Keelan Mak has dropped his second single of 2024 and teased more new music on the way.
The rising Melbourne artist taps into polished dance-pop on “Straight With Me”, blending sweet vocals with fun yet honest lyrics about navigating the straight male gaze – something he knows will be relatable to many queer people.
“’Straight With Me’ is about a queer canon event of sorts,” explains Mak. “I’m one of the unlucky ones who have fallen into the trap of a straight male gaze (some also call that lucky, each to their own).
“This track is kind of unserious but also so truthful. I’m past the point of caring about that kind of thing now but it’s still incredibly relatable for queer people.”
The track, co-written and produced with Lucy Blomkamp (Stevan, Ninajirachi, Becca Hatch), draws inspiration from dance music acts like Cascada and DJ Sammy.
“Straight With Me” follows his introspective first single “Naked Eye”, co-written with pop superstar Troye Sivan, Leland, and Vetta Borne. Both tracks will feature on Mak’s second EP, Boy’s in Love, set for release on Friday, October 30th.
Exploring themes of sex, love, queerness, and youth, it’s a confident step forward for the 26-year-old following his 2022 EP, Brave Face.
“This body of work is really about feeling happy and myself for the first time,” says Mak. “The earlier years of my career, I was told to sell a queer narrative and it never felt like me to do so. I was partly scared to be heavily queer in the public eye but I also just felt like it didn’t feel right to brand my work as “queer”.
“The EP is called Boy’s in Love and it really centres around my relationship with my own identity as well as the stories I’m telling in these songs. No heartbreak! Just some gay fun.”
Keelan Mak’s “Straight With Me” is out now. Boy’s in Love EP is out Friday, October 30th via [PIAS] Australia (pre-save/pre-order here).
