With the release of the much-anticipated EP Boy’s In Love, Melbourne/Naarm’s Keelan Mak returns to the forefront of Australian pop armed with a fresh brand of club-ready pop tunes primed for summer listening. Proving a worthy successor to 2022s Brave Face EP, the strong introductions from singles “Drift” and “Straight with Me” were excellent showcases to Mak’s musical direction and the deeper exploration of love, identity, and sexual self-acceptance.
Through this EP, Mak unapologetically centers his perspective as a queer artist, bringing a personal and celebratory approach to the themes that define both his life and art.
“This body of work is really about feeling happy and like myself for the first time,” Mak shares, reflecting on the intentions behind Boy’s In Love. “Earlier in my career, I was often encouraged to sell a ‘queer narrative,’ but it never felt genuine. I was partly scared to be openly queer in the public eye, but it also didn’t feel right to brand my work that way if it wasn’t authentically me.”
Boy’s In Love, certainly feels like a youthful embracing of identity, feeling both refreshingly honest and joyfully unfiltered. It is, in the artists own words: “No heartbreak this time—just some gay fun.”
Track by Track: Boy’s In Love
Diving into Boy’s In Love, I found myself unexpectedly drawn in by the opening track “You’re Everything”. Despite being a step outside my usual genre and thematic comfort zone, the upbeat, catchy opener made a strong first impression. With a bright, pumping rhythm and ethereal instrumental samples floating through, “You’re Everything” sets a playful tone. The opening is a carefully restrained, polished pop production that gradually swells into a satisfying bombastic chorus.
Balancing a sweetness of songwriting with danceable energy, it’s a tightly produced track. It also reveals Mak’s knack for creating light, radio-ready pop that feels effortlessly fun, and a maturity in sound well beyond his years.
Following the opener is “Naked Eye”, the EP’s lead single, co-written with pop heavyweights Troye Sivan, Leland, and Vetta Borne. With a team like that behind it, it’s no surprise that “Naked Eye” hooks listeners with polished pop sensibilities, perfectly balancing a moody, 80s-inspired synth ballad with a modern 2024 edge. Mak’s vocal delivery, paired with the melancholic writing, captures the bittersweet feeling of a love lingering in memory long after it’s gone.
The chorus echoes this sentiment:
“I’ll be here imagining you / Long after the moment we say goodbye / Even though this love’s out of view / There’s still more than the naked eye”
Mak has a knack for taking life’s fleeting moments and translating them into songs that feel both sincere and universally relatable. The production only enhances this, pairing warm, heavy synths with crystal-clear instrumentation to create a sound that feels at once nostalgic and refreshingly current.
At the midpoint of the EP, we reach its namesake, “Boy’s In Love”, a polished, upbeat track that embodies the EP’s spirit and infectious energy. From the ground up, this is a song designed to move people, with its driving electronic beat and dancefloor-ready production. Mak’s touch with ethereal vocals shines through in lines like “you’re my heaven, this feels like forever ‘cause this boy’s in love,” capturing euphoria in the bouncy, catchy chorus.
The neo-disco vibes carry seamlessly into “Drift”, a track that lives up to its name as it drifts in and out of an intoxicating, ethereal atmosphere. Mak layers smooth, gliding melodies over a rhythm that coaxes listeners in, revealing itself as a cleverly disguised pop dancer. Beneath the surface, Drift balances a touch of emotion with sleek production, sinking you into its groove.
The EP then closes with “Straight With Me”, produced and co-written with Lucy Blomkamp (known for work with Stevan and Becca Hatch). The song channels the energy of Cascada and DJ Sammy, and brings the dance-pop energy while offering its own social commentary. Mak describes “Straight With Me” as “a queer canon event of sorts,” reflecting on his own experience of “falling into the trap of a straight male gaze” with a mix of tongue in cheek humor and insight.
It’s a fun closer and a great way to round out the EP.
Final Thoughts:
Boy’s In Love delivers a consistent, polished pop experience from start to finish, offering tracks that are unapologetically designed for the dancefloor. While the EP’s cohesive sound occasionally risks feeling predictable, that unity is also part of its charm—it’s easy to get lost in the buoyant beats, even if some of the deeper meaning slips by unnoticed.
Mak has certainly mastered the art of creating songs that balance joy with an undercurrent of emotional honesty, and the skillful production keeps each track fresh and catchy. Though there’s still room to explore broader themes and more varied sounds, this EP shows Mak’s potential as a strong voice in pop. If Boy’s In Love is a glimpse of what he can accomplish, a full album would be high priority listening to see the even greater depths to his evolving artistry.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Boy’s In Love is out now. Grab it HERE
Photographer Credit: Jeremy Kees
