Fancy Hagood and Aaron Lee Tasjan join Proud Radio with Hunter Kelly on Apple Music Country. Fancy shares how TJ Osborne’s announcement has been an affirmation of queer existence and talks about writing with Little Big Town, the importance of pronouns and more, while Aaron discusses queer representation and art in exploring identity.
The full episode is now out on Apple Music Country.
Fancy Hagood on TJ Osborne coming out
What I love about TJ coming out is it shows that we’re taking up space in this world whether you know it or not. Queer existence is here. We’re everywhere. And, we don’t look one way or the other. We don’t talk one way or the other. We take up so much space and we come in all different forms. That part of it makes me excited. It just inspires me to keep going. It inspires me to keep telling my story. It inspires me to continue to push and push and push because I think boundaries are being broken every day by so many different queer people.
And, I just think if we all just keep going and keep supporting each other and keep showing up, I think it just opens a door. Wherever they are, however they’re doing it, any queer person changing the game is important for all of us. Hats off to TJ for being so brave and to be able to do that. It takes a lot of courage, especially when that many eyes are watching. And, coming out when I was 20 was the most nerve-racking thing I’ve ever done. And, I really applaud him for being able to have that courage and to step into his self.
Fancy Hagood on writing with Little Big Town
I didn’t know that they had cut it. Then I got asked with one of my best… Well, two of my best friends, Lucie Silvas, and a band called The Brummies, just incredible artists, all of them. And we got asked to perform at this event at Karen and Jimi’s house for Christian Louboutin. That was just totally random. We’re there, and we’re performing, and then afterwards, Karen just casually walks up, and she’s talking, and she’s like, “Oh, and by the way, congratulations, Nightfall’s our album title.” I’m just like, “What?” Yeah, it just kind of happened. It was amazing. Stuff like that… Setting out to have something happen, and then it happening. It just really makes me want to write more stuff down to see what else can happen.
Fancy Hagood on fashion and being inspired by Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town
I’m thankful I had people to look up to for the fashion, for the empowerment, for the sexuality of it all. It encouraged me. Especially in Nashville, the divas here, it’s a different thing. You know what I mean? I feel like it’s a quieter power. And Karen, as a fashion icon, when I was in LA, I was trying to make sequins happen. I was wearing sequined kimonos. I wanted that to be the thing. And I remember all at every corner being told that’s not a thing. No one is going to relate to that. No one likes it. The first week I moved back to Nashville, I went with a friend who was opening for them at the Ryman to watch. And then those curtains open and there Karen was, standing in this floor length sequin kimono. And I was like, “Oh my God. I knew it.”
Fancy Hagood on walking away from a major label and returning to Nashville
I felt more confined in my artistic process. Being signed to a label in Los Angeles, doing the pop thing. Just felt so under a microscope. And that would just be what that’s like in general. But I felt like a queer person had to be tailored. It had to be told a certain way. We don’t want to offend anyone. We don’t want anyone thinking this, “Oh, this song’s too sexual. You’re not a sex-symbol. You’re a boy next door.” And I’m sitting there and I’m thinking like, “In what neighborhood?” You know what I mean? I’m not the boy next door where I come from. So it’s just kind of such a confusing thing, because you’re being told like, “Yes, be yourself. Be who you are. You’re accepted. But also change everything about yourself.
So I didn’t feel free in my creative process. That’s why I walked away from it all. That’s why I moved back to Nashville because my creative process and how I create is way too important to me. The stories I want to tell are too important to me to allow anyone else that does not come from my background, especially like a queer experience telling me how I need to be queer in this space.
Fancy Hagood on prounouns in songwriting
You don’t know how many writing rooms I’ve been in where I’m trying to write a song and then someone corrects me about pronouns or, “Oh, well, instead of saying him or he, why don’t we say you or they?” And I’m like, “Well, because I’m singing from my perspective,” and it’s been such a conversation. How many A&R rooms have I been in where someone’s told me that that’s not going to fly, people aren’t going to want to listen to that, we need to make it more ambiguous. And my name’s Fancy and it goes back to what I was talking about, this is my world, it’s the world I’m living in. It’s the music I’m making and I’m singing about my experience. My experience is not with the ladies. It is with men. So that’s what I have to sing about. It’s just too important to me to tell my story.
Fancy Hagood on how his name originated and represents his authentic queer self
When I started going by Fancy, at first it was a joke at my workplace. But it was the first time I was being teased a little bit; it was all in good fun, but it was like a joke. I remember it being the first time people were poking fun at me where I was like, “Yeah, I am Fancy. You’re exactly right, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” Being able to own that, and create this world where… Here in Nashville, it wasn’t the most inclusive space for people like us, and I remember feeling so set free by being able to claim something like Fancy, and create this world, and this narrative, that no one could tell me how to be Fancy.
I think that, stepping into Fancy, I stepped into my confidence, I stepped into myself. Honestly, I felt more happy, I felt more… All of a sudden, me being myself, and showing up as I was, with no shame, with no embarrassment, it was crazy how many more doors were opening. It’s because people were fascinated. They didn’t understand, they didn’t get it, but for the first time in my life, I didn’t need them to. I just needed them to see me, and I made sure they did.
Fancy Hagood on his song “Boys Like You”
My song that came out in 2015 with Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor was called “Boys Like You.” And boy, was it controversial because I was a man singing about another man. From day one for me, when I was in my first situation in 2015 releasing music to now, it’s important to me, it’s important to people like me. And I think gradually, I do hear more and more queer artists owning their pronouns and saying it, and that’s so inspiring. And I just think we should be. Our stories matter. What we’re singing about is real. Growing up, I had to constantly reach to female artists to feel empowered in my sexuality or empowered in my narrative or my story. And as much as I appreciate those female artists and still worship them to this day, I think it’s time that queer people step up and tell their own stories.
Aaron Lee Tasjan on queer representation
I look at the landscape, particularly of Americana music, and I recognize and I think many people recognize actually, that a lot of the innovation of the form is coming from either a place of queerness or is coming from a queer point of view. We’re sort of realizing that these stories are our country’s stories. They’re American stories. They’re the stories of many people and of generations of people. That’s what country music is. It’s the music of the people. So if we want to be able to accurately call it the music of the people, it must represent the people.
Aaron Lee Tasjan on music relating to all sexual identities
No matter what context you’re speaking of loving, if you’re straight, if you’re gay, if you’re bi, if you’re trans, your experiences that love is surprising, and love has no rules, and love will oftentimes do things that you never expect. So in that way, I really wanted to talk about experiences and try to frame it in a way that says, “Look, I’m speaking about me, but this is something that everybody experiences.” And whether it’s specifically queer or not, it is something that everybody can relate to. That is maybe part of the process of undoing the stigma of gay artists, or bisexual artists, or whatever that somehow their music is just for people who relate to them through their sexuality or whatever. I don’t think that’s true. I think these are songs that anybody can hear and relate to. But as a queer man, it feels important to me to tell it from that perspective.
Aaron Lee Tasjan on befriending queer musicians and designers and exploring identity
As an 18-year-old person, I got to move to New York City. And I met Justin Tranter, and he was a queer superstar. He was on the cover of Out in New York and headlining Murray Hill events at the Knitting Factory. And he was a star for his solo work. And so we started Semi Precious Weapons together, but it was being immersed in queer culture and getting also to work with not just Justin, but also with Tommy Cole and Roy Keras who made by hand every single piece of clothing that we wore. These were people who I was not only experiencing these friendships with, I was also creating art with them that people were liking, that Tony Visconti was suddenly producing our record because we made this music and worn these things on stage. And I was gifted this incredible experience of being able to learn firsthand from three incredible men who were absolutely brilliant at it, who also happened to be gay. It allowed me to come out of my shell in a very safe and meaningful way for me.
