Flamboyant
Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 2003
Original album - PopArt
Producer - Pet Shop Boys, Felix J. Gauder, Tomcraft
Subsequent albums - Release 2017 reissue Further Listening 2001-2004 bonus disc, Smash
Other releases - single (UK #12)
The second previously unreleased track on PopArt, "Flamboyant" was the follow-up single to "Miracles." Co-produced by the German producer/remixer Tomcraft (Thomas Brückner), who generally works in an "electro" style, it's an uptempo, techno-oriented dance track that wouldn't have been out of place on Disco 3. The single mix is noticeably different from the PopArt version, with additional vocal harmonies by Neil and new keyboard parts.
Like "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?" the words address one or more unnamed celebrities, and the general "message" seems closely akin to that of "Shameless," though with a more positive spin. Neil has said that it's about no one in particular, but rather an "archetype." That archetype might be described (to put it bluntly) as an "attention whore":
You're so flamboyant, the way you live
You really care that they stare
And the press deployment is always there
It's what you do for enjoyment
He even suggests that this flamboyance may be an outgrowth of the decadence of the era in which that person lives: "You live in a time of decay when the worth of a man is how much he can play." But despite all this, he admires anyone who can sustain such a public display. As Neil told an interviewer, "It's about the importance of flamboyant people in our way of life.… people like Oscar Wilde and Quentin Crisp, Boy George and Marilyn, Elton John and David Beckham.… Anyone with a bit of sparkle."
Most curiously, despite its many remixes and the Boys' proven track record, "Flamboyant" apparently wasn't released even as a promo single to the U.S. dance market.
Annotations
- "Just crossing the street / Well, it's almost heroic" – Neil has revealed that these lines were inspired by his once having seen club promoter, clothes designer, and socialite Philip Sallon walking across a London street dressed in, as Neil put it, "a traditional Welsh milkmaid's outfit."
- "Collectors wear black clothes by Issey Miyake" - Issey Miyake (1938-2022) was a Japanese fashion designer known particularly for his technology-inspired clothing. Chris Lowe has often shown a personal fondness for Miyake, having worn his creations on various occasions and for publicity photo-shoots.
- Interestingly, the Michael Mayer Kompakt Remix of the song includes near the end (at about 7:23) a very brief, faint sample, only a couple seconds in length, lifted from the Boys' own "So Hard"—probably included more as an in-joke and/or "tip of the hat" more than anything else. It also sounds as though it includes, at several different junctures, samples of the soprano saxophone solo from one of the Brothers in Rhythm remixes of "How Can You Expect to be Taken Seriously?"—either the Extended Mix or the Classical Reprise; it's very difficult to tell for sure which.
Mixes/Versions
Officially released
- Mixer: Felix J. Gauder and Tomcraft
- Album version (3:50)
- Mixer: Tomcraft
- Tomcraft Extended Mix (6:23)
- Mixer: Pete Craigie and Stuart Crichton
- Single mix (aka "New Single Mix") (3:40)
- The "7-inch Mix" (3:37) on one of the "Further Listening" bonus discs accompanying the 2017 Release reissue is essentially identical
- Single edit (3:06)
- Available on an extremely rare U.K. promo release for broadcast use only
- Video mix (3:57)
- Single mix (aka "New Single Mix") (3:40)
- Mixer: DJ Hell
- DJ Hell Mix (6:31)
- Mixer: Scissor Sisters
- Scissor Sisters Sihouettes & Shadows Mix (6:08)
- Mixer: Pet Shop Boys
- Original demo (4:24)
- On the CD "maxi-single" and one of the "Further Listening" bonus discs accompanying the 2017 Release reissue
- Original demo (4:24)
- Mixer: Michael Mayer and Superpitcher
- Michael Mayer Kompakt Remix (7:56)
- Available on the Fundamentalism bonus disc accompanying the limited edition of Fundamental
- Michael Mayer Kompakt Remix (7:56)
Official but unreleased
- Mixer: Pet Shop Boys
- November 24, 2003 XFM radio session version (4:17)
List cross-references
- 8 perhaps surprising influences by the Pet Shop Boys on others
- The key signatures of selected PSB songs
- Real people mentioned by name or title in PSB lyrics
- The Pet Shop Boys' appearances on Top of the Pops
- PSB songs that have been used in films and "non-musical" TV shows
- Films that have featured PSB songs
- How PSB singles differ (if at all) from the album versions
- Pet Shop Boys Satire
- My 30 favorite PSB songs, period (mentioned in a footnote)
- What it's about: Neil's succinct statements on what a song is "about"
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