Listen to Billy Porter’s new disco-dance anthem ‘Children’
"Make way children! Daddy’s back"
Billy Porter has released his new single ‘Children’, co-written alongside British songwriter and producer MNEK and Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall.
The song released today (October 15), is Porter’s debut track with Island UK and Republic Records US.
The American singer and Broadway performer said in a press release that the feel-good anthem was inspired by “everything [he’s] gone through to get here.”
The optimistic ballad is a taste of what’s to come on his forthcoming fifth album. “I lived a whole lotta life / I ain’t new to this / Lotta lows, lotta highs, I stay true to this / Take my hand, join the ride / You’re gonna have it figured out in time,” he sings in one verse.
In the press release he also shared how music is his “first love.” He added: “I grew up singing in the church. When I first put out commercial music in 1997, the industry was not ready for all this Black Boy Joy!
“But luckily the world has caught up. I could not be more thrilled to entrust this next chapter of my music career to the Island/Republic team. Make way children! Daddy’s back.”
Listen to ‘Children’ below.
‘Children’ is the lead single on Porter’s new studio album, which is expected to be released in 2022.
He also said that for the first time his music is “what I want it to be”, which is “hope [and] love”.
“We have to choose it every day so we can fight the evil that is so pervasive. We can only fight it with love and I am so excited for my music for that.”
Porter’s first self-titled debut album was released in 1997 and included tracks ‘Love Is On The Way’ and ‘Bubbling Under’.
The performer also won a Tony for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in ‘Kinky Boots’ and won an Emmy for ‘Pose’. The latter told the story of African American and Latino LGBTQ drag ball culture in New York in the 1980s and 1990s.
In May this year, Porter revealed he had been living with HIV for the past 14 years, telling The Hollywood Reporter: “There’s no more stigma – let’s be done with that. It’s time.”