Rick’s fear about fame
YEARS & Years worry what their parents will think about their saucy S&M songs.
Lead singer Olly Alexander admitted his mum reads everything he says and listens to all the songs, including the bondagethemed Sanctify.
Olly said: “There’s this S&M vibe I’m definitely interested in that part of the human psyche, that pleasure and pain kink zone – our deepest sexual fantasies and desires.
“I talk about sex like this a lot because so many people are afraid of it... Every time I do it I know my family is going to be so embarrassed.”
RICK Astley fears for the mental health of the current crop of pop stars.
The Never Gonna Give You Up legend struggled dealing with fame during the Eighties.
And he thinks things are far worse today because of social media.
Rick told me: “I was a very insecure pop star, I didn’t like the way I looked and felt liked I didn’t belong.
“But these days there’s even more pressure because everyone has a camera in their pockets and can make comments.
“It’s no wonder someone like Justin Bieber has lost it a few times because there is no privacy.”
These days everybody wants a selfie with celebrities but Rick draws the line at taking them in the toilets. He sighed: “Somebody’s had a couple of pints and they go: ‘Oh look, it’s what’s his name’.
“One minute you’re stood next to urinals and the next it goes on YouTube.”
Two years ago Ricky made an RICK ASTLEY / Beautiful Life
HAVING made an unlikely chart-topping return in 2016 with his lively album 50, Rick shows no signs of wanting to let his comeback fizzle away. Rick writes and produces everything here – and it seems he was definitely taking notes about what makes a belting pop tune when he was a pop puppet in his 1980s heyday.
The soulful ballads like Try that show his voice off best.
A beautiful listen. THE VAMPS / Night And Day: Day Edition incredible comeback topping the charts with his 50 album.
Brilliant follow-up, Beautiful Life, is out today and it deals with many of the issues that haunted his youth.
He told me: “Fame isn’t the be all and end all.
“It’s important you enjoy life and what you do with it because for me fame actually exaggerated my insecurities. I used to go on Top Of The Pops and think: ‘I was never one of the good looking kids so why should I be on here now?’”
Fortunately Rick is loving the pop star life the older he gets and he has wife and manger Lene Bausager to thank for that.
He wrote his new song She Makes Me for her and explained: “I raise my game because of her.”
Rick tours the UK throughout October and November with 19 dates lined up from Glasgow to London.