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While Grimes and Elon Musk may not be a couple anymore, the pair still co-parent their two children (X and Y) — which means they still have to have tough conversations every now and then. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In an interview with Wired on Tuesday, […]
It’s no secret that Beyoncé‘s latest album, Renaissance, is a celebration of the Black queer culture that created house music as we know it today. A year after its release, transgender actress and activist Laverne Cox is ready to offer the megastar even more praise after a recent statement at one of her shows. In […]
The process of coming out is personal for each individual queer person who makes the leap to tell the world about themselves. For Steve Lacy, his coming out process was simply “silly.” In a new cover story for Variety, Lacy opened up about how he publicly came out … or rather, how he didn’t really […]
Ne-Yo may have issued a public apology on Sunday (Aug. 6) for making “insensitive and offensive” comments about the trans community, but the singer is taking that apology back.
In a video shared to his Instagram on Monday (Aug. 7), the “So Sick” singer said that he won’t “apologize for having an opinion.” Claiming that the original apology came from his “publicist’s computer” instead of from himself, Ne-Yo said that he wanted his fans to know how he actually felt.
“My intention is never to offend anybody,” he said. “However, I’m entitled to feel how I feel, the same way you are entitled to feel how you feel. I ain’t ask nobody to follow me, I ain’t ask nobody to agree with me; I was asked a question and I answered the d–n question.”
Ne-Yo went on to further dig his heels in on the topic of gender-affirming care for minors. While he said he has “no beef” with queer and trans folks, he will “never be OK with allowing a child to make a decision that detrimental to their life,” referring to medical treatment for trans youth. “I will definitely be educating myself a little bit more on this matter,” he said. “However, I doubt that there is any book anywhere or any opinion that somebody’s gonna tell me that’s gonna make me OK with letting a child make a decision like that.”
Closing out his video, the singer said that he’s not concerned about backlash to his comments anymore. “If I get canceled for this, then you know what, maybe this is a world where they don’t need a Ne-Yo no more,” he said. “Live how you wanna live, love how you wanna love, but your opinion is yours.”
Billboard has reached out to Ne-Yo’s representatives for further comment.
In the caption for the clip, Ne-Yo wrote that he “WILL NOT BE BULLIED INTO APOLOGIZING FOR HAVING AN OPINION,” and offered up a hypothetical scenario to demonstrate his point. “If one of my 7 kids were to decide that he or she wanted to be something other than what they were born as, once they’re old enough and mature enough to make that decision…so be it,” he wrote. “Not gonna love em’ any less. Daddy is still Daddy and he loves you regardless. But this isn’t even a discussion until they are MENTALLY MATURE ENOUGH to have such a discussion.”
The controversy started on Saturday (Aug. 5), when Ne-Yo sat for an interview with Gloria Velez of VladTV and spoke at length about gender-affirming care for kids. “If your little boy comes to you and says, ‘Daddy, I want to be a girl.’ And you just let him rock with that? He’s 5 … If you let this 5-year-old boy decide to eat candy all day, he’s gonna do that,” he said. “When did it become a good idea to let a 5-year-old, let a 6-year-old, let a 12-year-old make a life-changing decision for themself? When did that happen?”
The rapper’s statements mirror claims made by anti-trans legislators, claiming that children shouldn’t have access to the “irreversible” treatments of gender-affirming care by outlawing it across multiple states. However, experts say that most medical interventions for trans minors — including puberty blockers, speech therapy, gender-affirming hormone treatment and more — are not permanent.
Additionally, medical research groups including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pedatrics and the American Psychological Association have all developed guidelines for practitioners on how to best administer gender-affirming care. Each organization agrees that gender-affirming care is not only safe for minors, but in many cases it is vital for their health and well-being.
A day after his interview, an apology was published on Ne-Yo’s X account (formerly known as Twitter), stating that he has “always been an advocate for love and inclusivity in the LGBTQI+ community,” and underscoring that “my comments could’ve been interpreted as insensitive and offensive.” The post ended by saying that the “Miss Independent” singer would “better educate myself on the topic, so I can approach future conversations with more empathy.”
Check out Ne-Yo’s full Instagram video below:
Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue – an LGBTQ romcom novel about the Prince of England and the U.S. president’s son falling in love despite a despising each other at first – was a smash hit when it came out in 2019, quickly becoming a New York Times bestseller and creating a devoted fanbase. Captivated by the international screwball romance, the book’s enthusiastic fanbase has created everything from artistic renderings of swoon-worthy moments between main characters Alex and Henry to playlists based on songs McQuiston wrote into the plot.
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But even for the most devoted readers, there will be a few surprises when the Red, White & Royal Blue film – starring Nicholas Galitzine, Taylor Zakhar Perez and Uma Thurman — comes out Aug. 11 on Amazon Prime Video.
“Casey was never insistent that I make Casey’s Book: The Film,” Matthew Lopez, the film’s director and co-writer, tells Billboard. “She always wanted me to make Matthew’s movie. She trusted that someone who loved the book was in charge of the film.”
The cinematic adaptation is Lopez’s directorial debut after conquering Broadway, earning a Tony for his acclaimed 2019 play The Inheritance and earning a second Tony nom this year for co-writing the book to Some Like It Hot, a musical based on the gender-bending 1959 film. He first encountered McQuiston’s book pre-pandemic and recalls that it “refused to be ignored – it absolutely stayed in my imagination.” After successfully lobbying for the director’s chair on the movie adaptation, Lopez began working with music supervisors Kristen Higuera and Maggie Phillips on the soundtrack.
While many of the songs mentioned in the book do feature in the film (Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”; Lil Jon’s “Get Low”), Lopez followed his muse — and not the page — in certain instances.
In one key scene, the star-crossed lovers slow dance in London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, despite it being after hours (one of the many perks of being a prince). In the book, Elton John’s “Your Song” plays, but cinematically, that didn’t track for Lopez.
“I love Sir Elton — he’s been such a supporter of mine throughout my career — but the scene I envisioned, I couldn’t hear that song,” he tells Billboard. With the help of his music supervisors, the aching, lovelorn voice of Mike Hadreas found its way into the film via Perfume Genius’ 2016 cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” It was originally supposed to be an on-set placeholder until Hadreas recorded a new, different cover, but after living with it for months, Lopez decided he couldn’t see or hear the scene any other way.
“I felt terrible calling Mike,” Lopez says. “[I told him] ‘I have good news and bad news. The bad news is I don’t need a cover from you. The good news is I already have one [from you].”
Another cover that prominently features in the film is a fresh reimagining of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel classic “If I Loved You” performed by Vagabon. “I knew her voice and her sound, married to that classical music theater, was going to be the right match,” says Lopez, who describes himself as “a huge musical theater nerd.” When he approached Vagabon (Laetitia Tamko) with the idea, she wasn’t familiar with the song, which made him doubly sure of the decision. “It was great, because she had no associations,” he reasons. “It’s a new way of looking at it.”
Having familiar songs with new voices was important to Lopez for this queer romcom. “This movie was always about, for me, new ways of doing old things — that was the ethos of the film, so I wanted to try and get a couple covers in there.”
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Another example of putting a new twist on something familiar came via Oliver Sim. The filmmakers asked the solo artist and The xx member for an original composition, but after he watched an early cut of the film, he told Lopez, “I think I’ve already written the song for the movie.”
“It was his idea to take the song ‘Fruit’ from his most recent album and completely re-orchestrate it,” Lopez explains. “He said, ‘I made the acoustic version; now I want to make the cinematic version.’ He took something very delicate and blew it up to these epic proportions. It sounds so swoon-y and hopeful. That was a big win, for me, to get him to do that — I have my own bespoke version of an Oliver Sim song,” he adds with a smirk.
You can see what else made its way into the film when it begins streaming on Prime Video on Aug. 11.
Police have arrested a 17-year-old high school student on a hate-motivated murder charge in the fatal stabbing of a professional dancer during an altercation between two groups of friends at a New York City gas station last weekend.
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Police took the teenager into custody Friday (Aug. 4) in connection with the killing of the 28-year-old O’Shae Sibley, who was gay. Authorities declined to release the defendant’s name.
“Parents lost a child, a child, to something that was clearly a hate crime,” Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain, said Saturday during a news conference outside the Brooklyn gas station where Sibley was killed July 29.
The stabbing occurred after the two groups got into a confrontation at one of the gas pumps, where Sibley was dancing with his friends to a Beyoncé song. Authorities said Sibley’s group was being taunted by the other group before the confrontation ended in violence.
Beyoncé would later pay tribute to Sibley on her website.
Security camera video showed the two groups arguing for a few minutes. Both sides had walked away when Sibley and a friend abruptly returned and again confronted one of the young men, who had stayed behind recording on his phone.
In the video, Sibley could be seen following the teen and then lunging at him before the two disappeared out of the camera’s view. A moment later, he walks backward into view, checking his side, and then collapses to the sidewalk.
Lee Soulja Simmons, the executive director for the NYC Center for Black Pride, also spoke at the news conference.
“We wrestle with people within our community constantly facing discrimination — not just because you’re Black but because you represent LGBT” communities, he said.
“The fact that he was doing nothing more but voguing and dancing here, he did not deserve to die in that way,” Simmons said.
One of Sibley’s friends who was there, Otis Pena, said in a Facebook video that Sibley was killed because he was gay, and “because he stood up for his friends.”
One witness, Summy Ullah, said in interviews that the men complained that their behavior offended them as Muslims.
Some leaders of the area’s Muslim community condemned the slaying.
“The weight of this loss is felt deeply, not just by the family and friends of O’Shae, but by all of us who value life, peace and justice,” Soniya Ali, the executive director of the Muslim Community Center, said Saturday.
“As Muslims, we are committed to stand up for justice, even if it means standing against our own selves,” she said. “We unequivocally condemn the unjust murder of O’Shae.”
Sibley performed with the dance company Philadanco in his native Philadelphia and in New York, where he took classes with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Ailey Extension program.
As we move toward the end of summer, there’s still time for you to find your song of the summer from your favorite queer artists. 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 Kali Uchis’ team-up with El Alfa and JT to Demi Lovato’s collaboration with LE SSERAFIM, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:
Kali Uchis feat. El Alfa & JT, “Muñekita”
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Get ready for your new sexy summer anthem. Kali Uchis invited Dominican dembow superstar El Alfa and City Girls member JT for her flirty new single “Muñekita,” where the trio strut their way down a delicious Latin beat, spitting Spanish bars about how truly fabulous they all are. On her own, Uchis could have made an excellent Spanish-language anthem — but with Alfa and JT in tow, it’s a party you’ll never want to leave.
LE SSERAFIM feat. Demi Lovato, “Eve, Psyche & the Bluebeard’s Wife”
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How should a K-pop act like LE SSERAFIM capitalize on a viral banger like “Eve, Psyche & the Bluebeard’s Wife?” Their answer is to invite pop-rock icon Demi Lovato onboard for a verse. The bones of what made “Eve” such a great song remain fully intact — from the house-inspired production to the delicious vocals from each member. But with the addition of Lovato, jumping back into her dark-pop era for a bossed-up verse, “Eve” ascends to even greater heights.
Towa Bird, “This Isn’t Me”
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Just three singles into her career with Interscope, Towa Bird is already proving to be one of the most exciting new artists on the scene. “This Isn’t Me” only adds to her already prestigious discography with a tender but gritty indie rock anthem about finding yourself stuck in a social quagmire where you simply do not belong. Fuzzy guitars, chunky drums and an expertly restrained vocal all make “This Isn’t Me” a perfectly-crafted ode to social anxiety.
Teddy Geiger, “Never Enough”
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With her latest single “Never Enough,” Teddy Geiger just can’t stop thinking about consumption. Over a delirious and often hypnotic melody, the singer-songwriter examines our insatiable craving for more and more of just about everything. “Once you have a little bit of something, it’s never quite enough; when the show has been binged, you want more of it,” she told Billboard of the new song. “You’re always left feeling like there’s something lacking, unless you can come to peace with the feeling itself.”
Durand Bernarr, “Kiss from a Rose” (Seal Cover)
We didn’t know that we needed to hear one of the most uniquely talented voices in music covering a ’90s soul staple — yet here we are! Durand Bernarr took on Seal’s iconic “Kiss from a Rose,” opting to keep what works about the soft-rock-meets-soul anthem, and letting his unbelievable voice do the work. Throughout this marvelous cover, Bernarr proves again why he is perfectly situated to become the next big star in R&B — all you have to do is press play to find out why.
Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Weeks playlist below:
Back in 2019, a little over a year into her transition, singer-songwriter Teddy Geiger decided to spend three months in Madrid reconnecting with herself. Visiting friends and family, Geiger wanted an escape from her life in Los Angeles and a chance to reflect on all the change the last year of her life had brought.
It didn’t take long for that period of reflection to fuel Geiger’s inspiration, leading to a series of songwriting sessions while on vacation. “I had a little makeshift setup at the kitchen table for recording with a guitar and a bandurria,” Geiger tells Billboard. “I was stepping into being seen as female in the world, and this allowed me to take the time to express that.”
The result of that three-month Spanish sojourn is Teresa, Geiger’s upcoming sophomore LP under her solo moniker teddy
Summertime may be in full swing, but it’s never too late to find your song of the summer. Billboard Pride is here to help with 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 Sam Smith’s new collaboration with Calvin Harris to Anne-Marie’s new album, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:
Calvin Harris feat. Sam Smith, “Desire”
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Each time Calvin Harris and Sam Smith have teamed up to make music, the results have been blissful — whether it was the cooled-down stylings of 2018’s “Promises,” or the disco euphoria of this year’s “I’m Not Here to Make Friends.” Their latest collaboration “Desire” follows in those same footsteps; a thundering trance beat and a set of stuttering synth lines perfectly match with Smith’s delicate vocal, as they declare that just “the thought of you is keeping me awake.”
Anne-Marie, Unhealthy
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Trying to encapsulate what Anne-Marie’s Unhealthy is all about is like trying to grab a fish with your bare hands — just when you think you have a good grasp, it manages to wriggle away. But that’s part and parcel of the accomplishment in the pop singer’s latest LP; Unhealthy is about embracing chaos and learning to accept what can’t be fully understood. The sonics match that theme — Anne-Marie oscillates between gorgeously-sung ballads (like “You & I” featuring Khalid), angsty pop-rock anthems (“Haunt You”), and pure pop anthems (“Trainwreck”), the British phenom refuses to just be one thing, when she can be everything.
CHIKA, Samson
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Much like the titular Bible character, Chika is ready to find strength in what makes her vulnerable. On her full-length debut Samson, the rapper goes beyond proving why she deserves recognition for her pen game, and acknowledges the emotional turmoil that has plagued her life for the last few years. Embracing blatant honesty to devastating effect, Chika burns bridges (“Mad”), flexes her skills (“Prodigy”), and weaves a compelling narrative web of an artist rejecting her position as an overlooked superstar. Chika didn’t mince her words, so we won’t either; Samson is a masterpiece.
Shamir, “The Beginning”
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Looking for a throwback to the late ’90s? Shamir has got you covered with “The Beginning,” a scrumptious pop-rock jam that’s ready to transport you straight back to the age of Savage Garden and Third Eye Blind. It’s fitting, then, that the lyrics to the delectable new song are all about looking back on the good old days of a relationship, and realizing that maybe they weren’t as “good” as you thought they were. “The Beginning” is just another reason why Shamir remains a vital voice in the indie pop-rock scene.
Kidd Kenn, “Coming”
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That’s Mr. Kenn, if you’re nasty — and “Coming” will certainly encourage you to access your nasty side. With his latest single, rising rap star Kidd Kenn is happy to go full “WAP,” but this time for the gays, flexing all of the various way that he can get his lover hot over an entrancing melody and booming beat. Yes, “Coming” is exactly what it sounds like — a hip-hop banger for you to press play on immediately.
MAY-A, “Something Familiar”
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When Hamlet said that we would all “rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of,” MAY-A felt that. On her latest single “Something Familiar,” MAY-A gives into comfort over consistency, basking in knowing the person she’s with well, even if she doesn’t really like them all that much. Add in her updated, rocked out sound to give the song a boost of adrenaline, and you’ve got yet another jam from the rising star.
Jaboukie, “not_me_tho”
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If you want to work yourself to the bone to get ahead, that’s just fine — just don’t expect Jaboukie Young-White to join you. On his latest single off of his upcoming new album, the comedian-turned-writer-turned-actor-turned-musician is skewering hustle culture with a carefree, shrugged-off anthem. Throwing up a middle finger to late-stage capitalism, “not_me_tho” is Jaboukie at his most effortless, laughing at the social climbers sweating their way to the top as he casually waves at them from his self-made pedestal.
Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist below:
Troye Sivan would like to set the record straight — well, not straight per se — about some rumors that have pervaded the internet for the last few years.
On a recent episode of Emily Ratajkowski’s High Low podcast, Sivan declared once and for all that he is not a bottom. “This is actually something I want to clear up,” he told the model-actress. “I wrote this one song called ‘Bloom,’ right? It’s about bottoming. And the lyric is ‘I bloom just for you.’ And people took that and ran.”
Continuing, the Australian pop star said that the queer community online thinks that he is “some crazy power bottom,” when that is simply not true. When asked by EmRata if it was “annoying to have to clarify that,” Sivan said it was not. “I think sometimes people are just surprised, maybe if they go on a date with me, and I’m like, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m not a bottom,’” he said.
Fans expressed their varying levels of shock in the comments section of a TikTok clip, with one saying “I did NOT have ‘Troye Sivan is a strict top’ on my 2023 bingo card.” Some fans, though, felt that Sivan had been pretty clear through his lyrics. “I’ve always understood that. Like he’s saying ‘I bloom JUST for YOU,’” one commenter wrote.
The new clip comes during a big week for Sivan — his latest single “Rush” recently debuted across 12 different Billboard charts, including a No. 77 debut on the Billboard Hot 100, marking his first entry on the chart since 2021’s “You” with Regard and Tate McRae, and his highest debut on the chart to date.
In an interview with Billboard shortly after the song was released, Sivan said that he was already thrown off by the extremely warm reception it received. “I know that I’m really super happy about it, and I also think I am a little bit intimidated,” he said. “It’s a good intimidation, because it just makes me think, ‘Damn, we’ve got to make a great video for the second single.’”
Check out the clip of Sivan on EmRata’s High Low below: