Will Young's Greatest Hits CD Not Very Gay. Does it Matter?

Perhaps the easiest way to explain Will Young to an American audience that may not have heard of him is to tell them to think of Adam Lambert. A contestant on the original U.K. Pop Idol back in 2002, Young gained huge press attention as he moved deep and deeper into the competition.

Like Lambert, when it came to his sexuality, Young kept up an ambiguous position while the competition was still going – when asked who his dream date would be, he said he wanted to have tea with the Queen. Also like Lambert, when the competition was over, he came out in a comfortable and relaxed way, stating that his sexuality was “totally no big deal, just part of who I am.”

And again as with Lambert, Young’s popularity with teens and moms alike didn’t seem to suffer. But unlike Lambert, Young actually won his competition.

In the seven years since then, Young has survived the original hype to forge a sustained and successful career in pop music – on the U.K. side of the Atlantic, at least.

Selling over eight million records across his four multi-platinum studio albums, twice voted the U.K.’s favorite artist of all time, and with four Number One singles under his belt, Young has established himself as far more than another reality show winner.

He has even branched out into acting, appearing with Judi Dench in the film Mrs Henderson Presents in 2005, and will be making a guest appearance in Series 4 of the gay-inclusive UK series Skins, due to air in the UK from the end of January 2010.

Young’s first greatest hits compilation, titled The Hits, was released this week in the U.K. via Sony Music and is available in two versions: as a CD album with new bonus tracks ‘Hopes and Fears’ and ‘If It Hadn’t Been For Love’, as well as a CD/DVD deluxe edition including the videos from the twelve archive tracks on the CD.

So how has Young fared in his seven years as a successful, openly gay solo artist, singing love songs that are mainly bought by a heterosexual, female audience? Back in 2006, I wrote an article for this site describing the fine line that he had had to tread.

From early songs that used the words “girl” and “she” to videos that suggested both male and female love interests, it seemed at the time as if Young had finally broken through to presenting an unambiguously gay persona in his work, with the Top Gun spoof video for his new single ‘Switch It On.’

Nearly four years later, however, ‘Switch It On’ is still pretty much the gay highlight among Young’s videos (and it’s certainly the most sexually suggestive thing that he has ever come out with). The video for his ballad ‘Let It Go’, released earlier this year, is the only other one to show him unambiguously oriented towards men.