Over the last 12 years, Greyson Chance has made a name for himself in the world of pop. In 2010, the star first made headlines when he performed an iconic rendition of Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi –which has racked in over 70 million views on YouTube. After making an unforgettable debut in the music industry, Greyson went on to release an array of original singles, which helped him gain a dedicated fan base.

In 2017, the Bad To Myself singer made headlines when he came out as gay in an emotional Instagram post. “I came to fully recognize that I was gay when I was sixteen. I decided not to publicize my sexuality largely due to a matter of privacy, as I was still trying to find comfort and confidence within my own skin,” he said at the time. Since then, Greyson has created heartfelt music highlighting his emotional and heartwarming journey of self-discovery.

On 23 September, the critically-acclaimed songwriter released his brand new album Palladium. The record, which follows his beloved 2019 album portraits, continues to showcase Greyson’s undeniable vocal prowess and evolved maturity as an artist and individual. Prior to the release of the album, we spoke with Greyson about all things Palladium in an exclusive interview for GAY TIMES.

Greyson! It’s been a minute. How have you been? 

Oh my gosh, let me see how I can catch you up. You know, right now I’m doing really well. It feels so crazy. It’s like the most cliche thing, in the way that I can start this, but I feel like my whole career has been leading up to this album, like legitimately. Now that it’s out, I feel this kind of beautiful mixture of every emotion. I feel excited about it. I feel really nervous. I feel ready for it. I feel unprepared for it. I feel over-prepared. I feel every range of spectrums just because it’s very, very important this record.

I’ve listened to it a few times now and it is absolutely gorgeous. 

Aw, thank you so much. 

Sonically, it’s quite different to Trophies. The rock instrumental on Black Mascara, for example… I had shivers. What inspired this experimental new direction?

Yeah, I feel like all roads have kind of been leading to this record. There’s so much that happens behind the scenes with an artist, right? That people really aren’t too familiar with. You talked about an album called Trophies, right? That was a body of work that I really loved. I really cared for it, but I was so creatively constrained with that album because I was signed to a major label, and this was a chance for me to get back on an indie. I think Palladium was an album that I’ve been probably wanting to make since I was 15 years old, but I didn’t have the courage to do it. I didn’t have the creative intelligence to really understand how to make something thematic. I had to learn that by just continuing to study art. I was just never in a place where I felt like I was good enough to make something like this. And so I always wanted to be a bit more alternative, I always wanted to venture into this sound, and I think coming off of ending things with Sony last year, I just said ‘It’s about time at this point now, 12 years in the game, to just say fuck it and just get it over with,’ you know?