In polite company, you might refer to Rufus Wainwright as an instigator. The contrarian's orchestral pop has more in common with opera than it does with the Top 40, and his lyrics are so arch, his wit so sharp, he could almost be from another era -- a European star of the postwar '20s transplanted to the United States of today, a place where celebrities treat rehab as if it were a spa and artists are vilified for expressing political opinions. But despite how his music sounds, the 33-year-old is firmly grounded in the here and now.
On "Going to a Town," the first single from his fifth album, Release the Stars (Geffen), the openly gay artist asks, "Do you really think you go to hell for having loved?" As the mellow piano ballad builds to a multi-instrumental crescendo,Wainwright sings the following in his resonant, vibrating tenor: "I'm so tired of America, I'm so tired of America." To finish this record, Wainwright left New York and moved to Berlin. "After 9/11, I got sick of the whole victimization of Manhattan," he says. "One of my reasons to go to Berlin was to live in a place that had been destroyed and had already recovered. Also, it has good museums and restaurants. Otherwise, I probably should have just gone to Detroit."
Rufus wears a suit by Victor & Rolf, a shirt by D&G and shoes by Gucci. Fragrance: Marc Jacobs Rain.
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