There is no human society or culture that doesn’t produce music. It speaks to our souls, expresses our emotions, moves our bodies, and it feels good. For LGBTQIA+ people, music is often a safe space.
A young queer kid posts their coming-out song to Spotify and finds community. A middle-aged gay couple are moved to tears by the ABBA Voyage show in London. A transman finds the lyrics to a song express the words he can’t say out loud.
It may be just pop music, but it can mean the world to us. And, for the longest time, it was truly our domain.
In 1922, bisexual Bessie Smith became the first recording artist to sell over a million copies of a single, Down-Hearted Blues. In the early American jazz era, so many performers were on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum it was unremarkable.
In 1955, Little Richard’s Tutti-Frutti – a play on the Italian tutti i frutti meaning “all the fruits” was, in its original form, explicitly about anal sex: “Tutti Frutti, good booty, if it don’t fit, don’t force it, you can grease it, make it easy.”
And, yes, this is the song that music historians say ignited and inspired rock’n’roll itself!
By the mid-1970s, the “gayness” of pop had done a pretty good job. The Village People, Donna Summer, and the sound of the Bee Gees (nurtured by gay producer Robert Stigwood) made us seem more fun and less threatening to the rest of the world. Pop was our ambassador.
Sadly, it all ended with the arrival of HIV/AIDS. The walls of fear, hatred and prejudice went up again. And it happened at a time when music had moved out of the control of artists, producers and studios, and become the product of huge multinational corporations who viewed queerness as unmarketable. Music was no longer the place where we were free. It was the place where artists who wanted to be heard had to hide their true selves.
Today, streaming, social media, apps, and inexpensive online music studios, have given music back to the creatives. Sure, no one is making the kind of money they did before streaming, but artists can live, work, and express their music authentically. It’s heartbreaking that great talents like Elton John, Freddie Mercury, George Michael and Darren Hayes suffered the music industry homophobia of the previous era, but the New Gay Era of pop is upon us!
This month, we celebrate the music of some of the gay artists who are leading the charge and happening right now. Take Omar Apollo. The Mexican-American pop star is having a big moment with his second album, God Said No, garnering rave reviews. Proudly out, sex-positive, and a musical chameleon, Omar’s success is something that would have been unimaginable to closeted gay music stars not so long ago.
So too, Troye Sivan. There was no “pre-gay” Troye era or gradual coming-out process. Troye was out from the get-go, and now he’s enjoying chart success and packing them in on his live tour. He’s singing about gay sex, gay love, sniffing poppers, crushing on straight friends; he’s simulating oral sex on stage, giving boys lap dances, and reaching a mainstream audience along the way.
We chat with John Duff, who slips out of his speedos and into some Las Vegas glam for his latest single Be Your Girl ahead of his new album. Sir Jet is back with a new track, Stay With Me and a new sound (not to mention a new hair colour and a whole lot more porn!), and Swedish pop sensation Asbjørn tells us he’s a little bit Björk and a little bit ABBA.
We also speak with Casey Donovan, who has announced her engagement to her girlfriend and is starring in the new stage version of Sister Act: The Musical.
There’s plenty of great reads this issue: Gary Nunn’s Seduced, Robbed And Hacked is a cautionary tale from Brazil. Robert La Bua takes us to a gay tennis tournament in Malta. We celebrate South-Asian pride at Bar Bombay.
I hope you enjoy this issue.
Andrew Creagh, Founding Editor
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