“I would like for the rest of my life to be soft, given that the last couple of years have been so heavy and hardened by grief.”
Vincint has always been a groundbreaking pop star — whether you first saw them singing on YouTube, or performing their iconic cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” on the reality competition show The Four, or being featured as the theme song on Netflix’s Queer Eye. The singer, who was named to the Out100 in 2023, is and has been a foundational part of the pop music landscape for the last decade.
Now, in 2026, Vincint’s ready to dance. Out caught up with the singer Friday, on the release date of their new single “Signal.” Striking synths, a soaring chorus, and an uplifting message ready for the dance floor; the song is just so Vincint.
Dance music is escapism for the singer. “I grew up in a house full of gospel and very choral music. My parents were very much like, ‘Hi, we're going to praise the Lord, but also we love to dance and disco.’ So it was a bit of both,” they share. “Whenever I got that chance to do the disco side of my life, it was just euphoric. It reminded me of freedom and being alive. Dance for me is joy, a paramount euphoria.”
That energy will be all over their upcoming album: “It's raw, it's honest, it's chaotic, and it feels like chaos, but it's the most beautiful chaos I've ever had.” The project will be a culmination of the last four years of their life, including some impossibly tough losses. “This project is the most honest thing I've ever done and the most raw thing I've ever done, simply because I found myself having to refine out who I was without both of my parents in this world.”
The first single of the era dropped last summer. A bold, synthy, reclamation of self, the explosive song poured out of them in the studio, Vincint says, and they wrote “I Forgot” (alongside Jesse St. John and Midi Jones) in 45 minutes. “You forget how to sing when the noise gets too loud,” they say.
“I was dating someone during my mother's sickness and through her passing, and it just turned out to be the worst person I had ever met in my entire life,” they reflect. “During that time, I don't know if you've ever experienced a loss like that, but you kind of lose yourself, and you depend on the people around you in your life to hold you together and be the glue that keeps the person that you are intact. I lost myself in this person.”
VincintDario Arias
Part of this era of self-discovery has been coming out as nonbinary. Vincint actually first publicly identified as nonbinary in an interview four or five years ago, but the news wasn’t widely circulated. Today, they see it as always having been part of their identity.
“My father would always call me two-spirited, and I never knew what he meant,” they recall. "I've always lived in the realm of, there are two very bright lights, and one's pink and one's blue. And in the middle, there's this kind of beautiful white light. I've always found myself centered there."
“Signal,” Vincint’s latest track, was just released on Friday. Lyrically, the song is about communication, but sonically and visually, it feels very sensual. The two concepts are linked, Vincint points out.
“Communication to me is so sensual. Communication to me is paramount, how I speak to you, how you intend to speak to me, the intentions you have for me,” they say. “I've definitely been in a situation where I've been with someone, and they're not hearing me, or I'm not hearing them, and I'm sitting right next to them.”
That desire for communication has seeped into all aspects of their life. They’re ready to share that story with listeners. After nearly five years, a new album is coming, and Vincint couldn’t be more ready.
"It was just such an affirming moment for me to be back in my body, back in music, and back to saying the things that I knew were right for me to say and how I say them. It was a vindicating moment over it more than anything else. I felt powerful again, and I needed that."
Joy. Softness. Euphoria. Money. Success. These are the things Vincint is inviting into their life. "Everything that I do should bring me some amount of pleasure, and some amount of peace."
The landscape of pop music has drastically changed since Vincint first stepped into the industry. Barriers around genre have been kicked down. Out queer artists are telling their stories unabashedly, topping Billboard charts, and winning Grammys. Vincint has headlined Pride events and been nominated for GLAAD Media Awards, and has been praised for representation and pushing the boundaries of pop. But Vincint doesn’t want any more praise for praise’s sake. Yes, acknowledging the people who paved the way for artists like Lil Nas X is nice, but they want more.
"I don't want any more flowers,” they say. “I want awards. I want money. I want houses. I want trips. I want a soft life. Fuck the flowers. I'll grow my own."
While they might’ve once felt boxed in (by genre, by the public, by the hardships of life), today, right now, all VINCINT wants to feel is freedom.
"I think the box that I made for myself wasn't a box at all. It was a stage. I got to really just stand on it and scream on the mountaintop, 'This is how I sound, and this is what I look like, and this is what I'll be doing.'”
“Signal” by Vincint is out now.
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