Jake Shears Talks First Solo Hit, New Music & His ‘Faith’ Scissor Sisters Will Make Another Album

Keith Caulfield
·2 min read
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After more than a decade of scaling Billboard’s charts as the frontman of Scissor Sisters, Jake Shears has scored his first solo hit as a featured vocalist on NERVO‘s “The Other Boys.”

The track, which also boasts Shears’ friend Kylie Minogue and Nile Rodgers, rises 21-15 on the Dance Club Songs chart dated Oct. 10.

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Shears dropped by the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast to discuss “The Other Boys” and a range of other topics. Among them: how he’s working with Elton John on a musical that’s “well underway,” the prospects of making a solo album and why Scissor Sisters took a break. Plus, the singer talks about how he’s both “excited” and “terrified” to take the stage in an upcoming one-night-only benefit reading of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. (Also on the bill for the Oct. 5 show in New York: Sally Field, Judith Light, Jonathan Groff, Darren Criss and a host of other stars.)

As for his music career, Shears says “I’ve got a handful of really great songs that I love” and that he’s “gonna make a record,” but says that a “solo thing” isn’t really what he wants to do.

“I’ve always found that thought really depressing. I just like to work with other people and I like things that are kind of a little bit bigger than that. I don’t know. I just feel like a solo record just kind of gives me the willies a little bit.”

Scissor Sisters has been on a break since they wrapped a tour in November 2012. That same month, the group’s fluke hit single “Let’s Have a Kiki” (which topped the Dance Club Songs chart earlier that year), was covered on Fox TV’s Glee. On the podcast, Shears talks about why the band pressed the pause button, and how he has “faith” they will “get inspired again and want to make another record eventually.”

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