Blazing Glory

Mike Hadreas ignites the burning passion of Perfume Genius with his latest album, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately.

- Derrick Tan

Confidence triumphs fear, making the battle half won. But the objective still needs to be accomplished, and Mike Hadreas doesn’t allow chaos to distract him from staying grounded while he explores the vastness of the musical sphere. “When I’m making music, I feel like I’m able to focus that chaos into something really beautiful. Even if it is chaotic, it still has a direction and I’ll create something from it.”

Before performing as Perfume Genius, Hadreas hadn’t had the slightest clue about veering offof his chosen artistic route. “I went to school for painting, although I didn’t know I was going to be a painter before that, either. I didn’t really start thinking about the future until making my first record. It really did feel sudden because it began while living at my mum’s house when she went out of town for a week. I’d downloaded a music program on my laptop and went to the piano in the living room to write a song. For the rest of the week, I just kept writing. I felt like I had the perfect vehicle for all the things I wanted to say and do because right after completing the song on my computer, I would make a video for it. So it became a harmony of things.”