Queer Belarusian artist Sergéy reclaims the “straight” pop star he was forced to play on RAY (10th Anniversary Edition)

Ten years after releasing his first album while the Eastern European music industry presented him as straight, gay Belarusian artist and activist Sergéy Ulyanov is taking ownership of that history with RAY (10th Anniversary Edition), arriving October 11 through his independent imprint NostalgAI Recordz.

The limited physical edition is not a conventional reissue. Remastered, edited, designed and self-funded by Sergéy in Los Angeles, it combines Belarusian, Russian and English recordings with unreleased versions, personal archival fragments, mashups and “I Believe in Me,” the demo of his first new English-language song recorded in the United States after four years of musical silence and adaptation. The project is one continuous vinyl journey assembled by Sergéy under his DJ name, DJ Sir Gay, and will not be released on streaming services.

“Will this release become my return to music? Of course, that depends on you, too.”— Sergéy

The larger act of revisiting the catalogue gives the queer person inside that old public image the authorship he was denied and asks whether returning to an old voice can become a second coming-out.

Sergéy built an independent pop career across Eastern Europe while maintaining a separate life as an LGBTQ+ activist. During Belarus’s 2020 democratic uprising, he released political music and saw his website blocked. He later left Belarus for Ukraine, fled again after Russia’s full-scale invasion, and reached the United States in 2022. After nearly a month in immigration detention, he received asylum in 2024 and began rebuilding his life and multidisciplinary career in Los Angeles.

Human Rights First recently profiled how music carried Sergéy through bullying, concealment, protest, displacement, detention and the difficult period after receiving legal protection. His filmed testimony, “Targeted In His Country For Being Gay,” reached 79K views on Unfiltered Stories as of August 13, 2026, offering a direct visual account of the journey behind the record.

Created in Los Angeles and manufactured in the United Kingdom, RAY will be pressed on 12-inch black 140g vinyl at 33 RPM in three sleeves: Ocean Grey Original (200 copies), Dreamwash Blue Deluxe (100 copies), and Candy Melt Pink Collector (50 individually numbered copies). The combined announced run is 350 copies.

Sergéy created the mastering, design, editorial concept and campaign without generative AI. Although his professional work includes AI-enabled creative production, this release treats human memory, imperfection and physical authorship as part of the artefact.

RAY (10th Anniversary Edition) arrives October 11, Sergéy’s birthday and National Coming Out Day.