s safe to say that the existing buzz around ‘Kiss Away’ is only going to be accentuated by the release of its accompanying music video, which features Cullum dancing in a beautiful, contemporary-tinged dialogue with friend and fellow ‘It’s A Sin’ actor, Omari Douglas. “I wanted it to be visually queer. It’s a special video and I’m really proud of it – I guess purely because of the fact that it’s two guys dancing in a really openly queer song, and I can’t think if I’ve seen that before”. Cullum’s passion for and pride in his work simply spills out when he speaks, and this enthusiasm is utterly infectious. “Actually, can I share my screen on here?”, he asks, eyes lighting up at the realisation that we don’t just have to talk about the video; “I can give you a sneak peek!”.
“Can you see this?”, he asks hopefully, in the manner of a university lecturer still getting to grips with the technical aspects of our enforced online communication. I respond affirmatively and he grins, pressing play: “I’ve always wanted to dance in one of my music videos! My friend Leanne Pinder was the choreographer of the video, and she completely got every little nuance of the lyrics and has interpreted it so beautifully. When [the song] goes into the middle eight, the dance goes into this tight unison thing where we’re mirroring each other’s movements and then it breaks up again; it’s done exquisitely. Leanne is a genius”.
“From my personal experience, working with female creatives definitely brings out extra layers”
Interestingly, this harmonious working relationship is something which Cullum partially attributes to Pinder’s gender, and also cites as characteristic of his past work with producer Andrea Rocha: “from my personal experience, working with female creatives definitely brings out extra layers. Most of my friends are female so I have this affinity with women to be able to speak more freely than I can with, say, straight men”. Specifically referring to his work with Rocha, Cullum critiques the enduring lack of diversity within certain areas of the industry, commenting that “I haven’t worked with a hell of a lot of producers, but out of those only one was female, which is mental. And working with a female producer was so liberating! It was the first time in a studio I actually talked about real issues, and it made such an alteration to how I approached my songwriting – I’m very grateful to her for bringing that out in me”.
Regarding the writing process for this new era of music, Cullum explains that, unsurprisingly, lockdown had a significant impact. “The way the new stuff has worked, I’ve done it all literally here on this”, he says as he gestures to where he’s sat at home, holding up what he affectionately calls “my lovely shitty keyboard”. “I do the most basic production, so it gives my incredible producer Jamie – known as J Mac – the idea of what I want it to sound like. Then when we go into the studio, I guess it’s sort of like having the outline of a picture, and together we colour it in”. Does he have any particular sources of inspiration? “Over lockdown what I have got into is writing for other voices, which I really love and think the acting side of things probably helps with, but if it’s for me as an artist, lyrically it has to stem from a place of experience. Musically, sometimes it’s a beat or a chord which might influence what I’m going to write, or I could wake up in the middle of the night with an idea and try to get it onto my phone like “la la la””, he laughs, singing badly into his hand as if it’s a mic.
‘Kiss Away’ itself is an upbeat pop track reminiscent in parts of Christine and the Queens or Charli XCX, but also has a somewhat elusive quality – you can hear aspects of different artists in different parts of the track, but as a whole it doesn’t fully align sonically with any of them. Cullum agrees, explaining that this genre ambiguity is also present in the other new material he’s yet to release. “I guess it does have a soft pop vibe to it, there’s definitely elements where I go a little bit folky at times, and I think it does dive into indie-pop a bit too. But then the third single coming out is definitely heavily influenced by early noughties R&B, but then it’s led by an acoustic guitar, but it also has pumping bass moments…”, he trails off, laughing. “I think it’s very coherent, but you can see how my inspiration shifts from track to track. With ‘Boy Bye Bye’, that third track, I was listening to mainly Destiny’s Child that morning and you can definitely hear that influence”.
Image Credit: Stafi Samaki
Such a smorgasbord of influences is in itself a marker of how much Cullum has matured and developed during his hiatus from releasing music, both professionally and personally. “When I was writing ‘Lonely Hearts Club’, I was influenced by whatever was big at the time because I wanted to please major labels. I am so happy with that body of work because it really represented me at the time and my love of pop, but I don’t think I was as clued up as I am now in terms of who I am as an artist”. He pauses for a moment, reflecting, “and I wasn’t out [as queer] when I started recording ‘Lonely Hearts Club’, so that’s got to have a huge impact on how I write and approach going into the studio! I’m so different now – no shits given, not a people pleaser, not trying to be anyone else”.
“It’s more in the pop world of Maggie Rogers and HAIM than One Direction or Little Mix, which is a very different thing”
Lyrically, that much is evident, but this newfound authenticity and freshness is equally present in the melody and beat of ‘Kiss Away’, which sound unmistakably more modern than his previous work. This difference reflects a broader cultural shift in pop music away from the cookie-cutter, talent show groups of a few years ago towards the prevalence of more diverse and experimental sounds in the charts, and Cullum neatly encapsulates this shift when he says: “it’s more in the pop world of Maggie Rogers and HAIM than One Direction or Little Mix, which is a very different thing. I knew I wanted to venture away slightly from that clean pop, and I think that’s achieved because there’s a lot of analogue work on the production. It has elements of live music in it which I love, because I didn’t want it to feel overly digital; it still has that element of polish, but it’s not so overdone that you can’t feel the emotion”.
One of the aspects of ‘Kiss Away’ which best epitomises this playful and deliberately less ‘done’ approach to production comes at the very end of the track, when its driving beat falls away to be replaced with a little girl mimicking the song’s central refrain, ‘a kiss away from you, bang bang’. “So that’s my boyfriend’s sister’s niece”, Cullum laughs. “She’s hilarious, the sassiest little Irish girl, and I just imagined a child’s voice saying that because the line itself feels really juvenile. Throughout, I guess ‘bang bang’ has so many different takes – it can be traumatic, or seductive and sexual, and I love that it feels like it could be a phrase from the Flintstones”, he grins.
And the Flintstones are in good company when it comes to pop culture icons from Cullum’s childhood: “when I saw Spice Girls’ ‘Say You’ll Be There’ video… it never really got past that point”, he laughs, “I’m still there now! But what actually got me into songwriting was Vanessa Carlton’s ‘A Thousand Miles’ – I remember seeing the music video and had never actually played the piano, but I said to myself, “I’m going to learn that”, and taught it to myself! From there I got the album, taught myself all the songs on the album, and that’s when I started songwriting”.
Preceding even Carlton’s iconic 2002 video, however, was Cullum’s first love – dance. “When I was in nursery, we had someone from the Royal Ballet School come in for a PE workshop, and apparently I just got up and started copying her. Then I remember seeing the Nutcracker on VHS for the first time and from that point on, I was hooked, but I was too scared to go to ballet classes because of bullying and that sort of thing. It was only a lot later in secondary school that we did a musical theatre show, and I wouldn’t have actually auditioned for that myself! My brother was leaving the school and wrote to my drama teacher saying, “Billy has an amazing voice, you must hear him sing”, so I guess it stems from there”. And what now, following the release of the music video in which he finally dances? “I’m desperate to do a gig once restrictions ease, and let me tell you, that gig will have me dancing!”, he affirms. “I’ll be a bona fide popstar, with a full band set up. I think when I do it, it has to be fully crafted – like you’re going to an O2 arena show, but you’re in a pub with like a fifty capacity audience”, he laughs.
If the ‘Kiss Away’ video is anything to go by, then I for one would love to be in the audience for this hypothetical pub performance. “The success of ‘It’s A Sin’ has proved there’s a hunger for visual queerness, and I think now more than ever it’s needed”, Cullum enthuses. “It’s created this wave of importance and visibility, and other entertainment platforms need to see what is actually happening – this is the time for queer representation in the mainstream. So, here’s my single. And my music video! Repeat, share, buy!”, he chants, laughing. “I feel that just by releasing this, I’ve accomplished something huge, but I want to accomplish more – I just want to expand even further so that I can do the things I see in my head on a greater scale”.
Eventually our conversation draws to a close, although even then only because the gods of Zoom decided our meeting time was up, and not before Cullum shares another, somewhat more left-field, ambition of his. “One of my goal accomplishments in life is to do every crazy golf course in the UK – I have no idea how close I am to that, but I’ve done a hell of a lot!”, he laughs (although a quick Google search has told me there’s over 1000, which may well warrant another musical hiatus following this new era).
Indeed, when Cullum talks about ‘eras’ of music, the first artist for me that immediately springs to mind is Taylor Swift. To take that tenuous analogy and run with it, ‘Kiss Away’ can be considered the beginning of Billy Cullum’s ‘Reputation’ era – one in which he stops caring about what other people think and really has fun with his art; in which he steps unashamedly into his queerness to celebrate, in the words of ‘It’s A Sin’s’ Jill, being ‘wonderfully, beautifully gay’.
