I just saw my younger brother, Andy, a straight cis guy in his early 20s, low-key fangirling over Speirs when watching him rush across Foy in episode 7.
What can I say....what a night it has been and I do not know where to start. It is 02.15 am here in the UK but I won't be sleeping for a while. Too much to process.
Alex has pulled some things out of his hat before but this is the biggest surprise of all. So I am just going to get my thoughts down for anyone who is interested.
These photos are clearly staged with the help of Backgrid the celebrity go to people for staged pics. So I am just going to say what I think are the possible reasons.
Before I start I am going to say I think Alex was fully compliant in this because in several pictures he is looking at the camera
1. Louise persuaded him to do it because she has something she wants to promote and needs the publicity. Tbh I find it very hard to believe Alex would go along with this.
2. The US tour is coming up. They have to keep the hetero narrative going so we have staged pics with his supposedly hot girlfriend.
3. This is the 'make or break' holiday. I have seen this before with celebrities. They're not seen together for ages then suddenly they go on holiday. It is usually accompanied by staged pics and then a few weeks later they split because they couldn't make it work. Why I think this is a possibility is because the Daily Mail led with the most miserable picture and the headline said they were 'putting on a loved up display' which is always Daily Mail speak for people looking miserable. It plants seeds of doubt into people's minds, preparing them for the break up.
4. Someone has threatened to out Alex. But I would imagine if that was the case he would have made more attempts to look affectionate towards her.
5. And this breaks my heart to type. This is Miles' big week with the release of One Man Band and Alex went along with Louise's attempt (successful as well) to take attention away from Miles. Which if that is the case I tear up my AM fan card. But I can't imagine him doing that to Miles.
6. Maybe Alex has just finally decided to embrace the celebrity lifestyle. He just needs to tell his face that he is having fun!
Whatever it is (with the exception of 2 and 3) he has made a bit of a fool of himself. I mean the dude doesn't even look like he has been there five minutes and she has been in Italy for weeks. Surely if he joined her at the end of the European tour he would have some colour.
And one more thing. Why did some French dude try and pass off a picture in Paris as a recent, on Sunday?
Generally, it’s the music first. I’m always trying to find chord structures that haven’t been used before. That’s the first thing I look for; I try to find a chord structure that inspires the melody to just fall out of my mouth automatically. That usually inspires the lyrics. The words come very naturally to me. I think if you’re struggling to write words to a piece of music, it’s probably not inspiring you enough.
In a song like “Apocalypse Please” on Absolution, the chord structure was so epic and in your face, and the words just fell out. The lyrics weren’t the kind of words I ever expected to sing. But in finding those kinds of weirder chords first, it inspired me to want to say something.
Matt on songwriting, lyrics and Apocalypse Please | "Innocence And Absolution", Keyboard Magazine, June 2005