Some fans are so keen to pigeonhole male idols as tops and bottoms that even cishet celebrities, such as Shawn Mendes, Timothée Chalamet, and the members of One Direction, have these sexual roles (which are most readily associated with gay men) applied to them. Say what you want among friends, but I’m a bit bored of the online discourse being, like, ‘bottom energy!’ or ‘top me daddy!’ or ‘that’s not gonna work-two bottoms don’t make a top.’ It’s super-reductive.' Our notion of who’s a bottom and who’s a top is rooted in notions of gender and masculinity and femininity that are really outdated as fuck. 'It’s an obsession with a sexual dynamic that feels pointless,” the singer told me. When I interviewed Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander last year for NME, we bonded over bottoming jokes-specifically, how tedious they’ve become.
