Aside from his role as the xx's baritone-voiced bassist, Oliver Sim makes impassioned, theatrical pop that's a far cry from that group's bittersweet minimalism. The band's Mercury Prize-winning, self-titled 2009 album introduced his rich vocals and 2017's I See You revealed a newfound directness to his songwriting, but Sim truly came into his own with 2022's solo debut Hideous Bastard, which encompassed horror film imagery and '80s synth pop influences as he explored overcoming fear and shame as an HIV-positive gay man.

Growing up, Sim felt like an outsider and related to sci-fi and horror heroines like Alien's Ellen Ripley and Buffy the Vampire Slayer's titular character, and also found inspiration in Placebo's Brian Molko and other musicians who played with gender norms. By the time he was 15, he and Romy Madley Croft had formed an early version of the xx while they were students at Putney, England's Elliott School. With the addition of Jamie xx, the band's hushed, yearning blend of indie, R&B, and electronic music became a critically acclaimed and influential force, with their 2009 self-titled debut winning that year's Mercury Prize.

In the wake of the success of the xx and the group's 2012 sophomore album, Coexist, its members embarked on solo careers. Jamie xx was first, with remixes and singles that culminated with 2015's acclaimed album In Colour. When the xx reconvened to make their third set, 2017's chart-topping I See You, they took a more confessional approach to songwriting that led to Sim penning some of his most personal material yet. Some of these songs, such as "Hideous," which addressed his feelings about being HIV-positive, became the foundations of his own solo album. As he continued to write, Sim reached out to Jimmy Somerville, whose work as Bronski Beat's vocalist and an HIV advocate inspired him, and to Elton John, who connected him with other gay musicians including Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears and Perfume Genius' Mike Hadreas. Sim's other influences ranged from the work of John Grant and Mykki Blanco to the final girls of his childhood to monsters like The Silence of the Lambs' Buffalo Bill, American Psycho's Patrick Bateman, and Psycho's Norman Bates. Sim worked with Jamie xx on September 2022's Hideous Bastard, which featured Somerville on the final version of "Hideous." Around the time of the album's release, the short horror film Hideous, which was directed by Yann Gonzalez and featured several Hideous Bastard tracks, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Heather Phares