Polari

Dizzy may have faced a chilly reception in Sweden, but it sounds fresh and exciting on the former Years & Years singer's new album, Polari, which comes out on Friday.

If you're not familiar with the origin of the title, Olly explained it to me like this: "Polari is kind of considered the lost language of gay men, who would use it to communicate with each other in secret when homosexuality was criminalised. So it's got a really beautiful, rich history, which I found so inspiring whilst I was making the music."

Bona Palooza translates as "good gathering" with "bona" deriving from Polari - a centuries-old slang language used by some gay subcultures.

It was called Polari, a code of sorts used by gay people, convicts and traveling entertainers to help them make community in the 18th and 19th centuries.

By the 20th century, Mr. Baker said, Polari was spoken throughout the gay community in Britain, which had been driven underground by the country’s laws policing sexual behavior.