A 17-year-old budding pop prince will be among the performers at one of the events that are making Wellington the place to be this weekend, Out in the Square. We get to know Zakk d'Larté a little better. Zakk is probably as much of a mixture of hope, swagger and insecurity as any gay 17-year-old, but he's putting his fun blend of electronic pop out there into cyberspace and dealing directly with the good and bad from the tough critics in the world of online gaydom. His video for Show You How, a camp bouncy track which is as the title suggests about showing a guy how, features a number of people dancing and having a great time singing the song. It was created for him to prove his music makes people dance. "I have a lot of insecurities about myself and so seeing these people really having a good time makes me truly happy," Zakk says. "I am so thankful to everyone who took the time to make a video for me, I was so I overwhelmed!" His dream with his music is just that: to make people dance and have a good time. "And if I accomplish that, then to me I have achieved my dreams. To me, pop music is the way to go, as it merges the beats of dance and electronic music with the catchy and repetitive lyrics that I enjoy writing," he says. "It's also what I listen and party to and so naturally I am attracted to create the music that my icons and inspirations have created. I would love to push the boundaries of popular music, currently I'm working on ways of incorporating sounds and noises not known to being used in pop which is fun and will hopefully be successful!" Zakk has just finished his final year at high school and is going on to study graphic design. He came out as bisexual when he was just 12, telling his close friends and his mum. "I knew that I was gay but I told everyone that I was bi to kind of soften the blow as I was petrified of being disowned and losing everyone, especially as my friends and I were mainly Christian," he recalls. "I had a girlfriend of two years at the time but then I met this boy who I came to realise that I liked a lot more than I had been taught that I should! And it just all unfolded from there, my attraction to guys rapidly increased and my feelings towards girls faded away. "I didn't tell my dad though until last year though as I was totally scared about losing his love and respect. I ended up telling him as he was going to a course with my partner and they were becoming friends and I guessed it just seemed like the right time." After coming out at such a young age, it's perhaps no surprise that if he is successful with his music, Zakk wants to be an advocate and inspiration for the younger glbt community, "who are scared and depressed and angry at themselves and just let them know that it's okay, and that it gets better. I want to be the person that I have looked up to, for the next generation." For now, he's so excited about performing at Out in the Square this Saturday he can't even put it into words! *So how about we all head along and give him plenty of support huh?* Check out his video here and download the song FREE here Jacqui Stanford - 17th January 2012