Nick Hissom has no interest in making his post-breakup era tasteful, restrained or particularly easy to ignore. On Hot Boy Things, the UK-born American artist, also known as Hizzy, responds to heartbreak and public scrutiny with five tracks of sexed-up synth-pop, club production, cowboy fantasy and unabashed theatricality. Beneath all the provocation, however, sits something more interesting: an artist attempting to reclaim control of his own image.
The EP functions as both breakup record and reintroduction. Now operating openly as a gay artist without the relationship and societal constraints Hissom says previously surrounded him, he approaches sexuality less as confession than celebration. His philosophy that “hotness is a state of mind” might sound deliberately frivolous, but across Hot Boy Things, pleasure and confidence become tools for rebuilding an identity after personal upheaval.
That transformation begins loudly with ‘Hot Boy Things’. Booming synths, club-ready drums and breathy vocals establish an early-2000s pop sensibility informed by the spectacle of Britney Spears and the physicality of contemporary male pop performance. The accompanying chair choreography and overtly sexual presentation underline Hissom’s ambitions: he doesn’t simply want to release songs; he wants to construct a complete pop universe around them.
If the title track establishes the fantasy, ‘Sexify’ weaponises it. Taking inspiration from the relentless pulse of Benny Benassi’s ‘Satisfaction’, the track turns objectification and media fascination with Hissom’s personal life into something he can control on the dancefloor. Its repetitive, provocative energy is knowingly excessive, making its success on the Music Week UK Club Chart feel particularly appropriate.
There is also an underlying argument about who gets to be sexual in mainstream pop without being treated as inherently controversial. Hissom’s answer isn’t subtle: instead of responding to scrutiny by toning himself down, he turns everything up. That approach gives ‘Sexify’ an edge beyond its immediate club appeal.
Then comes ‘Yeehaw’, arguably the clearest expression of Hissom’s self-described “classy, with a little yeehaw” aesthetic. Drawing upon his family’s Texan roots, it crashes Western imagery into polished synth-pop with a deliberate sense of camp. Cowboys, desert styling and mechanical bulls become ingredients in a knowingly ridiculous fantasy where masculinity is something to play with rather than conform to.
The Paris Hilton-inspired car wash imagery surrounding the track takes that reversal even further. By reworking a famously sexualised piece of mid-2000s pop culture through his own male gaze, Hissom simultaneously indulges in the aesthetics of the era and mischievously flips them. It’s nostalgic, provocative and knowingly excessive, the three qualities that perhaps best define the EP.
Yet ‘Amazing’ demonstrates why Hot Boy Things would be less interesting if it existed solely to shock. Dreamier and more exposed, the track steps away from the project’s sexual bravado and allows Hissom’s softer songwriting instincts to surface. It provides necessary contrast, suggesting that confidence doesn’t require vulnerability to disappear completely.
That vulnerability gives the record’s louder moments more dimension. Without it, the hot boys, cowboys and choreography might risk becoming costume. ‘Amazing’ reveals the person underneath the performance and, crucially, makes the performance feel like a conscious choice rather than somewhere to hide.
Closing track ‘Dangerous (Get Locked)’ brings that tension between public perception and private determination into sharper focus. Autobiographical and defiant, it considers what happens when attempting to establish yourself creatively while other people remain fascinated by everything surrounding the music. Hissom’s response is essentially to keep working.
Across just five tracks, Hot Boy Things consequently traces a surprisingly coherent trajectory. Heartbreak becomes hedonism; objectification becomes self-expression; scrutiny becomes motivation. Even the project’s most outrageous moments are connected by the idea of taking things previously imposed upon Hissom and reclaiming them on his own terms.
Sonically, the EP makes little attempt to disguise its affection for pop’s most gloriously excessive periods. Early-2000s European dance music collides with American club production and glossy contemporary pop, while echoes of Britney Spears, Michael Jackson and Daft Punk inform Hissom’s preference for performance as spectacle. It is intentionally big, immediate and shamelessly accessible.
There will inevitably be listeners for whom the sex, camp and provocation overshadow everything else. But that almost feels built into the experiment. Hissom isn’t asking permission to occupy the role of provocative pop star; he’s testing what happens when he simply assumes it.
Hot Boy Things works best as a declaration of independence disguised as a very sweaty night out. Behind the shirtless cowboys, chair choreography and club beats is an artist emerging from a difficult chapter with a clearer idea of how he wants to present himself. Nick Hissom hasn’t responded to heartbreak by disappearing quietly. He’s made himself considerably harder to look away from.
