Emmy/Grammy/Tony Award winner Billy Porter drops this disco-tastic new track, “Finally Ready.” Porter describes the collaboration with The Shapeshifters as “a declaration of Pride, of breaking free from past traumas to take a chance on love.” Cinematic strings, live horns and Billy’s unmistakably powerful voice create a sonic dancescape complete with a message of Pride via Billy’s joyful lyrics. “Finally Ready” hits on so many levels for me,” says the Pose star. “First, being ‘finally ready’ to experience what real love is. And thankfully, I have somebody who loves me enough to love me through trauma, to be present, and allow me to grow, into this.” “I’m also ‘finally ready’ to be who I am, who I’ve always been,” he adds. “It has been a rough road, I’ve been through so many changes, but I always kept the faith and now I’m here.” “And lastly, I’ve made a lot of different kinds of music – R&B, show tunes, ballads. But it should come as no surprise to anyone at all that disco is in my blood! I love to feel sparkly and have that light shine back into the audience. So, yes, I am ‘finally ready’ to make a classic disco record.” “Now, let’s dance!”
Pride Music: Billy Porter & The Shapeshifters “Finally Ready”
In one of those Nashville label meetings, a few well-known executives advised him to rebrand his image and leave “all questions of sexuality up to the listener.” He was told a good way to be asked fewer questions about his then-referred to “current issue” was to appear “more masculine.” Greenwell shares that he was advised not to do interviews because his “gender expression would be too ‘gay.’” Taking their unfortunate advice to heart, Greenwell moved back to Nashville in the fall of 2013 to begin production on what would become his country-pop EP titled Road Map, released under the stage name “Nate Green.” The blend of country influences coupled with dance-pop production proved popular with a new audience. But it wasnʼt long before the media realized ‘Nate Green’ appeared to be a non-gay version of ‘openly gay, Gay Pride performing Josey Greenwell.’ The result was a frenzy of public backlash, especially from the LGBTQ community, who regarded his seeming retreat back into the closet as a sort of ‘betrayal of gay pride.’ During the period of backlash, Greenwell recalls a writer coming up to him in a club and saying, “Hey, I wrote that awful thing about you.” The artist remembers, at the time, it seemed like the writer almost wanted to be thanked. “This was the journey, and looking back, it was one of the most miserable times of my life,” he admits. “It was what I thought you did since I didn’t know any successful LGBTQ musicians.”