Get Down with Joey Arrigo for a dance and sex reset

29 May 2024 - Photos by Kyreto ; Video stills by Jeremy Benning

The last time I talked to multi-hyphenate Joey Arrigo, he was in rehearsal for the musical Rock of Ages. With a career that includes being a finalist on So You Think You Can Dance and an acrobat in Cirque du Soleil's Volta, Arrigo had no concerns about the physical or dance demands of his role. He was however, nervous about the vocal prowess and stamina needed to belt hair metal eight times a week. He acquitted himself with honours, but it was still a surprise when I received the video for "Get Down," Arrigo's new pop single. The process of what Arrigo calls "finding my artist" has been a long one, harking all the way back to "My childhood in middle school and I was the only boy in the choir," says Arrigo. "I remember that my entire childhood I was singing. Then I was in the choir and I got made fun of for that. So I quit the choir to focus on dance. This choir thing at school, it was creating but it was discomfort for me, and at that time I couldn't kind of stand up for myself and say this was something I wanted to do. So I kind of put singing on the back burner and then kind of forgot that it was something that I really enjoyed doing."

Rock of Ages was the right show at the right time. "I had so many conversations with people in that show," says Arrigo. "We'd talk about the identity of an artist and how we connect to the things that we get a paycheck for. And we say, well, I'm getting paid for that and I'm getting booked for jobs doing that, so that must be who I am and all I am. But, you know, as a dancer and the kind of dancer that I am, there's always that faint dream in the back of my mind that said, 'I could be a damn pop star.' So when I did Rock of Ages, and I sang with these really great singers, and we got to compare techniques, vocal techniques, with dance technique, and how they work together. And one of the other big things, not just technical elements, but also the artistic elements of, yes, having great technique as a dancer, or having great technique as a singer. It's so great to refine your skills and to refine your music and to bring that element of polish and cleanliness into what you're doing. None of it will matter unless your art is coming from this place of passion, this place of performance, this place of connection. So I decided to just give myself this little bit of grace when saying, yes, I know my skills as a dancer, and I know my skills as a singer. And no matter where those skills sit, I'm going to hit this with the way I love to do it, and I'm going to hit it from the side of being a great performer, because that's something I definitely know how to do."

A new journey had begun. "I started by writing my first song last year with Velvet Code and So Fierce Music," says Arrigo. "That was actually when I was still doing drag, and I did release that song under my drag name first. Long story short with that, the song didn't reflect who that drag queen was, and there was kind of just a disconnect. What I ended up realizing later last year was that drag was a chapter of my life, but it wasn't something I wanted to keep going on. What I did want to keep going on was me, my authentic self, my true gender expression. I got to play with my femininity and really push through that and learn so much about myself, but finding out how much of my femininity I wanted to keep really helped me embrace some of my masculine sides, which has been really fun. So when I wrote this new song, I already knew that this was going to be released under Joey Arrigo's name, and I was going to move forward with my branding as my own self. I wanted it to be something that was immediately relatable, immediately catchy. I wanted people to hear this song and catch the vibe immediately. And also start singing it. So that's how the lyrics came about. The song is about dancing and sex. 'Get Down.' We get down on the dance floor, we get down in bed. I think those are two things that when people first hear the song and they connect to it, there's a kind of feeling in their body that it's like, 'I want to make some bad decisions.' I love that we were able to bring that energy out because it's just going to make for a really fun summer Pride jam." 

"Get Down" is a catchy dance tune that is an intriguing mix of industrial and Britney-esque pop. That analysis makes Arrigo laugh out loud. "I love that you said that, because what I love to consider this song as if  the mother of this was '80s synth pop mixed with the father of early 2000's narcissistic pop. I I just feel like all like the pop music at that point was so body focused. It was so much about those dance breaks in the music video. It was so much about the physicality of those artists. And it was about the visuals. We did this music video because we knew we could do something great with it. I wanted something to pay homage to that because it's something that inspired me so much." And the dancing in "Get Down" is spectacular, from Arrigo writhing with astonishing sensuality to athletic group choreography to a lockstep dance break that manages to evoke Ms Jackson in just a few seconds. "A lot of those dancers are my really good friends who I do a lot of jobs with," says Arrigo. "I trust them, I love them, I asked them to be in this because this project is my baby. And I wanted people who would understand that concept and dance well together."

Arrigo also has a lot to say about the symbolism of the video's scifi plotline and themes. "Sometimes we lack trust in ourselves and trust in those around us. So," he says, "that's how the video starts, I'm in this dystopic world after this apocalyptic storm, and I'm just looking for that place of pleasure and safety. A place to be understood. I go into this space and I meet  this character I've named the Golden Mother. Gold is a metaphor of growth, healing and of the unlocking of a new self. There is a Japanese concept, kintsugi, that is the bridging of the past and the future. It is the everlasting healing of something that was broken. In pottery, they wouldn't fix it with glue or with tape. They would repair something with gold so that it lasts longer. It's repaired forever, and it's now more valuable. I wanted to use this aspect of gold to repair these broken parts of me where I no longer felt like myself. That red, goopy creature, that tortured creature, that's my inner child. And he's sitting inside me, and he's kind of demonic, doing some evil, demonic things. So I go on this journey to heal that inner creature through that teaching of kintsugi. The Golden Mother sends me on my way to becoming my new, golden, stronger, healed, healing self, because I don't think there's ever an end to that journey. We have to just continue filling with gold and making ourselves stronger. So in doing so, I'm able to come into my gold self and continue to feel my body, continue to love myself sexually, to continue to dance and to use my instrument as I know I'm able to. And yeah, it's a celebration of kind of where I'm at in my life right now. It's a celebration of my newfound connection to myself."

That internal connection, kintsugi healing, is crucial to Arrigo. "I think I'm lucky that my dance career took off  so young because I acquired strong technical ability and stage presence. I was kind of a performance athlete. That is something that I struggled with as a dancer growing up because I pushed for such such strength in my technical understanding. But then I was like, I don't I don't feel like I'm connecting with people. People would revere me for what I did, but then still kind of have this disconnection from me. And I was like, well, I'm not bringing anything personal to it. I'm not bringing anything real to it. That vulnerable stuff of allowing your real self into it. When it comes from your truth it will become something that is wanting to be heard and relatable This work speaks from me in a very real place." Arrigo wants everyone to dance, or have sex, to '"Get Down." The song has been made for a house dance floor, a disco dance floor, a circuit dance floor," he says, "it exists in so many different places. We have seven remixes that are by Dan Slater, Eric Ibiza, GSP, DJ Shimmy G, Ray Rhodes, and Velvet has done another remix himself that has been circling the charts in the UK."

"Get Down" is definitely a sexy showcase for Arrigo's moves and, though they are highly processed, vocals. "I wanted to make sure that this video would let people get to know me as an artist. I wanted to do something that was authentically me. I could have done something that was just fancy with us all touching ourselves and giving that aspect of sex and this and that, but I just wanted to go a little bit deeper. Dance and sex have brought so many beautiful things to my life. They've brought me so much identity. They've brought me so much knowing of who I am. They've given me validation. They've given me my understanding of how I connect to other people. They allowed me to understand that I'm a homosexual. Not to mention they are huge pleasure centers,  not just in myself, but in everybody, whether you're a trained dancer or not. When you've got to let go and just feel good about something, people dance! Whether it's good or not, it doesn't matter. When people say they're having a hard time in life, and they say, 'Oh, damn it, I need to get laid.' Well, yeah, you do. So dance and sex are two things that, when you're feeling good, you dance and have sex. When you're not feeling good, sometimes you'll turn to dancing and sex. They are things that give us that reset. So this song will just give us that opportunity to feel good. To 'Get Down.'"