To celebrate her success and the coup that sent Gigi from an independent artist to the center of mainstream popular music, Gigi joined us from her home in the US to discuss and celebrate all the roads that got her here.

“I got out of the shower last night and started crying,” says Gigi, who realized she was about to top the Official Singles Chart. “This is so surprising, yet so strange. I’m looking at myself like…what?”

But along with this confusion and bewilderment, there are two very normal emotions to be felt during this time! – while also realizing that this song serves an entire community in this very moment and helps them be seen and heard.

“It’s great to know that Sailor Song impacted these communities,” Gigi says of fans, both gay and straight, who helped send the song to No. 1. “For it to have a place in people’s hearts…you know…it’s mind-blowing.”

Sailor Song’s journey to Number 1 in the UK is fascinating; It’s the classic story of doing something when your back is against the wall and turning it into the ultimate validation of your artistry and vision.

Gigi says she first came up with the idea for the song in the shower (the first lyrics that came up, of course, were “kiss me on the mouth and love me like a sailor”). It was released as her first single as an independent artist following her departure from her previous label, Interscope (following the song’s success, Gigi has now joined the line-up at Island).

“I feel like I struggle a lot with when something needs to happen or if it’s your time. You go through really heavy trauma and it feels like you’re floating in the air for a long time.” It’s so hard to hold on to hope, but it changes those scars in terms of my faith and my belief that things can change and life will get better. “There will be difficult seasons, but things will get better.”

Homosexuality is at the heart of Sailor Song, an unapologetically fallacious song, and it’s a landmark moment to see such a brazen gay love song reach Number 1 in the UK.

“I think a lot about myself when I was 15,” Gigi says, “When I first saw how Sailor Song was connecting with the LGBT+ community and the girls and how young some of them were, it really brought me back (to my youth).

“I’ve been very comfortable with my sexuality for years, and it’s something that’s always evolving and changing, but it took me such a long time to get here. I grew up in church, I was evangelical, and I think about everything. (At the time) I was struggling with it and I literally never thought it would get better, but it did.” and it happened.”

Gigi talks proud lesbian pop star Hayley Kiyokoand the tender love song Girls Like Girls as a project that “saved” him as he grew up as a gay teenager, and that’s exactly what Sailor Song does for the gay youth of 2024. and he used his own history of pain and doubt to validate anyone who questions their sexuality today.

“I always wanted to serve others through my music,” Gigi says. “It fills my heart and satisfies me. That’s how you get healing. Knowing that this song is for people (that it can do the same) … it’s beyond words.”

The emotion is clearly visible on Gigi’s face when she finds out she will have a UK No 1 song. And it’s an emotional moment; It’s the crest of a wave that’s been building for 24 years. Turning your pain and confusion into art that helps people heal is a true gift, and Gigi understands the power of this moment… one that is entirely her own creation and service to her community.

“There is such a huge gap in the conversations we have in mainstream music,” Gigi says. “There’s a group of people – the queer community – who need representation. It’s great to know Sailor Song is a vehicle for that. Thank you!”

As for what he’ll do to celebrate his first UK No.1 single? He has some ideas.

Gigi laughs: “I think I want dinner made for me.” “Maybe she made a cake? This is a bit boring but…”

Ultimately, Gigi’s journey from independent artist to viral success to UK Number 1 is, more than anything, a test of believing in yourself and your art. And this is what he leaves us; You can achieve anything as long as you believe in yourself.

“I’m the last person who thought I’d be in this position,” he says. “And I think a lot of people were thinking the same thing. This is for the people who are suffering.”

To see? It gets better.

Gigi Perez’s Sailor Song is now out on Island.