Hercules & Love Affair has unveiled the official video for “My Journey” feat. Hips & Lips, a deeply personal exploration of transformation, queer identity, and the courage required to step outside the life others have imagined for you. Directed by Miguel Rodriguez and starring Stephen Smith, Kaleb “KABO” Jacobs, and Leandra Atenea Levine Hidalgo, the film brings the emotional story behind the track to life.
The song appears on Danseur PT 1, the first installment of Andy Butler’s two-part Danseur EP, released through Stratasonic Records. Both the music and accompanying visual center on the complicated emotions surrounding coming out, moving from fear and uncertainty toward self-discovery, freedom, and the realization that transformation does not have to be experienced alone.
The video follows that emotional arc through a cinematic portrayal of Butler’s story, giving “My Journey” a visual language that reflects the track’s intimate subject matter. Rather than presenting transformation as a single moment, the film explores the uncertainty and vulnerability that accompany it while ultimately emphasizing the possibility of connection and liberation.
Across Danseur, Butler draws from a collection of personal and LGBTQ+ stories, creating a project that explores queer life through different eras, relationships, and emotional landscapes. “My Journey” provides the project’s emotional entry point, depicting the earth-shaking experience of coming out, while “The Eyes of Love” moves into a more tragic narrative inspired by Butler’s own life. The song follows two men who find each other before HIV casts a devastating shadow over their honeymoon.
Elsewhere, Butler turns to queer history and cultural memory. His interpretation of Book of Love’s “Boy” pays tribute to New York’s legendary BoyBar, while “Night on the Town” follows two women living openly and proudly during the 1960s. The project concludes with “Pirouette,” a tribute to SOPHIE and Butler’s longtime collaborator Aerea Negrot, who passed away within months of one another.
The creative partnership behind Danseur also builds on the chemistry established through last year’s Someone Else Is Calling. Butler created the project alongside Elín Ey of Hips & Lips and Quinn Whalley of Paranoid London, drawing from their shared appreciation for acid house, disco, and darker strains of electronic music.
Across the two-part EP, Butler continues to explore the emotional possibilities of house music while moving through the sounds and histories of different institutions. That approach carries forward the thread that has defined Hercules & Love Affair since the project’s breakthrough 2008 single “Blind,” featuring ANOHNI.
The forthcoming Danseur PT 2 will expand the story further with contributions from Faris Badwan of The Horrors and Albrecht Van Doornik, adding new voices and perspectives to Butler’s evolving narrative.
That history has also earned Butler deep respect among house music’s foundational artists. Previous Hercules & Love Affair material has been remixed by house legends including Frankie Knuckles and Larry Heard, reinforcing Butler’s position within a lineage of artists who have used the genre as a vehicle for emotional expression and cultural identity.
Nearly two decades into the Hercules & Love Affair project, Danseur continues Andy Butler’s long-running exploration of queer identity, intimacy, loss, memory, and the transformative power of house music. With “My Journey,” those themes are distilled into an intimate story of finding the courage to become yourself—and discovering that the path toward that freedom can be shared.
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