Weekend Diversion: Darren Hayes

From the mid-1990s to the turn of the century, the band Savage Garden was all over the pop charts, bringing success, hit songs, concert tours—and unhappiness for the bandmates. It came to an end in 2001 when the band split. Frontman Darren Hayes continued recording and performing for another decade, before suddenly stopping—unannounced—in 2012. Now, he’s back: Happy, proud, and eager to get going.

The breakup of the band was poorly handled, in part because Hayes’ Savage Garden bandmate, Daniel Jones, said before the release of the band’s final album, Affirmation that he wanted to leave. It’s been widely reported that he didn’t like the pressures of fame, including the endless promotion. Hayes took over promotion on his own until the break-up was publicly announced.

Affirmation was influenced by the end of Hayes marriage, and him coming to terms with his sexuality. Hayes says that record labels were determined to “heterosexualise” him for his solo career, going so far as to re-shoot the video for his first solo single, “Insatiable”, because the label thought he looked “too gay”. Hayes told Attitude Magazine: “Not only did they scrap the video, but they also shot secret footage of a female storyline, and it was a woman in a trench coat, who was naked, and this woman in the trenchcoat was searching for me in this video and – unbeknownst to me – they were going to splice it into this cut." [Watch the official video on YouTube].

Hayes, of course, wasn’t the only gay artist to be treated so badly by the music industry. He told Attitude:

I am just starting to realise that there’s probably a movement coming within the music industry in the same way there was a reckoning for women in the film industry. I think there’s definitely a reckoning coming in terms of homophobia. Because there’s so much I just accepted that I look back on and realise “I can’t believe I let that happen to me”.

Indeed. It’s true that it’s somewhat easier for an out and proud queer artist now than it was ten years ago (Lil Nas X, anyone?), but the industry still has a lot of work to do.

Hayes’ treatment by the music industry is part of what made it difficult for him to accept himself. The turning point, he told the magazine, was seeing the film, “Call Me By Your Name”, which reignited his passion for music and creativity—and restored some of what he’d lost along the way.

To me, this was most evident when he headlined Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras—almost exactly 25 years after the release of Savage Garden’s self-titled album that rocketed them to international stardom. Out, proud, confident of himself, Hayes spoke to the crowd [WATCH] before performing the song “Affirmation”. He told them: “I want to thank you for loving me, even when I didn’t love myself.” Wow.

So, now he’s back, and planning a new tour next year. He’s released two singles so far, the most recent of which, "Do You Remember?" is up top. He said on his Facebook Page:

This is the sound of 2022 me looking back at 1997 me remembering the first time I kissed a man on a dance floor. Keen listeners will notice I’m referencing the same moment I sang about in ‘Chained To You’ – only this time it’s from a different perspective. Me, as a fully, out gay proud man, at home and confidently in command in the studio, completely in charge of the sound and presenting myself exactly as I want to be perceived today. There’s something so fun about taking the old school sounds of the records I grew up listening to, the drum machines and analog synths, and meshing them with the resurgence of nu-disco today, that feels appropriately nostalgic. Like I’ve got a chance to re-remember some of the times in my life that felt like a struggle but now I’m able to celebrate. Now I’m able to appreciate that I have loved every second of the journey from then to now, and yes, I do remember it all, with great love. I hope you do too.

There is no chart performance available for the song at the moment.

His first new single in a decade, however, was “Let's Try Being in Love”, released at the end of January:



There’s also no chart information as such for this song, however, the song reached 9 on the “Australian Independent Label” chart, and 96 on the “UK Download” and 98 on “UK Sales” charts.

Hayes wrote on Facebook the end of January, while he was in rehearsals for his Mardi Gras show:

I bought [the dancers] matching Adidas Pride jackets like the one I own because working with them made me feel like I belonged to a family for the first time in a long time. I never got to experience a true gay adolescence – I didn't take the modern dance class I wanted in high school or have my fun carefree club days in my early 20s like some queer kids did. When I did come out, my experience was shrouded in shame and fear and never felt like I could celebrate. It was more a forbidden, shameful release of pressure than the natural bloom of happiness I got to experience in the music video for 'Let's Try Being In Love'. But I cried tears of joy the last day of rehearsals with these men. They made me feel like I was part of a tribe. Just dancing with men, doing 'gay' things that used to be forbidden, either by law or by a record company, felt like freedom to me after so long. Look how happy I am.

How could anyone begrudge his obvious happiness? I’ve followed Hayes on Facebook (and Twitter before that) for many years, and I’ve seen his growth in real-time. It makes me think, if he can find happiness and self-acceptance at 49, then there’s truly hope for anyone, at any age.

I like the songs, and I think it’s interesting to see how his music is embracing all that he is—including the parts that took him awhile to love. I’ll be interested to see where he takes his work in the future, and what the eventual “first album in a decade” will be like. Until then, I’m just glad he’s happy.

He’s also been working hard to promote his return and, in essence, to reintroduce himself. One of the best interviews I’ve seen is in the video below, from Australia’s “Studio 10”. It’s interesting in itself, I think. And interview he did for Australia’s “The Project” was also good [WATCH].

This hasn’t been a typical Weekend Diversion post, but it seems kind of appropriate for this particular weekend: Tomorrow the free-to-air video music channels that lead to so many of these posts will be gone. This post, I think, is just the first of many more about pop music, ones that happen because I found something through other means than video music channels. Maybe?