I Know A Place talks about the importance of spaces where you can be yourself, among people you can trust.
MUNA – I Know A PlaceĪmerican trio MUNA all identify as queer, and wrote this song in response to the shootings at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in 2016, where 49 were killed at a club night for Latinx people.
Fifth Harmony's Lauren Jauregui came out as bisexual in 2016, in an open letter to Donald Trump supporters, and has been overwhelmingly supported by fans. The difference? It's about two women and, the bonus part, sung by two LGBTQ artists. On the surface of it, this is just another (very good) song about a couple who don't want hooking up to turn into anything more serious. That same year, Sam released Dancing with a Stranger, teaming up with Normani for a moody, end of the night moody banger. Sam has been more open about their gender identity and came out as non-binary in 2019. Recently, Sam has embraced the dancefloor more, following their chart-topper with Calvin Harris, Promises. Sam Smith has always sung about relatable situations like heartbreak, unrequited love, being James Bond (OK, maybe not that one). Sam Smith and Normani – Dancing with a Stranger Olly Alexander has been making more and more queer-centred music as Years & Years since going solo ( recent Number 1 album Night Call is chock-full of them!), but his most daring statement as a queer artist has to be Sanctify, which re-imagines a sexual encounter with a straight-curious man as something approaching religious ecstasy. In the video for recent single Lucky Strike, Troye finds himself in the midst of a summer romance, while on the song, he confesses to his lover all of the reasons he finds him so attractive. The title track of his latest album Bloom is a celebration of sexuality, and it doesn't take too long to decipher the lyrics to work out exactly what he's on about. If there's one thing Australian YouTuber-turned-popstar Troye Sivan is good at, it's writing deep, catchy and uncompromising songs about sex, boys, and romance that everybody loves, whatever their orientation. Pynk was a love letter to all things feminine, and in the stripped-back, hot and heavy funk of Make Me Feel, and its accompanying video, Janelle acknowledged there was more than one way to get off, thank you very much. Lil Nas X - Montero (Call Me By Your Name)ĭuring the campaign for her Dirty Computer album in 2018, Janelle was uncompromising in her discussion of sexuality and gender. The first song in which Pale Waves frontwoman Heather Baron-Gracie opened up about her sexuality, She's My Religion mixes obviously religious iconography with lyrics that are soul-bearing in their honesty about the light and dark shades that make up the intricacies of real relationships, whether they be straight or queer.
Baby Queen - Colours Of YouĮspecially written for Netflix's Heartstopper series (which itself contained a series of brilliantly queer-focused pop hits that experienced a massive uplift in the UK) Baby Queen's delicate ode to the relationship of characters Nick (Kit Connor) and Charlie (Joe Locke) will melt your heart, instead of stopping it. In our interview with Dove earlier this year, she spoke about the need to make authentic music as a queer artist - and how Boyfriend is inspired by queer-coded villains and femme fatales of Old Hollywood. One of the biggest breakout hits of the year, Dove Cameron's first-ever UK Top 10 single is a menacing, sinister tune indebted to the likes of Lana Del Rey, all about Dove telling her same-sex love interest that "I can be a better boyfriend than him." Imagine if Shania Twain's That Don't Impress Me Much and Lady Gaga's Born This Way met in a dark alleyway and decided to go clubbing and you're just scratching the surface of Rina's poptastic new single, This Hell.Ī turbo-charged banger, the song is, in Rina's own words, "dedicated to community and love in a time where the world seems hellish." If Hell is this fun, sign us up! Dove Cameron - Boyfriend But while those songs have a much-deserved place in our hearts, minds and dancefloors, we take a look at some other popular LGBTQ+ themed tracks from recent years. When you think of LGBTQ+ anthems, old-school bangers by glamorous pop divas might come to mind. June is Pride Month – a global celebration of the LGBTQ+ community and its culture – a reminder not only of how far we've come and the distance we must still travel on the road to true equality.