Spin /

(Themes & Thoughts) Spin, Track 6: Dirty

Track Info

  • Length: 4:46
  • Writers: Darren Hayes, Walter Afanasieff

Album Info

Album: Spin (2002)

Overview

Dirty is the sixth track on the Spin album.

Themes and meaning

Dirty is pretty clearly a song about sex. I’m not sure what more I can say about it. When Darren moved from Savage Garden and in to his solo work, he took a more mature route in his sound, and this is evident in songs like ‘Dirty’.

Fun fact: During the recording of ‘Dirty’ Darren had to make a bunch of moaning sound clips, during this, he stopped to look up at the people watching him in the studio and laughed. That laugh ended up being kept as part of the track.

Tags

Below are a bunch of tags I’ve associated with ‘Dirty’, click on the tags to find songs with similar themes!

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Thoughts

Songs that are blatantly about sex never really vibe with me if I’m honest – but whilst Dirty isn’t my favourite track by any means, it is super catchy and I will sing along during a play through.

Videos

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIri7nnPxk4

Something missing?

Do you have a piece of interview footage, information or missing media related to ‘Dirty’? Please get in touch if you’d like me to add it to this page!

Listen to all Darren’s music on Prime Music, use this link for a 30 day free trial!

Spin /

(Themes & Thoughts) Spin, Track 5: Creepin’ Up on You

Track Info

  • Length: 4:53
  • Writers: Darren Hayes, Rick Nowels

Album Info

Album: Spin (2002)

Overview

Creepin’ Up on You is the fifth track on the Spin album.

Themes and meaning

Creepin’ Up on You is a song about infatuation, thematically it’s very similar to Insatiable, in the sense that it expresses the theme in a very over-the-top and stalker-like way. Creepin’ Up on You is a lot more fun in tone and Darren seems to almost exaggerate and make fun of himself in this stalker role. It’s a comment on how far we’ll go when we really like someone… Probably too much?

Tags

Below are a bunch of tags I’ve associated with ‘Creepin’ Up on You’, click on the tags to find songs with similar themes!

Tags: , ,

Thoughts

Creepin’ Up on You is one of my favourite tracks off Spin and it’s one of those songs that never gets old. Darren shows off his range on this song probably better than any other song on Spin, particularly this line:

I know this must be wrong
It can’t go on
This kind of thing
Is taking all my sanity and making me a mockery

This bridge flows between high highs and low lows and it just sound so appealing when it comes on. It’s also a lot of fun to sing along to with its almost tongue-in-cheek lyrics about being a creepy creepster!

Videos

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ccnKDx1bHk

Something missing?

Do you have a piece of interview footage, information or missing media related to ‘Creepin’ Up on You’? Please get in touch if you’d like me to add it to this page!

Listen to all Darren’s music on Prime Music, use this link for a 30 day free trial!

Unlovable Memoir /

Darren Hayes – Unlovable, my thoughts

The release of Darren’s memoir was basically the media event of the year for me. It’s something I’d been looking forward to since it was first announced and something I’d hoped would be made years before that.

Sadly the book wasn’t approved for release by Penguin Books UK, so I’ve only got ahold of the audiobook from Audible. I do plan to get a physical copy imported over, but I wanted the audiobook to be my first ‘read’ of it anyway, because it was narrated by Darren himself.

Themes and thoughts

The memoir covers a lot of Darren’s childhood, the unsteady and scary living situations he grew up in and what ultimately led him to write the amazing music he makes.

I’m not gonna lie it’s a difficult listen at quite a lot of points. I think what shocked me most is learning just how frequent and ongoing Darren’s struggles with depression are. The memoir is brutally honest and captivating, and a huge advocate for seeking therapy as an adult.

Eventually the memoir does get on to Savage Garden and the ‘glory days’ if you like. There were some fun little bits of information and things to be learned about how and why some of our favourite songs were written.

Homophobic Media

I’d recently listened to a podcast which covered George Michael’s life story, and oh my God, the parallels in Darren’s book are kinda crazy, especially when it comes to talking about record labels and how the media treated you as a gay musician in the 90s/00s.

Darren makes the comparison himself at some point in the book, I remember this part of his career particularly well myself because it was around the time that Darren released ‘Tension and The Spark’ that I was evolving in to a fully fledged fan.

There were a ton of stories I’d already heard from interviews over the year, I particularly loved hearing about his relationship with his mum and sister, and learning about their perspectives on his life was interesting.

What would I have liked to hear?

I think, for me anyway, I would have liked the memoir to cover more of his solo career. The book covers in great depth his childhood (which makes sense really), and then there’s a big segment on the Savage Garden days.

Being HUGELY in to ‘This Delicate Thing We’ve Made’ I would have liked to have heard more from that time period. It felt glanced over in comparison but perhaps there was just far less going on in Darren’s life behind the scenes at that point.

Worth listening to?

Oh absolutely, specially as a fan of Darren. But I think it’s an interesting listen to anyone who’s interested in similar artists, who’ve gone through similar things. I could see a George Michael, Freddie, or Sam Smith fan really picking some stuff up from his chapters on struggling with his label and perceptions of him from the media.

It does come around on the low points and ultimately we reach the man who released ‘Homosexual’; the unapologetic queer and self realised artist we know and love today. But oh boy, it wasn’t easy, in fact it was much harder than I ever knew. How Darren managed to make it through everything thrown at him over the years is incredible, and the book makes you want to do your best in everything you’re faced with yourself.

You can download Unlovable from Amazon here!

Spin /

(Themes & Thoughts) Spin, Track 4: I Miss You 

Track Info

  • Length: 5:30
  • Writers: Darren Hayes, Walter Afanasieff

Album Info

Album: Spin (2002)

Overview

I miss You is the third song on the Spin album and the third single to be released.

Themes and meaning

I Miss You is pretty self-explanatory in the title. It’s a song about missing someone you love.

Tags

Below are a bunch of tags I’ve associated with ‘I Miss You’, click on the tags to find songs with similar themes!

Tags: , ,

Thoughts

‘I Miss You’ was one of my first favourites from the Spin album. Admittedly I judge myself a little for that these days, it’s a lovely song, but compared to some of the more in depth songs on the album I find it a little surface level these days.

It’s an obvious choice for a single, a cheesy pop ballad with inoffensive, simple lyrics. The best part of it for me by far is Darren’s ad-libbing at the end of the song.

Videos

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_vdL1JxclI

Something missing?

Do you have a piece of interview footage, information or missing media related to ‘I Miss You’? Please get in touch if you’d like me to add it to this page!

Listen to all Darren’s music on Prime Music, use this link for a 30 day free trial!

Unlovable Memoir /

Darren Hayes – Unlovable Memoir, why I’m excited

I’ve always been really invested in Darren’s life story from what I know via his music. I’ve been saying to friends for years that I would love him to release a biography of some kind. My prayers were answered last year when Darren finally announced his upcoming memoir; Unlovable.

The book is out on the 5th of November and can be pre-ordered on Audible here. Fantastic news too, he will be doing the reading of the audio book. What better way to celebrate or commiserate the US election, right?

My plan is to basically book the day off, listen, have a good laugh and cry and then stay up and watch the election results.

Expectations, what I’m hoping to hear about

I do think the book will mostly cover Darren’s rise to fame and aftermath of Savage Garden. But here’s some hopes beyond that:

  1. Chronology of core songs. Most of the songs I love by Darren are his personal ones, the ones about child childhood, breakups, marriage and eventual coming out. I think I know the full story based on song lyrics, but I’m excited to hear the story in order and with more detail.
  2. Song inspiration and locations when writing. Some of Darren’s newer work especially doesn’t include a track-by-track video or breakdown online, so I’ll be really interested to learn some background information about songs that I haven’t previously heard.
  3. TDTWM info. Shocker, I’m obsessed with This Delicate Thing We’ve Made and honestly, I’m hoping to learn more about why this massive album doesn’t feature very much in his live shows, and the circumstances surrounding its creation and sudden big departure away from it after Secret Codes and Battleships. I believe there was some label weirdness, but I haven’t found much information about it.

It’ll be really nice to hear about where he is now as a person too. Darren’s had a lot happen in the last few years; divorce, self-affirming amazing album releases and an emotional AF appearance on The Masked Singer. I want to hear it all. Like most things he puts out I suspect it’s going to feel a lot like sitting down for a coffee with an old friend.

I can’t wait.

Themes & Thoughts /

(Themes & Thoughts) This Delicate Thing We’ve Made, Track 16: Neverland 

Track Info

  • Length: 4:04
  • Writers: Darren Hayes, Justin Shave

Album Info

Album: This Delicate Thing We’ve Made (2007)

Overview

Okay so I was going to do songs in order but I might make exceptions when there’s something I really want to talk about.

Today we’ll talk about Neverland. I can’t wait months to cover this song, it’s too important a song in Darren’s catalogue to not go through sooner.

Themes and thoughts

For Neverland, we hear Darren taking on a slightly higher overall pitch for the entire song. Which makes sense, as it’s told from the perspective of his childhood.

Neverland talks about the period of time during Darren’s childhood where he was living at home with his abusive father. He’s talked about this many times over many interviews and songs over the years, but Neverland takes us deeper in to that situation and the time and place.

I remember seeing this song live for the first and only time I ever did. The song immediately breaks in to lyrics with a child’s nursery rhyme-like beat and Darren performed ‘patty cake’ with a backup dancer. 

“Long ago when Mercury descended high on the moon…

Far below 
When little hands are making shapes in the room
The shadows they dance
And they cheer up this place…”

Were taken in to Darren’s childhood room, he and his siblings are playing, colouring, having a typical kids day.

“The face
That’s staring through the tiny crack in the door
Eyes so wide
He’s never seen a women fall on the floor”

Never breaking tone, which I’ve always enjoyed about Darren’s music, it’s often here’s some trauma to a merry beat. One day we’ll talk about Euphoric Equation LOL.

The song quickly descends in to the chorus, 

“I swear daddy’s killed her this time
Should I made a rocket
Should I try to fly away
Should I make a hammer
Should I try to smash his face
Should I make a bullet
Should I try to shoot the gun
I’m sure the judge will let me off real soon”

Neverland is a powerful song about childhood limitless imagination and the lengths it will go to, to try and break a kid out of their terrible situation.

I think of Neverland as a ‘core’ Darren song, it’s one of those songs you listen to avidly if you really care about his personal stories. To this day I think it might be one of his most important songs.

The song flippantly talks about all the creative solutions little Darren has for saving himself and his family from his father.

If you want to travel down the ‘childhood father trauma’ timeline, arguably this song is a predecessor to ‘Two Beds and a Coffee Machine.’ 

The song is hugely striking in its tone versus lyrical contrasts. 

“He can draw an alien
He can come and take them home
He can draw a cartoon
He can draw a safety hatch
He can draw a hot bath
He can plug a toaster in
And wait till daddy’s nice and warm
Toss it in”

All meanwhile sounding like a literal nursery rhyme. 

It’s a song about wanting to save your family, but you’re too young, you don’t know how to fix these grown up issues, so you imagine the various solutions your kid brain can come up with. 

Obviously Darren never threw a toaster in his father’s bath, last I read they had a pretty reasonable relationship in adulthood. But I love the honesty of this song. 

It’s not a track I listen to a lot, heavy subject matter and all, but I appreciate the hell out of it as one of Darren’s most honest and important pieces of work. 

Tags

Tags: ,

Videos

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYS4DIcsbiY

Live performance, The Time Machine Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkiPy4FhXhE

Something missing?

Do you have a piece of interview footage, information or missing media related to ‘Neverland’? Please get in touch if you’d like me to add it to this page!

Listen to all Darren’s music on Prime Music, use this link for a 30 day free trial!

Spin /

(Themes & Thoughts) Spin, Track 3: Heart Attack 

Track Info

  • Length: 5:05
  • Writers: Darren Hayes, Walter Afanasieff

Album Info

Album: Spin (2002)

Overview

Heart Attack is the third song on the Spin album.

Themes and meaning

Heart Attack explores themes of betrayal. It talks about the eventuality of karma and shame that will come upon the person betraying them.

Tags

Below are a bunch of tags I’ve associated with ‘Insatiable’, click on the tags to find songs with similar themes!

Tags: ,

Thoughts

Heart Attack admittedly is not my favourite song by Darren. It’s a good singalong in terms of its catchy beat, but I don’t personally gel with many catty songs. I

think it is the first hint of Darren’s solo music going off the pure happy pop vibe and leading towards a more angsty and dark tone, it almost feels like it would fit well amongst the songs on The Tension and The Spark. That said, it has a lot of that signature Michael Jackson inspired ad libbing that I associate primary with songs from Spin.

Videos

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5mj0Jc1Fdw

Something missing?

Do you have a piece of interview footage, information or missing media related to ‘Heart Attack’? Please get in touch if you’d like me to add it to this page!

Listen to all Darren’s music on Prime Music, use this link for a 30 day free trial!

Spin /

(Themes & Thoughts) Misc Track: Alive 

Track Info

  • Length: 4:06
  • Writers: Darren Hayes, ??

Album Info

Album: N/A

Overview

Alive is a bonus track from Secret Codes and Battleships. It is an unreleased song written for Irish pop band, Westlife.

Themes and meaning

Alive is a simple, pure pop love song, it reminds me a lot of ‘So Beautiful’, I feel like if Alive was released in a similar manner it would probably get a similar amount of wedding play time.

The song is about being with someone who makes you feel inspirited, exhilarated and like life is really hitting a high point. It’s a very positive song and showcases Darren’s falsetto beautifully.

Tags

Below are a bunch of tags I’ve associated with ‘Alive’, click on the tags to find songs with similar themes!

Tags: ,

Thoughts

I came across ‘Alive’ when I was looking up unreleased Darren Hayes songs and this absolute gem ended up being a staple on my favourite songs playlist for ages.

Unrelatedly down the line I was reading up on some things about my favourite Westlife album, ‘Where We Are’ and found out that ‘Alive’ was actually a song Darren had written for that album. 

‘Where We Are’ is, in my opinion, hugely the best Westlife album and I can see how this song would have fit on it so well, and it’s a shame it didn’t make the cut. But because of that we also get to hear the song as a bonus track from Darren himself, and it’s stunning.

Darren has wrote a few songs for other artists I love, specifically ‘Tears on the Dancefloor’ by Steps is another great one. I’d love to know what else he’s written for Westlife though, his lyrics on their tracks feels like a match made in heaven. It’s a real shame there isn’t a lot of public information on tracks Darren has written, but not released himself.

Nevertheless, ‘Alive’ is probably my favourite of his unreleased tracks, it’s a simple but gorgeous song.

Videos

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJdrG34PWVY

Something missing?

Do you have a piece of interview footage, information or missing media related to ‘Alive’? Please get in touch if you’d like me to add it to this page!

Spin /

(Themes & Thoughts) Spin, Track 2: Insatiable 

Track Info

  • Length: 5:12
  • Writers: Darren Hayes, Walter Afanasieff

Album Info

Album: Spin (2002)

Overview

Insatiable is the second song on the Spin album, and the first single. Insatiable was released in 2002 and achieved top 40 status in several countries.

Themes and meaning

Insatiable is a lusty pop ballad that explores themes of intense infatuation and desire. The song explores the feeling of being deeply captivated with someone, expressing an overwhelming need to be with them physically and emotionally, to the point of it being quite frankly a little uncomfortable (but we love it).

Tags

Below are a bunch of tags I’ve associated with ‘Insatiable’, click on the tags to find songs with similar themes!

Tags: , ,

Thoughts

Insatiable was the lead single off Spin and I remember the marketing for it weirdly well. I was already a Darren Hayes fan through Savage Garden, so maybe it stood out for that reason, but moreso I remember his voice on those adverts, and his voice on Insatiable.

Insatiable is captivating, always has been. There’s something really addictive about this song about being completely enamoured with someone, delivered in a voice and tone that I can only really liken to a male siren. The song feels as hypnotic to listen to as the woman in the video is made out to be.

I remember talking to a girl in high school about the song, and we would laugh about it not being a song to listen to in front of parents.

Decades on and the track has never been a skip. You can’t resist, I think there’s a word for that…

Videos

Official music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u7hGkL57N8

Something missing?

Do you have a piece of interview footage, information or missing media related to ‘Insatiable’? Please get in touch if you’d like me to add it to this page!

Spin /

(Themes & Thoughts) Spin, Track 1: Strange Relationship

Track Info

  • Length: 5:00
  • Writers: Darren Hayes, Greg Bieck

Album Info

Album: Spin (2002)

The first of these blog entries might be a little ropey while I work out exactly what information I wanna include in them, but here goes.

Overview

Strange Relationship is the first song on the Spin album, and the second single. Strange Relationship was released in 2002 and achieved top 40 status in several countries.

Themes and meaning

I’m not too sure what to say about the themes on Strange Relationship, I guess it’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s a song about mixed signals, a person giving hot and cold and in true Darren Hayes fashion it’s a happy upbeat sound mixed with less happy lyrics.

The song delves into hot and cold dynamics where feelings of attraction and frustration intertwine. He captures the tension between wanting to be with someone despite knowing the relationship is flawed. The lyrics reflect on the emotional rollercoaster, highlighting feelings of dependency and confusion.

Tags

Below are a bunch of tags I’ve associated with ‘Strange Relationship’, click on the tags to find songs with similar themes!

Tags: , ,

Thoughts

I have some really fun memories with this song. Back in high school my best friend and I used to burn CDs of our favourite songs, I remember Strange Relationship being on at least one of these CDs.

The song is a great example of Darren’s vocal range with all its high and low points. I specifically remember us singing along to the bridge “You keep actin’ like you own me. like you control me, you said you never really wanted me back, well, maybe that’s a fact may I suggest a brand new plan of attack.’

Videos

Official music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Col15AJMUpM

Something missing?

Do you have a piece of interview footage, information or missing media related to ‘Strange Relationship’? Please get in touch if you’d like me to add it to this page!

Listen to all Darren’s music on Prime Music, use this link for a 30 day free trial!