Gregory Dillon: My Favorite Alien Boyfriend
Gregory Dillon has become one of my favorite queer artists of the last several years and anyone who follows me on social media knows this. Along with Michael Medrano, Gregory is an artist I'm constantly gushing about to anyone who will listen and his catalogue is pretty much bulletproof. Also like Michael Medrano, I discovered Gregory Dillon early in my queer pop journey.
By the end of 2018 I had joined Twitter and was following multiple playlists on Spotify that highlighted new music by queer artists, including playlists curated by actual queer artists. I remember in January of 2019 I was visiting my parents with my husband when my parents were living in Hawaii. I was listening to a queer music playlist one morning and I heard Painted Blue by Gregory Dillon. The song had an atmospheric vibe that was still very pop that reminded me a bit of Tears for Fears. Then there were the vocals, which had a warm soulful tone that felt alluring & comforting all at once. When I looked up Gregory Dillon I saw Painted Blue was only his second single and his first single Alone With You was just as good if not better.
Like Michael Medrano I had discovered Gregory Dillon very early on in his career and I could sense that he was an artist who had so much talent & potential that I immediately started following him on Twitter. Unfortunately while Gregory Dillon did post some stuff on Twitter he was not very active on there and didn't respond the way Michael Medrano or other queer artists I started following did on that social media network. Still I do remember the lead up to his third single and music video which was titled Alien Boyfriend.
Alien Boyfriend took the foundation of Alone With You & Painted Blue set and took it a step further by making it more of a bop but still retaining the atmosphere & strong vocals of those songs. In fact, Gregory's vocals were even more passionate on Alien Boyfriend and it made me even more excited for where he was gonna go next. The music video meanwhile showcased a different side of Gregory, which was much more goofy and lighthearted than his music had let on. In the video Gregory's goofiness made him even more charming and likable. It's also kind of funny to me that the music video shows Gregory dating an "alien," who is just wearing the goofiest mask possible, and it came out the same day Mathew V dropped the music video for Catching Feelings, which also depicted a gay intergalactic romance. I mean what are the chances of that happening?!
Now around this time I was starting to gear up for the blog and I realized that if I wanted to promote it properly I needed to finally join Instagram. Once I joined Instagram that's when I realized that Gregory Dillon was most active there instead of Twitter or Facebook. As I started to respond to posts he would like and respond too. At some point I worked up the nerve to slide into his DMs and I'm pretty sure I asked him about my pride outfit and he responded saying I looked fabulous. From that point forward I was on Gregory's radar and pretty soon he had another single coming out.
The next single Gregory released was Love Again, which I remember Kenney of Q Review had already heard since he was going to do a spotlight on that song and Gregory Dillon for Q Review. Kenney told me that it was Gregory's best song to date. Love Again ended up taking the more uptempo vibe of Alien Boyfriend to the next level, while lyrically it was a bit more of a classic love song and this seemed to really connect with listeners. At this point I was already spreading the gospel on Gregory Dillon much like I had done with Michael Medrano. In fact when I sent one of Gregory's songs to Michael he was very impressed by Gregory's vocals.
As the summer fast approached I was talking with Gregory Dillon more and more to the point that he wanted me to cover his new song Where We're Going on my blog, which I was more than happy to do. Unfortunately a slight error occurred with the song's release where the song ended getting released a week before it was supposed to drop. I remember waking up and seeing Where We're Going was already available on Spotify and texted Gregory. He sent a video message back saying it got released earlier than he had hoped by accident.
I told Gregory though that I loved the song and it reminded me of Chillwave acts such Washed Out and Small Black. Gregory told me he is a huge Washed Out fan and that he actually knew the guys in Small Black as well. Now for those who need an explanation on what Chillwave is let's first talk about Shoegaze. Shoegaze was a form of Alternative Rock from the late 80s & early 90s that was heavily psychedelic with lots of waves of distortion laden guitars where the vocals are very muffled or mixed into the music itself. Chillwave on the other hand has those muffled vocals and psychedelic vibe, but replaces the rock instrumentation with synths and keyboards which gives it a more polished pop sound. Now I had gone through some serious Shoegaze & Chillwave binges in the 2 years leading up to me discovering queer pop so I was well versed in the genre. I had picked up traces of Chillwave in Gregory's music from the start, but Where We're Going was his most Chillwave influenced track yet and it was cool to have that confirmed by Gregory himself.
While I missed my opportunity to cover Where We're Going, Gregory made sure I would be able to cover his next single Vacuum. For those who have been following my blog since the start you'll remember my article about Vacuum where I compared the song to Depeche Mode's black leather era and said it was the darkest song Gregory had released up till that point. Vacuum would prove to be the end of Gregory's first era and he would take a 6 month break from releasing any new music.
In the meantime I'm gonna circle back to that Zach Benson show I attended in the fall of 2019. At that show Zach told me he was going to moving to New York City soon and I told him about all the queer artists who were in New York City including Gregory Dillon. Yavin, who had introduced me to Zach, did know Gregory and that fall the three of them got together to hang out. I remember seeing videos on Instagram of them recording songs together sometimes as a trio and sometimes as a duo, but those videos & photos got me very excited for the music they were all working on.
When Gregory returned with new music around the summer of 2020, his first 2 songs were collaborations with Yavin and Zach. The first track was co-written with Yavin and it was called Plastic Ferrari. The song was sung from the point of view of Ken, Barbie's boyfriend, who was in fact gay and he wants to drive away with another male doll instead of Barbie in a pink plastic Ferrari. The song represented the start of Gregory's next era and what a start it was because Plastic Ferrari felt like his most ready radio pop song to date. Great hooks, great production, great lyrics and as always great passionate vocals from Gregory, who really sells the heart and stakes of that song with his whole being. I remember other queer artists such as Zee Machine saying that this was one of the best pop songs they had ever heard and they were not wrong.
The next song was actually billed as a Zach Benson song featuring Gregory Dillon and it was called Mischief. This song definitely felt more like a Zach Benson song as it had more of his style and quirks in it but Gregory's presence was still strongly felt. I remember more of the queer artists expressing their love for this song as well, in particular Peter Jessy who says he wish he had written that melody.
Gregory's next official single was Screenshots, which once again raised the bar and was one of Gregory's catchiest and most addictive singles to date. Screenshots was also his biggest bop as well since it was easily his most danceable single up till that point too and it felt Gregory just kept expanding his fanbase with each single he was putting out. Screenshots also came with a great music video, which featured Gregory acting like a housewife in a very stylish looking house, which seemed to come out of the 60s. Like most of Gregory's videos it was campy fun.
Gregory's next single Lovely went in a darker direction and it definitely felt like a spiritual sequel to Vacuum as a result. The song was still a bop, but had a much more dark atmosphere around it, which was expanded upon in the long form music video Gregory put together which looked like a horror film in parts. I remember Michael Medrano telling me that this was his favorite Gregory Dillon song up to that point.
These 3 singles eventually led to Gregory's first EP Sad Magic. Sad Magic included Plastic Ferrari, Screenshots & Lovely as well as 2 tracks that had not been released yet. Those songs were Sunset and the title track. Between those two songs it felt like the title track, Sad Magic, gained the most traction. It was another exuberant bop from Gregory with pitch perfect production that summed up his enormous appeal as an artist. Eddie the Kidd, another queer artist, said he was listening to Sad Magic the song non stop.
I too was listening to the title track a lot as well but I found myself returning to Sunset more and more often. In some ways it reminded me of Gregory's first single Alone with You. It felt epic, widescreen and transportive. It was everything I wanted in a Gregory Dillon song and continued to stream it non stop to the point that the song is still appearing on my On Repeat and Repeat rewind playlists on Spotify at the moment.
For 2021 Gregory Dillon didn't release any original songs, instead he concentrated on remixes and cover songs instead. That said, I was able to do some livestreams with Gregory on Instagram which were a lot of fun but would prove to be a warm up for what was coming in the fall.
As soon as I heard there was going to be a concert in New York City that was gonna feature J Line, Kisos, Zach Benson, Bentley Robles & Gregory Dillon I knew I had to go. I got my tickets immediately though booking a hotel turned out to be a bit tougher & more expensive than I was expecting. Nonetheless nothing was going to deter me from seeing this show. I drove up to Brooklyn with my husband the day of the show and we took an Uber over from the hotel.
I got there right as the doors opened at 6pm because I did not want to miss a moment of this entire experience. Eddie the Kidd was already there with his boyfriend and they had flown out from Texas for this show. If there was anyone who loved Gregory more than me it was most certainly Eddie. Before you know it Gregory came out and said hello to us, gave us a quick hug and then went to do more prep for the show. After Gregory left Eddie looked at me and said did that just happen?
The concert, which was nicknamed Cult Prom, was an amazing night all around. At some point I will probably need to discuss this entire night in detail but for now I'll focus on Gregory Dillon's set. Gregory went last and Eddie and I went to the front of the stage to fan girl out for Gregory. We were not the only ones though, because during Gregory's set more kids came to the front who were excited to see him and they were singing along to every word just as we were in all honesty.
Gregory came out wearing a pink & red Letterman jacket, similar to the one he wore around the time of Love Again when he was doing promotion and photos for that song. He sang lots of his classics and even did a cover with Zach Benson, which was a lot of fun. Before the show I had told Gregory that if he sang Sunset I would be up front singing every word back to him and that's just what I did. Gregory and I definitely shared a moment together during that song on stage and it was magical!
After the show wrapped up I got to go up to him again thanking him for a wonderful night and a great performance. I took some photos with him and Eddie as well. Afterwards I ended up hanging out with a few other people from the show for the rest of the night, but I took ample photos and videos from that night, which I posted across social media for weeks after that concert ended. Ever since discovering Gregory I had wanted to see him live so badly and I finally had and it lived up to all my expectations and then some.
While no new music has been announced I'm sure Gregory is working on something and whatever it is it's sure to be great because as far as I'm concerned Gregory Dillon can do no wrong!
