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Not exactly renowned for its inclusivity or progressive views on the spectrum of sexual identity, country music has nevertheless been a source of inspiration for numerous LGBTQ artists over the years, from Lavender Country and Peter Grudzien in the ’70s to Orville Peck and Brandi Carlile today.
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With the May 31 release of Blood In Her Dreams, it’s time to give the pioneering Shawna Virago her wildflowers. In the early ‘90s, well before the fight for trans inclusivity and representation entered mainstream discourse, she was one of the very few openly transgender musical performers in America.
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After years of performing solo and in a band, Virago released her debut album, the mostly acoustic Objectified, in 2009. While the flavor of Los Angeles punk pioneers X has always inspired Virago’s (comparatively quieter) music, Blood In Her Dreams finds her adding an electric jolt of cowpunk adrenaline to her lyrically detailed, emotionally resonant Americana. Songs like “Ghosts Cross State Lines,” “Eternity Street” and “Climb to the Bottom” paint empathetic, vivid portraits of hard-luck types who’ve been battered but not beaten by life; like Lucinda Williams, Virago finds a dusty beauty in the rugged troublemakers living a country mile from polite society.
Speaking to Billboard, Virago talks about everything from queer country to changing opportunities for trans musicians to trying to “understand the anger that has been unleashed in this country” on her best album yet.
How long did this album take to put together?
I would go into the studio about once a month and work on songs. I wanted to work with the engineer Grace Coleman, and they’re busy, so it was whenever I could work with them over like two years. One day we were in the studio and we finished “This Girl Felt Hounded.” Once we finished it, we just looked at each other like, “I think we’re done. I think we now have an album.” I didn’t know when we would finish it, but I think the songs are all speaking to each other.
“Ghosts Cross State Lines” is such a lyrically impressive song. What’s your songwriting process like?
It’s always different. That song was primarily driven by the lyrics first. I was thinking about this idea [that] you can move geographically, but there might be things from where you’ve come from that are still in you. They might always be in you, whether they have the power that they once did or not. I was thinking about someone leaving a domestic violence situation, and they’re able to get out, but there was still this psychic residue that they were going to have to deal with.
It’s primarily a serious album. There is humor throughout the record. There is one beginning-of-a-relationship song, so there’s hope in that song, it’s called “Bright Green Ideas.” There is there’s some light in that one, but there’s not a lot of light on the record. I was reading through some notebooks recently from around that time when writing those songs, and it was pretty bleak. I think the stuff that I didn’t write was way more bleak. We’re all living through this kind of recalibration. And here, locally, we went through this in San Francisco. We went through this mass displacement because of the tech industry when it got here. And then when that started to downturn, many of the same people fled the city — but it’s still too expensive for people to come back here.
Blood In Her Dreams started out really trying to understand the kind of anger that has been unleashed in this country. The anger I’m talking about seems very one sided and many of us are the targets of it. I think that loneliness, sadness that jobs have been shipped overseas, all these things are really at bottom of so much of the anger, but it’s being displaced.
You mentioned the changing landscape of San Francisco. As a longtime resident, do you think there’s still an arts scene that’s weathered the tech boom and the ensuing exodus?
There definitely is an art scene, or art scenes, happening. There’s some really great drag scenes. I think in the broader Bay Area, there’s this sort of alt-country scene that’s happening. Somehow, I’m not sure how it happened, but it kind of embraced me. It still surprises me. And there’s some great performance art scenes.
It is different from when I first moved here in the early ’90s. But that was primarily a lot of, I’d say, cisgender gay boys doing things. There was what’s called the Mission Art Scene that was largely cisgender d-kes, people like Michelle Tea. Twenty years ago, there was still this window of a critical mass of trans communities who either had been here for a few years, or were just coming here, and we had this short-lived, very vibrant trans performance art scene that we hadn’t had really before. I saw some friends of mine the other night, who also came out around the same time I did in the early ‘90s, and there was really only like two or three bars for us to go to. It was really hard to break outside of that. So that had finally changed. Yes, there’s still good things happening here. Though people might have [to live with] five roommates. Which is probably what it’s like in New York, in Brooklyn, too.
It sure is. Traditionally, country music has been more conservative and not open-minded to transgender folks. As a trans person who in that world a bit and loves the music, is that ever hard to reconcile?
Trans and queer communities in country music is a relatively recent phenomenon. We have bona fide commercial stars now like Orville Peck and Brandi Carlile. Part of my upbringing was in the South, and we had three radio stations doing country music. Charlie Rich, Charley Pride, Loretta [Lynn], Tammy [Wynette] and also Lynn Anderson and Jeannie C. Riley. So many queer folks love country music. We’re loving a lot of the trappings of traditional country music, in a way that other folks have moved on from and don’t know about or care about. If you look at Porter Wagner, he was doing Ziggy Stardust. [laughs] What was going on with that guy? There’s stuff [in country] that we’re drawn to. We’re breaking the mold and keepers of the flame at the same time.
When you started performing live music in the ‘90s around San Francisco, was there an audience for you beyond that? Did you ever perform in more rural areas, and how was that?
It’s a really great question. I know somebody is going to get their Ph.D. at some point on the ‘90s in San Francisco with trans communities. Because there were a lot of things happening for the first time. Getting health care through the San Francisco health clinics was new. There was a Department of Health study focusing on trans people and how we earn money, possible drug usage, HIV status, and that had never happened before. Police accountability work was happening for the first time. So I did not play — in that period of time — I did not play in any rural communities. I played Los Angeles, some small clubs there. I just played wherever I could play. It was a mixed bag as well. People weren’t quite ready for trans performers in music. There was about six months where I just didn’t perform at all because it’s so frustrating, because then people would want to just talk about my gender. I was often the only trans out trans person in the club, or the bar we played at. Worrying about getting home from the club was a reality.
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There weren’t many people doing what you were doing at the time.
There was a performer that came out about a decade before me named Bambi Lake. She had been performing in the ‘80s already, and her drug usage impacted her with stable housing, and I think she had some mental health issues. She didn’t play very much past the very early ‘90s, but she was somebody that broke a lot of ground and is largely forgotten. I would call her a frenemy. She could be challenging. She called in a bomb threat whenever Oasis came to town because she thought they were cute. And she wanted to meet them, so she used a payphone and waited around. She got arrested. I gave her money in jail, so she could buy some shampoo and stuff. As time went on, I think she got very bitter, because the trans world changed so much, and she wasn’t really a part of it. I like to at least throw a little light towards her. I’m not sure she actually ever released any recordings. Justin Vivian bond does cover one of her songs [“Golden Age of Hustlers”].
I’ve seen Justin Vivian Bond do that song! I go see them quite a lot at Joe’s Pub, their show is so spiritually enriching.
I remember in the early ‘00 meeting a trans guy who had what you would call traditional ambitions as a musician. And I had never thought that was possible. For myself, I still don’t think that’s really possible, which is fine. [Most of us were] truly just trying to survive and I didn’t think ambition was an option. So that has changed. The idea of ambition has changed.
What are your post-release plans for Blood In Her Dreams?
I have modest goals. We wanted to create a band sound on the record, so I worked with the engineer Grace Coleman, who is also co-producer, but as far as performance goes, I’m still doing solo acoustic shows. My plan is to get out there on the road, say, 100-mile radius around San Francisco. The last few years I’ve toured a few times with a friend of mine, Secret Emchy Society. And I always felt more and more unsafe to get out of this certain bubble. I would see militia men out there on the road. And I’m really starting to feel it even more with, we call him “the bad man who wants to be president,” who is talking about extending term limits.
Does it seem worse to you now than, say, 10 years ago? Has the bad man’s ascendence made certain people feel more empowered?
Yes. I think that they’ve had this simmering resentment. A huge swath of our country is filled with people with huge amounts of resentment. I also think a lot of Americans are ignorant in many ways. And that’s not a judgment on potential intelligence, but they’re under-educated, don’t travel, and they find all of their answers in the Bible, which they’ve never read. My mother, my family, they live in Arkansas, and she goes to a church where the preacher is a huge transphobe. It’s always been there. I think same sex marriage, Black Lives Matter, anything that you might think is a sign of progress, it just infuriates these folks. I do think that now they feel empowered. And it is scarier.
What’s interesting is, having this great conversation with you, you think I would have been putting out an album like London Calling. [But this album is] much more personal. It’s not polemics, which I’ve done before, but the feeling of fear and paranoia is definitely in the songs.
Pride Month officially kicks off tomorrow, so be sure to update your playlists with some new tunes from your favorite queer artists before then! . Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of Queer Jams of the Week, our roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists.
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From Kehlani‘s blissful new single to Ben Platt‘s romantic new album, check out just a few of our favorite new releases from this week below:
Kehlani, “Next 2 U”
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On her latest single from next month’s new album “Crash,” Kehlani is fusing the old and the new. “Next 2 U” is a rare gem in Kehlani’s discography that expertly blends together her well-honed R&B sound with the newer, industrial production elements of her sound to make a grinding-yet-gorgeous new track about dedication. Her vocals remain unparalleled in their effortless grace, and the accompanying music video only further underlines the star’s calls for a free Palestine, making “Next 2 U” a thrilling addition to Kehlani’s already stunning body of work.
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Ben Platt, Honeymind
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For Ben Platt, there’s no need to over complicate things when it comes to love. Honeymind, the Broadway star’s third studio album, sees Platt leaning effortlessly into lush, rich ballads about the nature of his relationship. Pair his voice with buttery strings, simple guitar and bass or even just a piano, and the results come back the same — Platt knows exactly what (and more acurately, who) he is devoted to in this gorgeous new LP.
Romy, “Always Forever”
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Donna Lewis’ 1961 hit “I Love You Always Forever” has already served as the basis for plenty of pop songs — but Romy’s recent interpolation of the track feels instantly electric. “Always Forever” continues Romy’s hot streak since the release of her critically-lauded album Mid Air in 2023, this time turning up the volume on her pop stylings. The rising star spends her verses building up a sense of tension and longing, only to let the iconic melody of Lewis’ track serve as instant gratification on the song’s delirious chorus. “Always Forever” is yet another reminder that when it comes to ecstatic dance music, Romy is the one to watch.
Zolita, Queen of Hearts
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Zolita wants to get real with you — and then, she’d like to dance. On Queen of Hearts, the rising pop singer’s latest LP, Zolita dives deep into the peaks and pitfalls of queer romance, detailing thrilling nights on the town followed by mornings filled with questions and hurt feelings. Spurning that journey along is a set of irresistible, impeccably-produced pop bangers that worm their way into your head and take root, especially on album standout “All Over Again.” If Zolita’s goal was to deliver a stylish, smart album about LGBTQ love just in time for Pride, then consider her mission accomplished.
Dua Saleh feat. Serpentwithfeet, “Unruly”
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We cannot imagine two artists more naturally suited to collaborate with one another than Dua Saleh and Serpentwithfeet. So, when the two linked up on their hypnotic new song “Unruly,” it does not disappoint — the pair’s experimental, otherworldly sounds mesh together into a web of gorgeous, celestial soundscape. It’s a testament to both artists that “Unruly” works as well as it does, instantly elevating the vibe the moment it starts.
Channel Tres, “Cactus Water”
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Summer is here, and Channel Tres would like to celebrate the sweaty season with a sultry new cut of his own. On “Cactus Water,” Tres celebrates hot nights out on the dancefloor, with a kinetic beat and grooving bass backing up his swaggering vocal. After offering to “lick you up, lick you down,” Tres brings the song to an electrifying pinnacle, making it an immediate go-to for your summer playlists.
Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist below:
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Kim Petras rarely shies away from showing off a bold lipstick — and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. She debuted a mix of ’90s-inspired costumes and dark red lips during her Feed the Beast World Tour, which wrapped up in March, and now, MAC Cosmetics has chosen the 31-year-old along with Latin singer Danna Paola to be the faces of the brand’s Viva Glam Lipstick 30th anniversary campaign.
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Viva Glam lipstick has developed a reputation for not only its long-lasting formula, but its life-changing impact. Each year, the beauty brand gives 100% of its proceeds back to the community to help those in need, with this year’s profits going to support AIDs research in addition to local organizations for gender, racial and environmental equality.
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With 2024 being its 30th birthday, MAC went big and refreshed the formula as well as the shade range, offering four new colors with names aiming to inspire change: Viva Equality, Viva Planet, Viva Heart and Viva Empowered. Each shade is priced at $25 and comes in a range of neutral and bold colors including deep red, pink and even brown. You can purchase the lipsticks from Ulta, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and MACCosmetics.com.
Keep reading to shop the Petras-approved makeup.
M·A·CXIMAL Silky Matte Viva Glam Lipstick
The updated formula looks to leave behind a silky matte texture that will last up to 12 hours while also providing a max of eight hours of moisture. The lipsticks have gathered a 4.9 rating on Ulta, with shoppers raving over its “creamy” application as well as its ability to blend with other products. One reviewer says they can “top it with other shades and lip gloss,” making it a versatile lip product.
Petras has been a longtime fan of the beauty brand, having showed off a red shade when she won her 2023 Grammy alongside Sam Smith. Being a part of the campaign has been an exciting yet surreal experience for the “Unholy” singer, who still finds it hard to believe she’s the face of MAC.
“Serving as the face of MAC Viva Glam has always been a rite of passage for the most legendary artists in the world,” she said in a press release. “I have to pinch myself every time I remember it’s now my turn to represent the campaign. I am honored to be part of Viva Glam’s long legacy of lifting up people who haven’t always felt seen or represented, and look forward to inspiring the next generation to join us in making the world a more equal place.”
MAC also took to social media to share news of the campaign with a video of Petras explaining the benefits of the lip products in a video showing how the Grammy-winner “serves.”
For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best blue eyeshadows, celebrity fragrances and setting spray.
As a jury enters day two of its deliberations for Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York, comedian Randy Rainbow is training his sights on one of the former president’s most vocal allies — Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.
In his latest video, Rainbow pulls clips from Greene’s 60 Minutes interview from April 2023, hosting his own fake version of the show titled 60 MAGATS to “interview” the GOP firebrand. “It’s rare for a member of the House of Representatives to become nationally well-known,” Rainbow states in the introduction of his clip. “Unless, of course, that member is a f–king lunatic like my next guest, Marjorie Taylor Greene, or MTG as she more commonly refers to herself when she can’t remember her full name.”
After calling Greene a “Q clown insurrectionist” and “bleach-blonde bad-built butch body” in their faux conversation, Rainbow launches into his newest song called “Look at Me, I’m MTG,” parodying “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” from Grease. Wearing a crunchy blonde wig and a pink Trump hat, Rainbow mocks Greene by listing of her lack of credentials: “Trashy as hell, I can’t math, read or spell/ Oh well, I’m MTG,” he croons.
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As the song goes on, Rainbow takes shots at Greene’s history of antisemitic and transphobic antics, her past support of conspiracy theories such as QAnon, and her ongoing partnership with fellow GOP representative Lauren Boebert. By the time the song reaches its climax, Rainbow is wearing a red clown nose to send home his point about the representative.
“Ain’t got no class, I’m moronic and crass/ True, I’m profane, all I do is complain/ Just a hot mess, Alex Jones in a dress,” Rainbow belts in the song’s final chorus. “MT, she’s MT, her brain is so empty/ P–s off, I’m MTG!”
Check out Rainbow’s full video for “Look at Me, I’m MTG” below:
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JoJo Siwa is used to be in the red hot spotlight. The Dance Moms alum who began her career a decade ago is in the midst of what she has described as a new musical era, one that she promised will continue to evolve with her next single. In a cheeky video posted on Wednesday […]
As he prepares for the Friday (May 31) release of Honeymind — his third studio album (and first on Interscope) — and settles into his just-opened, 18-date run of concerts reopening Broadway‘s iconic Palace Theatre, singer-songwriter and actor Ben Platt recently sat down with Billboard News to discuss creating his new music, the relationships and artists inspiring him now, and his upcoming projects.
The Honeymind creation process occurred in Nashville, during what Platt calls a “point of transition personally and career-wise, reinvestigating my reasons for being an artist, relearning the importance of following passion and doing things that feel authentically fulfilling and not necessarily checking boxes.” It was also a happy time, Platt says, of settling into the comfort of his relationship with his now-fiancée, fellow actor Noah Galvin — and he found himself exploring, through songwriting, “that crossroads between what it feels like to arrive in your real relationship and have a partner who you feel really understands you holistically, and how do you need to work on yourself as a person to be ready for a relationship like that?”
His Honeymind collaborators include beloved Nashville writers Natalie Hemby and Hillary Lindsey, as well as executive producer Dave Cobb, who worked with Platt at his home studio in Savannah, Ga. Platt praises Cobb’s “barometer for honesty and authenticity … he’s very much no bulls–t. If something feels put-on, or like a bell or whistle, he has no problem being very forthright about that.”
Platt opens up as well about the singular experience of filming the very personal music video for single “Cherry on Top,” in which he enjoys a day out around Los Angeles with Galvin. “I was apprehensive at first — I love to keep some things sacred and private,” he explains. But he ultimately realized that, since song was written specifically about his experience with Galvin, “nothing felt as true as the actual relationship itself that brings that joy about.”
An unabashed fan of pop, Platt also gushes about his own favorite music right now, mentioning perennial favorites Maggie Rogers and Chappell Roan (he’s a vocal longtime fan: “I’ve known she was a superstar the whole time!”). He’s also big on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well (Musgraves made a surprise appearance at Platt’s opening night at the Palace to duet with him on her “Rainbow”), and Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine (“Ari is one of the greatest pop voices of this generation, and it’s such a sharp, delicious bubblegum album that is like, harkening back to Mariah….it’s always in my head”).
Additionally, Platt shares the inspiration he takes from seeing two of the biggest tours of the past year: Beyoncé’s Renaissance trek and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Swift “shares her own experiences and makes us feel like we’re in her living room … in a way that feels very off the cuff but is clearly very thought out and well-crafted,” he says; Beyoncé is “an unbelievable live singer … and on top of that the level to which she exerts and gives of herself no matter what show she’s doing? You’ve never seen her half-ass a performance in her life!”
Platt will be occupied promoting Honeymind for some time — after his Palace residency, he will embark on a tour of the U.S. and Canada (with album collaborator Brandy Clark supporting) through late July. Meanwhile, he reveals to Billboard that Richard Linklater’s twenty-years-in-the-making film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Merrily We Roll Along — announced in 2019, in which Platt stars alongside close friend Beanie Feldstein and Paul Mescal — is progressing.
Platt says two of “eight or nine” sequences have been filmed with, he adds with a laugh, just “another 16 or so years to go.” Linklater, he says, “puts a lot of emphasis on not looking too far ahead … it becomes too daunting, so I just treat it as this gift of getting to have little checkpoints in my life to check back in with Sondheim, with Paul, and obviously Beanie.” Platt praises Mescal, who makes his major musical onscreen debut in Merrily, as a “gorgeous, kind, amazing actor, beautiful voice — he’s the real deal.”
See what else Platt had to say in the video above.
Elton John is gearing up to give one of his fans an LGBTQ+ Pride Month for the books. Ahead of next month’s festivities, the rock star announced Wednesday (May 29) that he and his Elton John AIDS Foundation are challenging fans to take on his hit “Your Song” as part of a new “Speak Up Sing Out” campaign, giving one entrant the chance to meet him and David Furnish, who is his husband and the foundation’s chairman, in June.
Designed to help end the stigma against LGBTQ folks on social media, the challenge asks participants to post vertical videos of personalized renditions of the icon’s 1970 song, which peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was co-written by John and his longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin. More specifically, the foundation is calling on fans to sing one of the track’s final lines — “I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind, that I put down in words how wonderful life is while you’re in the world” — and mark their clips online with the hashtag #SpeakUpSingOutGiveaway.
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After finishing the song, contestants are to name and tag someone who has inspired them to embrace their authentic selves. Fans should also make sure they’re following the Elton John AIDS Foundation on Instagram before entering.
“Living boldly and fearlessly is what I strive for every day, but I know firsthand the importance of having a support system that empowers you to do so — a privilege I’m immensely grateful for,” John said in a statement. “This Pride Month, I extend a heartfelt invitation to stand with me and the Foundation to honor the champion in your life.”
The giveaway ends June 18 at 8 p.m. ET. Afterward, one contestant will be chosen to win a trip to meet John and Furnish later that month.
“Add your unique touch to one of my songs and spread waves of love and support throughout the LGBTQ+ community,” the five-time Grammy winner added. “As a special thank you, one participant and their guest will have the chance to join me and David in New York City during Pride Month — an opportunity to celebrate love, acceptance, and all that makes us who we are!”
In addition to spreading awareness amid the influx in anti-LGBTQ legislation introduced across the U.S. in the past year, the “Speak Up Sing Out” challenge will support the foundation’s Rocket Fund. The $125-million, multiyear initiative was launched in 2023 in response to rising stigma and growing rates of HIV in vulnerable communities, causes for which the organization has already raised $100 million of its goal.
See John’s announcement below.
For most of his career, Adam Lambert has been playing characters. Whether in his musical theater roots, his touring role as the frontman of Queen or even on American Idol, the 42-year-old singer says much of his career has been about performance.
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But he’s ready to change that. “I’ve watched other artists express this very real, authentic part of themselves over the last few years,” he tells Billboard. “Now, it’s my turn.”
Lambert’s new solo EP Afters (due out July 19) sees the singer embracing a new, dance-focused sound to talk about sex, desire and romance in a more honest way than he ever has before. The first pair of singles off the project, “Lube” and “Wet Dream” (both due out Friday, May 31), give audiences a glimpse of what the singer has in store for them, with Lambert’s rock-inspired sound swapped out for pounding club beats and uncensored lyrics.
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“I wanted to make a project that felt like the kind of music I listened to with my friends, talking about the things I talk about with my friends,” Lambert explains. “Sometimes, things get a little naughty, and I wanted to capture that energy.”
Below, Lambert breaks down the inspirations behind his new project, what it means to be rediscovering himself 15 years into his career, and how advancements for LGBTQ artists in the music industry have fundamentally changed the way he approaches music.
Let’s talk about your new project, Afters. This is a very different direction that you’re taking — can you tell me a little bit about where the idea for this project came from?
I’ve experimented with so many different sorts of directions and genres and sounds over the years. I’ve done a lot and for this, I was like, “Okay, what have I not really done?” I wanted whatever I did next to feel as authentic as possible — I wanted it to feel real to my life. I started my career on stage playing different characters and then stepping onto American Idol, and then stepping in with Queen. I get to sing the most amazing music and tour the world with them. But it’s all serving specific audiences, you know what I mean? And I wanted to do something that sounded like my social life.
Here in West Hollywood, I love going out, I love having after parties at my house, I love nightlife. I love dressing up and and interacting with people and and getting that charged up and flirty feeling with people. So I just was like, “I want to capture that energy of sexuality and desire for connection and liberation.” And that’s the after party.
That’s an interesting point about you playing “roles” in your past music career — was there any trepidation in making this project about fan or industry reactions to this very raw sound?
Yeah, there might be some fans out there that might go, “Whoa, what is all this” and not understand it. But it’s the most honest that I’ve gotten to be in a really long time because there’s no filter. When I first came onto the scene in 2009, the scene was very different. The music industry was very different, and being a gay man in the music industry was uncharted territory in some ways. We had other greats before us in other genres, but doing contemporary pop, I felt like I didn’t have anybody else to sort of see as an example in that world.
It was a trial and error experience; I had that first single that was kind of sexy, and then the performance where I kissed a guy and I got a big slap on the wrist for it. I had so much support from the industry coming off of Idol, and I think there was this collective sort of gasp and clutching of the pearls at that performance. They didn’t turn their back on me, but it felt like the audience took a collective step back.
I had to play the game at that point, because I wasn’t going to lose my opportunity. So I just kept moving forward and doing my thing. And obviously there’s a lot more to me than just my sexuality, but that is a big part of who I am. Romance and sex and heartbreak, we see all of our favorite hetero artists sing about all that stuff all the time. So I was always a little frustrated with the double standard early on, because I was like, “Well, why can’t I?” The game, for a while, became me asking how I could push things.
I feel like [now] we’re in 2024, and the rules have completely been tossed out the window. It’s a totally different playing field. Now, the way people get music and find music is completely different. I think the fact that we can go straight to the listener as an artist changes the politics of all of it. Back in the day, radio was this gatekeeper — and it was like, and if you really wanted to be successful, you had to play the game on the radio. Now that’s completely different, too. So there are less hurdles you have to jump over.
When it comes to “playing the game” and the rules changing, do you think the industry has reached a point where the old playbook when it comes to artist authenticity is entirely outdated, or are we still in a transition phase?
I mean, it’s still a bit of a game — you still have to strategize, and you still have to figure out what people like and how they’ll respond to things and marketing and all that. But I think that identity politics has become such an important part of an artist’s whole package. People are not stupid: They know when someone’s being who they are, and when they’re not. If anything, with this next project, the people that know me will go, “Oh, yeah.” The other thing is that in today’s world, where we’re showing so much more of ourselves with social media, the audience want in on our lives. So in a way, this is a glimpse. This is my experience.
I was listening to “Lube” right before we started, and even as a queer person who’s been following you for a long time, I was like, “Whoa, okay, we’re going there!”
Yeah, I really did sing the words “gonna make you nut.” [Laughs.] I actually wrote this song with Vincint and Parson James, and we had a different chorus originally. I walked away with the song, and I was like, “That chorus is not really doing it for me.” So I had the producer take the chorus vocal off of it, leaving it as an instrumental, and I just kept listening to it. I opened the program up and I just started running the track and recording ideas. When I thought of the rhyme and I was like, “Oh, that’s crazy, I can’t say that.” And then I was like “…maybe I should just say it? Just f–king say it! Why am I editing myself?”
I recognize that this is literally a dance song about lubrication; it’s ridiculous, I’m aware. But there was a part of me that was like, “I want to make music that sounds like the way I dress.” Sonically, like the aesthetic, I want it to sound like how I like to look. Because I’ve been very inspired by fashion lately, and I keep finding things that are just really weird. And I get inspired by that, as well.
I also love that you let fans get an early listen of “Wet Dream.” How closely were you watching the fan reaction to it? How much were you letting that dictate the rest of your release strategy?
I was definitely taking note, and I think the overall impression was really strong. People were surprised by it, because it’s different. It’s a different sound for me, and it really goes off in a way the audience seemed to like. It was so fun to perform live down in Australia — and that’s sort of why we put it out. I really wanted to perform it on stage, especially for Pride Month. So that was why I was like, “Let’s kind of put it out. If you want to check it out, you can on SoundCloud, let’s just have it around.”
Part of what I love about the songs is that you are really leaning into the gay club aesthetic — because oftentimes, this house, dance-pop sound has a tendency, especially when coming from queer artists, to be written off as “gay music” and taken less seriously. It feels like that has changed a lot in recent years where that brand of music has become much more high profile — why do you think that is?
That’s a really good point, and I actually hadn’t thought a lot about that. Even before American Idol, the music that I was listening to in my 20s was a lot of electronic music. It was all dance-y electronic stuff. To be honest, I don’t really listen to classic rock in my free time, but when I auditioned for Idol, it was a lane that I saw opened up for me. And I was like, “I can do that. I like classic rock.”
I think when I first started wearing makeup and heels and all of that, the “rock star version” of all that was like a way to justify looking that way and wanting to express myself that way. It got me past certain people. I think even artists of those genres — like Freddie Mercury, first and foremost, and Bowie — gave me permission to express myself that way. It made sense for me to go and sing glam rock and classic rock, because that era was such a beautiful expression of men being able to be feminine and messing with gender. It made it feel safer for me to go there.
As you get older, you get way more comfortable in your own skin and you accept everything about yourself. Now I’m just like, ”This is just who I am — I’m basically a blouse, a feminine top.” It’s amazing the way that society has shifted, because you go online and you see tons of boys doing makeup tutorials. The idea of of expressing yourself in any way shape or form — whether it’s your feminine side, your masculine side, the queer umbrella — [has] gone through this prism and expanded. There’s so much more visibility on all corners of it right now than there has ever been. That’s one reason why I feel like it’s just completely blown open, especially when it comes to music.
These songs are going to be coming out right at the same time that you’re going to be doing your headlining performance for WeHo Pride. What does that mean for you to be getting to headlining this event, and what can fans expect to see?
The lineup over the weekend is crazy. When I saw that I’m on the bill with Kesha, it made me smile so hard, because we go so far back — when I first got signed to RCA, she was on RCA, right after “TiK ToK” had come out. We were at a lot of these industry events together and we just totally clicked, and so it’s it’s a pretty full circle moment. I mean, the fact that Kylie’s playing on Saturday, I just … it’s gonna be a really amazing weekend.
The female ensemble of Jacques Audiard’s crime musical Emilia Pérez — Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón and Adriana Paz — received the best actress honor at the prestigious 2024 Cannes Film Festival gala ceremony Saturday night (May 25).
“Women together — that’s something we wanted to honor when we made this award,” Cannes jury president and Barbie director Greta Gerwig said of the shared win, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Each of them is a standout, but together transcendent.”
In a groundbreaking moment for the trans community, Emilia Pérez star Gascón, who accepted the ensemble cast’s award with a tearful speech, is the first transgender actress to win at Cannes. The Spanish-language musical/crime pic about a Mexican drug lord (Gascón) embracing her true identity as a woman also received the jury prize at this year’s festival.
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Gomez was in Cannes for the film‘s premiere, press and photo calls earlier in the week, but not in attendance at Saturday’s gala. She portrays the wife of Gascón’s character in the film.
The singer-actress got the news of the win through a phone call from co-star Saldaña. “When @zoesaldana told me we all won best actress!!” Gomez captioned an Instagram Story reaction video, in which she’s seen sitting outdoors, and in which her excitement is palpable.
The Palme d’Or, the festivals’s top honor, was given to Sean Baker’s Anora. The Grand Prix went to Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light. Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig received a special award from the jury, and Jesse Plemmons won best actor for his work in Yorgos Lanthimos‘ Kinds of Kindness.
George Lucas was presented with an honorary Palme d’Or on Saturday, for his contribution to cinema since 1971, when his directorial debut, THX-1138, received a nod in the Directors’ Fortnight section at Cannes.
Cannes 2024 Winners List:
Palme d’Or
Sean Baker, Anora
Grand Prix
All We Imagine As Light
Jury Prize
Emilia Pérez
Best Director
Miguel Gomez, Grand Tour
Best Screenplay
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Best Actress
Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Emilia Pérez
Best Actor
Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness
Honorary Palme d’Or
George Lucas
Special Award
Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Camera d’Or for Best First Film
Halfdan Ullman Tondel, Armand
Palme d’Or for Best Short Film
Nebojsa Slijepcevic, The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
Much has changed in the 55 years since the The Stonewall Uprising — and Cynthia Erivo is ready to celebrate the progress we’ve made. In an announcement on Tuesday (May 21), LGBTQ+ advocacy group Pride Live announced Erivo as the official headliner for the Stonewall Day 2024 benefit concert, taking place Friday, June 28. The […]