Fancy Hagood joins Kelleigh Bannen on The Kelleigh Bannen Show on Apple Music Country to chat about his debut album ‘Southern Curiosity,’ how Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets” inspired “Another Lover Says,” his friendship with Lucie Silvas, and more.
Fancy Hagood on Being a Gay Country Artist
You know, there’s been so many moments in my career where I’ve been told how polarizing me being me is, or how controversial it can be. And the thing is, I just don’t find myself polarizing. I don’t find myself controversial. I’m tired of operating in fear, Kelleigh. That’s no longer how I’m going to operate from, especially when it comes to my music. Because, my music is not controversial, and it’s not edgy. My story about my life, and my love life, and my dating, and what I’ve been through is not controversial. It’s not edgy… Any hetero artists out there talking about love and loss of love and all that stuff, it’s not controversial. So, I don’t understand why me talking about that is.
Fancy Hagood on Feeling Validated in His New Music
I finally realized what makes me create, and what makes me want to tell these stories, and make this album, ‘Southern Curiosity.’ It’s because little baby Jake, my younger self in Arkansas never had music that explicitly said, “Who you are is validated. You are heard, you are seen, and you are okay. Who you are is okay.” For me, it’s a homecoming because baby Jake finally has music to listen to that lets him know that every part of him is validated, every part of him is set free, and every part of him is okay to exist.
Fancy Hagood on How Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets” Inspired Him to Write “Another Lover Says”
What draws me to [“Bennie and the Jets” by Elton John], immediately, is that piano rock vibe, and just the urgency of the piano. And I definitely, when we were writing “Another Lover Says,” I wrote it with my friend Audra Mae, that was definitely the immediate reference of, like, I kind of want something with that urgent piano… piano rock vibe. And again, I want the melodies to be soaring. I want it to be rock and roll, and I just want it to be really in-your-face and bold. And I just love “Bennie and the Jets” melodically. It’s so catchy. But really what catches me with that is just the glam piano rock vibe.
Fancy Hagood on Lucie Silvas
Getting to spend any amount of time with Lucie [Silvas], whether it be creative or personal, I feel like I walk away enriched. I feel like I walked away feeling better about myself. You know what I mean? And I’m still thankful I have a friend like that, but it’s a weird thing to have a friend that inspires you on an artistic level the way that Lucie inspires me because I forget sometimes in our personal life that she’s a bonafide superstar and then she’s on stage singing or in her living room singing and I’m like, “Uh, what?”
Fancy Hagood on “Mr. Atlanta”
I wrote [“Mr. Atlanta”] in London and I was very inspired by all things The Beatles when I was there, we went to see Abbey Road Studios and all of that. I wanted to have a song that was a storytelling song about my journey to find love, and I wanted to go through all the different… you know, it’s been a rocky road for me, as someone looking for love, and I just try to have an optimistic view about why things don’t work out. And so I wanted to pan through all these different situations as if they’re preparing me for the right person or the right guy. It’s a song talking about, things don’t work out because it’s not supposed to, and all of them are there to teach you a lesson and make you a better and stronger version of yourself. Ultimately, it’s just a fun way to make fun of dating and how hard it is.
Fancy Hagood on “Don’t Blink”
I used to feel like “Don’t Blink” was my baby and I was very precious about it and now I feel a little bit like “Don’t Blink” helped rebirth me into this world. I feel like maybe I’m its child and I feel like I’ve learned so much from it. And it’s kind of like this thing where… I wrote “Don’t Blink” in London when I was on a writing trip. I didn’t know I was up there writing my album. I was just out there trying to get my feet wet again and it was my first big writing trip after like years and years of just kind of sticking to myself and keeping things light and then “Don’t Blink” came out of nowhere.
Fancy Hagood on the Guy Who Inspired “Another Lover Says”
“Another Lover Says” it’s just another kind of… It was like the first moment where I had to let someone down. I’m so used to being the one chasing something and being let down or being told, “I just want to be friends.” Or, “This isn’t working for me. I think you’re awesome, but.” I’m so used to that being the narrative. And then I met this guy who was younger than me, and I historically have not dated younger guys, but he just fell head over heels. And I was so surprised by somebody… Because I’m just so not used to that. And it was the first time where I had to let someone down the way I’ve been let down my entire adult life. And so I wrote this song kind of as like a letter to tell him like, “Hey, this probably hurts, but you’re going to find happiness again. You’re going to feel what you think you feel for me again. It’s going to feel this good. You just got to keep smiling. You just got to keep showing up. You just got to keep being yourself. Because just because I’m not the person doesn’t mean there’s not a person.”
