Rufus Wainwright: While both my parents were musicians, they didn't sing together--both had separate careers. Sometimes I felt like I could never accomplish what they did, musically. They were so well-known. So I had to really prove myself. there was no easy way to do it. Both my parents tended to be critical, which was good--they knew how hard it was, iin general, to survive in this business. You had to be good. I probably would have been a musician anyway, even if I wasn't very good.

Metro: Did they encourage you when you started off your career path?

Rufus: Encouraged. Especially my mother because she realized quite early on that I had some kind of ability.

Metro: One of the things that surprised me when I was doing research on you was your passion for opera.

Rufus: I don't know how that happened. I was 14 when I first heard my first opera stuff--it wasn't really an opera. It was Verdi's "Requiem"--and it immediately fascinated me. the sound and the breadth of the music. I couldn't listen to anything else for a long time. I wanted to become a classical composer as opposed to becoming a folk musician--it really wasn't the hip thing to do, that's for sure.

Metro: I find I am a melody-driven person-by that I mean I pay more attention to the melody than thelyrics. I know people who do just the opposite. What about you? Is a good melody more important than a good lyric? Or is it the other way around for you?

Rufus: A melody comes naturally to me. I think melodies come from another sort of planet. When you write a melody, it's not necessarily you writing it-it's like you're chaneling some type of music that already exists. That's what I believe. Any great composer is just taking from God-or something. But the words, for me, personally-are the most difficult, challenging part. In a great song, the lyrics can't show off too much but have to stick in your head. Whereas I think the melody usually wins and is more natural. the words are the architecture, the framework.

Metro: Your lyrics, at least on this album, seem to be very personal.

Rufus: I just try and make it as honest and real as possible. I dig deep for that stuff. This album, especially, encapsulates my youth, when I was 17, 18, 19, 20. That was when all of this stuff was happening. So it's a very delicate album in that way. I don't think I'll necessarily ever be able to capture that again, which is fine. I'm 25 and have another life I lead now. But I think music written from that period in one's life is usually very personal and almost sophomoric at times. But it's still charming, you know?

Metro: I don't think there's anything sophomoric about these lyrics from the song "Foolish Love": "I don't want to hold you and feel so helpless. I don't want to smell you and lose my senses, and smile in slow motion with eyes in love." That's incredibly poetic.

Rufus: I don't know if I feel that way anymore about people. I don't want to smell anyone anymore. (laughs) But I'm still looking for the same feelings and the same sort of love, you know? A powerful love. I've gone through a lot in the last few years with this record. And I feel like I'm getting a little crazier. And a little bit more jaded. I think my next record will show more of my nastier side.

Metro: What was your coming out like?

Rufus: Pretty Traumatic. I was 14 at the time, and it was right smack in the middle of the early AIDS thing. I thought I was going to die for about five years, because I'd had sex when I was very young. And in those days I thought you got AIDS if you kissed somebody. So I was constantly surrounded by fear of dying...

My mother wasn't happy when she found out. she'd found a magazine or something and so I told her. She basically told me, "Don't tell me anything I don't want to hear." And I went, "Okay." And then I basically told her I was straight. She just wanted to live in denial for a while which I think a lot of parents want to do. I came out again much later, when I was 18. I made the announcement and then it was more accepted.

At that point, I really wanted to go out and do everything. Have the perfect boyfriend, the perfect sex life, and the perfect apartment. I was actually quite disappointed by what the gay life had to offer me - at least in Montreal.

Metro: What disappointed you?

Rufus: I was disappointed by a lot of the music, frankly, and the culture. Sure, I wanted to get laid, I wanted to have sex, I wanted to fall in love. But that's not all I wanted. I was going out to all the clubs. They played the same music and all the people dressed the same. I had 30 one-night stands. I wasn't really getting anywhere. So I went and hung around a lot of straight bars because at least there we could talk about other things besides sex. I fell for a lot of straight boys.

Metro: Ah, the straight boy thing.

Rufus: Well, I was into straight bars, you know? Not a lot of straight boys, but a couple. And they certainly fell for me in many ways.

Metro: You mention the perfect boyfriend. What would be the perfect boyfriend for you?

Rufus: (laughs) He's got to be about nine feet tall. And part of royal family! And made of steel...No, I fall pretty quickly - and if I see someone who might fit the bill, I'll go for them immediately. I'm not shy about that stuff. I don't really have a perfect type - I'm open to surprises. But my standards are pretty high. So it often doesn't work. I think maybe I'm looking for myself