My Inspiration: Michael T Ogilvie – Shut Me Up

Newcastle-based singer‑producer Michael T Ogilvie returns with Shut Me Up, a queer dance‑pop rush built around that moment of locking eyes across a crowded floor and losing yourself in the spark of a first kiss. Sonically it’s a pulsating, interstellar synth‑driven disco‑banger, with hands‑to‑the‑lasers breaks framing Michael’s impassioned vocals and sharp, hook‑laden lines.

Here, Michael tells us more about the inspirations behind the new track…

I’ve always been obsessed with pop and dance music, because you can take it at face value or dig deeper and find real meaning underneath. Lyrically, Shut Me Up is about that dopamine rush moment when you catch a stranger’s eye across the dance floor and end up kissing them, it’s a simple idea, but such a memorable one. Or not, depending on how much you’ve partied 

But my relationship with dance music runs deeper than that. Dance floors are woven into queer culture, they’re spaces for self-expression and escapism, places where you can be whoever you want to be for 3 and a half, or in my case, hours and hours at a time. They’re also where community happens: where people find others with shared experiences, and often find chosen family, which for a lot of queer people is a genuine lifeline. So many queer venues are closing, and while the dance floor isn’t the only queer space left, it’s one of the most vital especially for someone like me, who grew up in the middle of nowhere and found my community through queer nightlife in Newcastle. 

That’s a big part of why I set up The Future Is Queer in 2023. We’re a queer creative house built around showcasing the future of LGBTQIA+ talent, through our own events and by partnering with festivals and Pride stages to open doors for performers who might otherwise be overlooked. People outside the community might not always see why access to like-minded people matters so much, but to us, especially now, it’s essential. I want to keep showing up for that community through music, and to keep making dance music a space where people feel free to express themselves.

I love dance music and I love being queer!