Video: Olly Alexander Unveils Official Music Video For New Single, 'Cupid's Bow'

Following the exciting announcement of Olly Alexander's forthcoming album, Polari, Olly is back today with the official music video for the project's lead single, "Cupid's Bow." The video was directed by Colin Solal Cardo, who previously directed the video for Alexander's song "Dizzy."

Listen to 'Cupid's Bow' HERE.

Upon release, Queerty praised "Cupid's Bow's" "pulsating electro pop beats," and "80s club nostalgia with a modern edge," proclaiming"Olly Alexander is back, and he's wielding his 'Cupid's Bow' with precision," while Out Magazine called out the track's "killer chorus." Exploring themes of desire, intimacy, voyeurism and fate, 'Cupid's Bow' is a compelling return from Olly Alexander. Its pounding club soundscape and nuanced love of the subculture was created alongside Polari collaborator Danny L Harle, with Olly as drawn to electronic pop's earliest queer trailblazers as contemporary complexities; of love, and where to find it (whether a shot from Eros, or your local cruising spot). Along with the album announcement, Olly has also confirmed details and the tracklisting of Polari, his much-anticipated new solo album, due for release on February 7, 2025, via Interscope Records.

Pre-order Polari HERE.

Polari is a pop album for the ages, looking back on history as a means to learn more about yourself. Olly Alexander's first album under his own name takes as its primary inspiration the (almost) lost art of Polari. Originating around Europe and the Romani community as early as the 1600s, this coded slang became in effect a secret language for homosexuals and the stigmatized during the twentieth century. It's a concept Olly first came across when coming out, and resonated more deeply with when playing Richie in 'It's A Sin', where he grappled with questions about identity, self-expression and community. The kinds of which have always populated British life, and have long been threaded through the history of pop music - you just had to know where to look.

After a decade releasing music as Years & Years, Polari is literally Olly Alexander talking the talk. He bonded with Danny L Harleover a mutual love of 80s club music, that period of uncompromising, avant-garde pop which nonetheless snuck into the mainstream. Polari remained a north star throughout the creative process, a language likewise lacking widespread recognition but still influential in plain sight (see such colloquialisms as "drag", "naff" and "trade"). The album arrives alongside audio-visual world-building in which Olly is in complete control, from its anarchic Derek Jarman-inspired aesthetic to Olly even writing a short play accompanying its release, full of cowboys, gods, and the occasional music industry exec. And after a long history of secrets and subtext, Polari is ultimately an open and universal pop record about those needs that transcend time, sexuality, and self: what it means to belong, to be loved, and (Polari literally translates as "to talk") to connect.

Stay tuned for more music and news from Olly Alexander.

"Cupid's Bow" is available everywhere now.

Pre-Order Olly Alexander's forthcoming album, Polari, HERE. Out February 7.

Tracklisting
Polari
Cupid's Bow
I Know
Shadow Of Love
Make Me A Man
Dizzy
Archangel
Miss You So Much
When We Kiss
Whisper
Beautiful
Heal You
Language

OFFICIAL WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER / X | INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | YOUTUBE

To post a comment, you must register and login.