Brendon Urie

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Name: Brendon Urie
Also Known As: Bden, Beebo
Occupation: Musician (Frontman, lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist of Panic! at the Disco), internet celebrity
Medium: Music, Vine
Works: Panic at the Disco discography
Official Website(s): Official PatD site
Vine profile
Fan Website(s):
On Fanlore: Related pages

Brendon Urie is best known as the lead singer of core Bandom band Panic! at the Disco, active 2005-2023. Urie became the only remaining founding member in 2015 and Panic! was his solo project until 2023 when he announced he would be discontinuing the band to focus on his family.

Urie is the subject of a significant amount of fanfiction, especially Ryden. He currently occupies a controversial position in fandom, due to recent (2020) allegations of sexual harassment and assault of underage fans, and other offensive and sexually inappropriate behaviour.

Personal Life

Urie was born in 1987, and was raised Mormon. He married Sarah Urie (nee Orzechowski) in 2013. Urie came out as pansexual in 2018.

In 2023 he announced that he and Sarah are expecting their first child.

Online presence, controversy, and relationship to fandom

Urie was viewed by some as a LGBT+ icon/activist, and a proponent of inclusion and kindness. Others were critical of his supposed LGBT+ icon status. Urie "became an LGBTQ inspiration without ever openly identifying as queer" and his coming out was seen by some as insincere and offensive. In the interview where he came out, Urie discussed calling himself "barsexual." He stated that "stage gay" actions "made a few people uncomfortable" which made him "want to do it more" - seemingly including former bandmate Ryan Ross, who "would be so mad" when Urie kissed him [1], but that stage gay continued throughout the tour. The joke that Urie "came out as pansexual at the same time as he came out as racist" began circulating in bandom circles after that interview, due to other remarks Urie made. Other anti-fans and former fans point towards Urie's history of "fetishizing bisexuality,""slamming homosexuality"[2] and "racist, sexist, and ableist actions, in addition to other times in which he touched someone without their consent" [3] in response to Urie's purported activism and icon status.

Urie frequently used social media, including Vine, Periscope, Instagram Live, Twitch streams (2019, promoted via Twitter), and Twitter (2018 and prior), to interact with fans. Despite calls for Urie to "speak up" about sexual harassment allegations against his longtime colleague Zack Cloud Hall and himself [4], Urie has been quite silent since.

In 2022 when Viva Las Vengeance, Panic!'s final album, was released Urie was viewed negatively by many fans of the band's earlier work. The album was widely mocked and critiqued citing Urie's strained vocals and poor lyrics. TikToks circulated of Urie's live performances in which he sang very high and strained or his voice cracked. Fans often aligned themselves with former members of Panic!, especially Ryan Ross and Dallon Weekes, who they felt had been wronged by Urie and noted a decline in the quality of Panic!'s music since their departures. Although many have specific criticisms of Urie's actions, he is often seen as being generally cringey.

In 2022 Pete Wentz posted a photo of himself making Christmas cookies to his Instagram; in the background a photo of Urie with his clearly pregnant wife was visible. Wentz soon took the photo down but it drew some renewed attention from bandom, which had become much less active in the last few years. Months later when Urie announced Panic!'s discontinuation to focus on his family along with Sarah's pregnancy, many fans celebrated that he was no longer keeping the band's name as a solo project. Some also joked that Wentz's leak of the pregnancy had finally taken Urie down, with Wentz still generally viewed positively by bandom fans. This is despite Urie and Wentz still apparently being on good terms, as Wentz had put up the Uries' pregnancy announcement photo in his home.

Ships

As of 8 August 2016, there were 5350 works tagged 'Brendon Urie' on AO3.[5] Most popular ship tags:

Brendon was also sometimes paired with estranged former roommate and friend Shane Valdes, in various crossover pairings within Bandom, as well as in OT3 pairings and moresomes.

As of 13 June 2019, there were 9380 works tagged 'Brendon Urie' on AO3.[1] Most popular ship tags:

  • Ryden (Ryan Ross/Brendon Urie): 5423 uses
  • Brendon/Spencer: 3948 uses
  • Brendon/Jon Walker: 2116 uses
  • Brendon Urie/Dallon Weekes: 2105 uses
  • Panic 2.0 GSF (Brendon/Spencer/Jon/Ryan): 1898 uses
  • Brendon/Josh Dun: 1889 uses
  • Brendon/Tyler Joseph: 1860 uses
  • Brendon/Sarah: 652 uses (often as a side pairing)

As of 24 March 2023, there were 8220 works tagged 'Brendon Urie' on AO3. If the 2019 count listed above is accurate, this would indicate a significant number of Urie-related works were removed following his various controversies and allegations. Most popular ship tags:

  • Ryden (Ryan Ross/Brendon Urie): 3468 uses
  • Brendon/Spencer: 1155 uses
  • Brendon Urie/Dallon Weekes: 952 uses
  • Brendon/Sarah: 343 uses

Due to the drastic drop in many of these numbers, this data may not be accurate or tagging systems may have changed.

Fanon Themes and Tropes

  • High school AUs, often focusing on the time Brendon was reportedly "kicked out" by his parents,
  • Related: h/c in general, whether bullying or injury,
  • Religious themes due to his relationship to the Mormon faith,
  • Urie is often depicted as being energetic/hyperactive, especially due to his canonical ADHD
  • Angst/conflict related to his parents disowning him, either for being gay or renouncing his faith, after an offhand comment Urie made about his parents 'kicking him out' when he decided he wanted to do music instead of going to college, from an interview in 2007. He later clarified that he was exaggerating.

Memes

During Panic's (2013?) break, Urie became famous on social video site Vine, leading to many astonished tweets about "Brendon from Vine" forming a band when the band released a new single in 2013.[6] The phrase has become an in-joke for the fandom.[7]

Urie's forehead is supposedly extra large and has become a meme. It is not clear when this meme arose, though the "brendon urie's forehead" tumblr tag dates to April 9, 2015.

Example Fanworks

Resources

References