In your song for Eurovision, “Before The Party’s Over”, the notion of removing one’s chains, freeing oneself from a certain shackles and assuming who one is in order to live fully is dominant. What was the trigger for you to decide to show yourself 100% as you are?
I would say six or seven years ago. I opened up completely. I told myself that I was free to live as I wanted. I didn’t want my life to be mapped out. Seven years ago, I changed relationships, I went out with a guy and there, clearly, there was this awareness of doing what I wanted. I always considered myself a bit bisexual and open to everything, but at the same time, I also had to prove it, make it happen. I was very happy for eight years with my girlfriend, but at one point I wanted to feel that too. I hate labels and I hate being put on them… and in my personal life too. Making this a reality was a trigger to live according to my emotions.
But was this change difficult to accept?
It’s difficult because it affects other people. And, emotionally, it’s very disturbing. Even if I didn’t want to make it a “big deal”, an announcement – in fact “coming out” I think it shouldn’t even exist because that means we’re doing something important with it. –, the reality is that it affects you emotionally and you have to manage many other parameters, including the people around you. So it was very shaking. But it’s also paradoxical because you have a feeling of freedom and you take things in hand. I didn’t see myself in a heteronormative life.
You started to hang out more in the queer community, then recently became a judge on “Drag Race”…
Yes, things came together but I was already interested in this environment, cabaret, the art of drag etc. But it is certain that, more and more, I opened myself up to this environment, I created a community in this queer environment and my life reflects my choices. I love the queer scene in Brussels and it inspires me deeply.
And to what extent does the queer community influence your music?
Maybe in the themes. In the next album, it will be linked more to me, to my life in recent years. Already, in the song “Before The Party’s Over”, it talks a little about that. The song is built a bit with this trigger. There is a climax with lots of life while the beginning of the song is more restrained, as if things are progressing little by little and an emergency arrives. Now, I feel free and I live fully as I want and I want to try things, to experiment. I experience it a bit like a new adolescence, with fewer thoughts about the views of others. It’s a question of assurance, of confidence.
>> Discover the full interview with Mustii this Saturday in your Max magazine available in bookstores in Sudinfo newspapers or by clicking here.
