Musician Dev Hynes has said his decision not to define his sexuality follows the “school of Bowie and Prince”.

Dev, also known as Blood Orange and formerly known as Lightspeed Champion, has been open about his sexual orientation, saying he is not gay or straight, has had sex with men, has dated transgender people, and is currently seeing “a couple of people”.

Speaking to ES Magazine, he said: “Things are fluid. I think a lot of people look at me and think, ‘No, it’s strong if you define yourself and it’ll be helpful to others’.

“But I think they don’t realise that I’m not hiding in not defining myself. I’m openly not defining myself.

“To me, that’s the school of Bowie and Prince, where they were just themselves.”

Dev Hynes
Dev Hynes (Laura Lean/PA)

The London-born musician, 30, also spoke of being targeted with homophobic verbal abuse, and being spat at on a bus.

After rising to fame as a member of dance punk band Test Icicles, Dev has written songs for musicians including Solange Knowles, FKA Twigs, Sky Ferreira, Florence and the Machine, Carly Rae Jepsen and Kylie Minogue.

However, these collaborations have not been without difficulty – he has had public social media feuds with both Solange and Sky over song authorship.

While Dev co-produced Solange’s 2012 EP Play, the singer reportedly suggested Dev’s role in her music was exaggerated.

And Sky was quoted as saying it “bothered” her that Dev said he wrote the song Everything Is Embarrassing for her.

But Dev revealed the misunderstandings have been cleared up, saying: “I’m really good friends with both of them again. It was that stupid thing of just not talking to the person to clear things up.”