Singer/songwriter John Duff has gone from a social media personality to a bonafide hitmaker. Born and raised in Baltimore, John gave the stage a try in the Big Apple and eventually moved to LA to pursue a career in music. His first video for “Girly” in 2018, was inspired by Mariah Carey and featured Drag Race alums Willam, Mariah and Biance Del Rio. His videos have garnered attention, views and fans – from the dark “House on Fire” to the cheeky (quite literally) clip for “Somebody’s Daughter”.
John’s second single from his soon-to-be-released Greatest Hits: Deluxe Edition album is an ode to the one in four people who are sexually abstinent. “Forgotten How to F*ck” is a New Orleans-inspired, late-1950’s rock-and-roll number that John wrote when he was undergoing some intimate health problems and sex was the last thing on his mind. Lucky for John, the song doesn’t relate to him anymore, but for the one in four that it does speak to, John wants them to know he sees them.
The video for “Forgotten How to F*ck” draws inspiration from Elvis' ‘68 Comeback Special. “I thought it was a perfect reference for this song,” John says. “After all, Elvis was deployed for two years. He was probably a little rusty in the sack.”
We had the chance to chat with John about the new single, his many musical influences, his connection to the Drag Race universe and lots more in our exclusive interview.
Well, first of all I've never spoken to someone the day their single came out, so I feel kind of honored, and I bet you're excited.
It is crazy because I recorded this song four years ago, and so in my mind it's been out and so this is an interesting social experiment for me where I'm having to remember the people are hearing it for the first time.
What was the inspiration behind the song?
Well, it's funny. I was very celibate for a couple years there. I had some health problems which led to some surgeries and then I just viewed myself as a very fragile, delicate being who was incapable of doing anything. And then the pandemic hit in 2020 – as you might recall – and I wrote this song and posted it on my Instagram and a producer who I'd worked with once called and said I have to do this song. So, it sort of started as just like a little silly Instagram song and then we turned it into this very grand piece.
What was it about the Elvis sound that appealed to you?
Well, it's interesting because, like I said, this was done a while ago and my last single ”Be Your Girl” was done at the same time. And so, there's a whole record of songs that are from this world and the kind of probably should have come right after I did “High Heels”, which was the start of this kind of live band, big horn sound.
However, as an independent artist, my funding was low at that time and I didn't know how to pull off something as grand as this. So, it took me time. I'm all over the place because I'm a true lover of music and creativity and I don't ever want to be limited to one sound, one thing if that makes sense.
And I'm the one writing it and driving the ship and I feel different things call for different sounds. Personally. I don't ever want to be predictable and if you want to go into it, it's such a trap in modern music with the algorithms of streaming services, where artists are actually limited to kind of stick to the sound they got popular for, because it's algorithmic. And so, if I got popular for dance, it would be really unwise for me to pursue hip hop. I've always just kind of done what I wanted. That's my gift to the world.
Some of your influences are – and you can see it in your videos and your songs – are Britney, Janet and Mariah. Who are some of your other musical influences?
Well, for the first, so it's interesting, I would say the first part of my releasing music the first couple years was very much inspired, all of it's my inner child. Every single thing I do is for me as a kid. Okay. Which maybe, I've heard artists talk and say, oh I write music because it's all I can do or this is the only way I know how to communicate and they speak as though that makes them superior because they sing about being brokenhearted.
For me, the creativity comes from things I wanted to do when I was a kid and making them happen now. When I was a kid, the Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, all the girly stuff was stuff I was told I could not do or should not do to avoid being bullied or whatever, and I agreed with that. This current music is sort of the stuff I did at the talent show. I did Elvis, I did Frank Sinatra, I did The Temptations, so I'm reframing that child and giving that child the moment.
Now, I saw that you were in theater before crossing over into music. What prompted you to make that transition?
Well, I grew up in outside of Baltimore, Maryland, and I would say the primary access that I had to anything involving performing was theater. And I think that's pretty common around the country. It was like do opera or do theater and theater was more in line with what I wanted to do and I was very good and I ended up going to college for musical theater at Syracuse.
I always was a pop boy, and even in musical theater school, I excelled when we did contemporary units or pop units. It was always in me, and I started writing songs when I was like eight or nine years old. I didn't realize I was good at writing songs until Perez Hilton told me that when we were doing a musical in Toronto, Canada. He showed up to the theater. I was playing on the piano and singing little songs I wrote, and he was kind of like, well, that's actually legitimate songwriting. You know, so, it was always happening and I always wanted it, but it just requires so much ego, and I think I was so bruised at that point that I really needed somebody to open the door for me, which is what theatre does, because you audition and get told yes or no but as an artist, you have to be the one that consistently just says, it's me.
You're doing a show, “Just John”. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
It's pretty interesting and different, definitely from anything I've done. It's a one man show. It's a tight one hour, and I essentially tell my life story and my relationship with performance. It starts at the beginning and I sing through music that I sang when I was a kid. I think when you see the show go from point A to point Z, you would realize, oh my god, everything he's doing makes sense…but it is funny and it is I'm being very vulnerable and open in a way that people haven't seen me or maybe don't expect.
I always ask singers this, and I know it's kind of like a Sophie's Choice, but out of the songs that you've recorded, do you have a favorite?
Oh Lord, I have I will always have a soft spot for “High Heels” for a multitude of reasons. I felt that in terms of production, we truly captured joy in a way I haven't heard. And to record with Lillias White, the legendary Tony winner, was just such an honor for me as I'd been a fan for a decade prior to meeting her.
You've also worked with a lot of the Ru girls. Mariah, Willam and Bianca were in your video for “Girly” and you wrote “Do It Like Dolly” for Sonique. How did you get connected with them?
Yeah, [Do It Like Dolly’s] great. I wrote that and her other song, “Complete Me”. I'm writing for Adore Delano right now. I've written for Cara Cunningham and Willam and Rylie [Holden] from [the House of] Avalon. Bianca was my next-door neighbor in LA and we became friends just as drinking buddies, really. And one day she asked me what I was doing in LA. I said, I make music, but at the time I really wasn't putting anything out. She asked if she could hear something and I played her “Girly” and she stopped it after 10 seconds and said, “okay, this is actually really good. I'm used to people playing me complete garbage. How can I help you?” I said I want to do a music video and so that kind of launched it and then when Willam came into the video and heard the song, he asked, “will you write songs for me?” and that kind of created a domino effect.
Do you enjoy writing for other artists or do you prefer writing for yourself?
I love writing for other artists and there's a part of me that would absolutely give up my entire artist project and hand it to somebody else if they wanted to do this because it's really fun. I can say recently I've been in the studio with a lot of people for them and it is much easier. Because often with music, what we're doing is we're copywriting. We're reducing a feeling or a phrase to the simplest form that is still unique, right? Because if I'm writing my own feelings, I will write you an essay. It is very hard for me to edit that essay down to 35 words. But when I see somebody else talking, it is very easy for me to edit their thoughts to 35 words. When someone else comes and says, this is what we want to say, it's easy to come up with the phrase. But when you're sitting with your own heart, it is hard to reduce it to simple terms.
Well, you do it quite well, so kudos to you for that.
Well, I am so grateful for my collaborators that have come in recent years to really help me learn. I've learned the most from just watching other people work.
The new single as part of an album called Greatest Hits. Is it your greatest hits or is it new songs?
Oh, yes. I mean, look, I don't tell on myself. It's entirely the sound that we've been doing with “Be Your Girl” and “Forgotten How to F*ck”. It was almost like imagining a queer artist that never got to exist, almost imagining what I would have done in the 40s, 50s, 60s, even a little into the 70s and kind of pulling inspiration from Wayne Newton and Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, the Beach Boys, Elvis and Liberace.
Fantastic. I'm looking forward to that because I really appreciate your music. It's great.
Thank you. It gets more theatrical from here, so you'll love it.
Do you have any plans to go on tour with your music?
I would love to. It's pretty interesting because doing the Pride shows, I was doing a 30-minute set with backup dancers and screens. And now I'm in Provincetown doing a one man show with a pianist. In terms of branding, they're not actually really looking for versatile people. They want the same thing over and over, so I just need to figure out which one is really the one they want and then I'm happy to tour it.
John Duff’s latest single “Forgotten How to F*ck” – and his other fabulous songs – are available on Apple Music, Spotify, and all digital platforms. Follow John Duff on Facebook and Instagram and check out his videos on YouTube.
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