Olly Alexander to Continue Years & Years Band As Solo Project

Years and Years Olly Alexander, Emre Turkmen, and Mikey Goldsworth

And there's new music out this spring.

Mikelle Street

Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.

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Mikelle Street

March 18 2021 5:23 AM EST

November 04 2024 9:42 AM EST

MikelleStreet

While there is a new Years & Years album in the works, it will not be made in the same way as previous projects. According to a new statement by the group, the band is continuing on as a solo project for frontman Olly Alexander.

"Dear Y&Y fans," the band's Instagram account posted. "There's been some changes that we want to fill you in on. This upcoming new album has been an Olly endeavour and we've decided that Years & Years will continue as an Olly solo project."

The group was founded in 2010 in London and originally included Alexander, Mikey Goldsworth, Emre Turkmen, Noel Leeman, and Olivier Subria. As that five-piece ensemble, they released the single "I Wish I Knew." When they released their second single two years later in 2014, Subria and Leeman had left the band. As a three-member band they've released the albums Communion and Palo Santo.

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"The three of us are still good friends," they wrote to Instagram. "Mikey will be part of the Y&Y family and play with us live and Emre will focus on being a writer/producer." The three recently recorded a cover of the Pet Shop Boys track "It's a Sin" in celebration of Alexander starring in the HBO Max drama It's a Sin.