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With a hot and sticky summer comes our latest picks of hot songs 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 Troye Sivan’s sweaty return to dance-pop to Reneé Rapp’s self-talk anthem, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:
Troye Sivan, “Rush”
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No, Troye Sivan’s new single is not explicitly about your favorite brand of poppers — at least not directly. With “Rush,” the Australian pop superstar unleashes a half-decade of pent up energy, released in a flurry of relentless dance beats, chunky synth chords and Sivan’s crystal-clear voice. Celebrating dopamine-fueled 3 a.m. dance parties, Sivan soaks every single second of the song’s two and half minutes in beatific dance floor ecstasy, delivering this year’s most definitive queer anthem right when we need it most.
Reneé Rapp, “Talk Too Much”
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It’s hard to stand a chance when self-sabotage is your love language, as Reneé Rapp masterfully points out on her excellent new single. Throughout “Talk Too Much,” the soon-to-be-former Sex Lives of College Girls star goes searching for flaws in her partner, only to be met with punchy guitars and the reassurance that she’s the one waving red flags. The song is as funny (her self-questioning soliloquy as a bridge is perfect) as it is irresistibly catchy.
PVRIS, Evergreen
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On her latest album, Lynn Gunn wanted to create something that was both timeless and of the moment. Evergreen, the latest full-length album from her solo project PVRIS, manages to accomplish that goal with shocking effect. Singing about everything including burnout from our specific semi-apocalyptic reality (“I Don’t Wanna Do This Anymore”) to fighting off a more generalized feeling of ennui (“Senti-Mental”), PVRIS successfully taps into a new wavelength, making it clear that they are here for the long run.
Chelsea Cutler, “I Don’t Feel Alive”
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Who would’ve thought that a song about dissociation could feel so good? Chelsea Cutler has always excelled at taking raw sincerity and turning it into fabulous music, and the same is true for “I Don’t Feel Alive.” Over a seemingly joyful, jangling acoustic guitar and a stomp-clamp beat, Cutler dives deep into her own self doubt, questions her reality and points out all of her worst tendencies, all while combatting an all-encompassing sense of detachment from her own life. By the song’s end, though, she’s looking at her progress, and looking to a better future.
Claud, Supermodels
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Based on its singles alone, you would be forgiven for thinking that Claud’s sophomore album Supermodels was going to be a pretty sad album. You wouldn’t be entirely wrong — the album follows the path of a relationship in turmoil, occasionally seeing Claud own their own faults (“Dirt”) or call out their lover’s (“Every F–king Time”). But on bright spots like “A Good Thing” (which now has a music video featuring America’s Sweetheart Paul Rudd), Claud lets themselves dabble in hope and happiness, bringing a thematic and sonic variety to this excellent new album.
Maddie Zahm, “Where Do All the Good Kids Go?”
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Being asked to be a grownup while actively growing up can leave a person feeling robbed of their childhood. Maddie Zahm, for one, is ready to talk about that experience on “Where Do All the Good Kids Go,” her heartwrenching new single. Pairing her sensitive voice with a moving piano melody, Zahm recounts years of adults expecting more out of her while her peers kept their distance, and the endless recursion loop of confusion and hurt that came as a result. It’s a stunning piece of confessional songwriting that manages to break you down while also giving you just an ounce of hope by the time the final chord is struck.
Palehound, Eye on the Bat
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El Kempner always excelled at writing insightful and poetic lyrics as a part of Palehound — but not ever like they do in Eye on the Bat. Throughout this vulnerable, chaotic new project, Kempner strips away much of the edifice surrounding their past music, now letting themselves get vulnerable and be seen through get real about people pleasing (“U Want It U Got It”), breakups (“Independence Day”) and much more. It’s all done through the star’s singular indie rock style, making Eye on the Bat a must-listen album.
Shamir, “Our Song”
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Shamir is feeling nostalgic for the good ‘ol days on his latest song. Performing through the lens of looking back on the bitter ending of a relationship, the singer-songwriter spends much of “Our Song” wishing things were different — wishing he was a bigger person back then, wishing that his ex hadn’t managed to “infiltrate” his mind, and so forth. To fit the stirring lyrics, the song’s sound manages to smartly straddle the line between dreamy pop music and grittier rock offerings, making “Our Song” a fascinating must-listen.
Idman, Risk
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If you somehow haven’t listened to rising singer-songwriter Idman yet, allow us to introduce you with their fabulous new EP. Risk sees the star-in-the-making mix together pop, R&B and hip-hop into a eclectic mix of must-listen bangers talking about heartbreak (“Hate”), infatuation (“Still”), and pure confidence (“Beach”). With beats and melodies as versatile as the blissful riffs they regularly sing throughout each song, Risk is exactly the kind of project that makes us want to hear more and more from Idman.
Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist below:
Bud Light is launching its inaugural Bud Light Backyard Tour summer concert series, featuring headliners OneRepublic, Midland, Dashboard Confessional and Bush. The four-city tour, for fans 21 and older, launches in Nashville on Aug. 10 with headliner OneRepublic and opening act Lindsay Ell.
Country trio Midland will headline a concert in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Aug. 15; followed by Dashboard Confessional in St. Louis, Mo., on Aug. 17; and Bush on Aug. 29 in Charlottesville, Va. Dee Jay Silver will serve as the DJ for the dates in St. Louis, Oklahoma City and Charlottesville. Tyler Braden is also set as an opener on the concert series.
According to Todd Allen, Bud Light’s vp of marketing, the yet-to-be announced venues will range in capacity from 1,000 to 3,000. Tickets are free, and fans can enter to win tickets at budlightbackyard.com.
“We really want to deliver an intimate vibe, and deliver that backyard experience where you’re hanging out with your friends, your family, listening to your favorite artists. So we want try to bring these artists closer to fans through these shows,” Allen tells Billboard.
Allen also notes Bud Light’s history in the music space, referencing the brand’s previous Bud Light Dive Bar tours with artists including Post Malone in 2019, and Bud Light Sessions over the years with artists such as Brad Paisley, Jason DeRulo, Jack Harlow and Teddy Swims.
The tour news comes as Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, has seen sales decline following backlash against the Bud Light brand after transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a video to Instagram on April 1 showing a customized, commemorative Bud Light can featuring Mulvaney’s face sent to her by the company. Artists including Kid Rock, John Rich and Ted Nugent then called for a boycott of the brand or pledged to stop stocking it at their bars and backstage. As a result of the boycott, Bud Light fell from its position as the top-selling beer in America in June.
With the upcoming summer shows featuring performances from country music artists including Midland, Ell and Braden, Allen tells Billboard of Bud Light’s relationship with the country music audience, “First and foremost, we care deeply about all of our customers. I’ve been across this country, visiting with consumers, visiting with our wholesalers, visiting with partners. Consistently, the No. 1 thing people tell me about is the love and passion they have for this brand, and that what they want and expect from Bud Light is to get back to what we do best, and that’s being the beer of easy enjoyment, and that means bringing family and friends together over live music.
“That’s why we’re getting back to what we’re doing with the Bud Light Backyard Tour,” Allen adds, “and we’re going to do that with our country music fans, the same thing we’ve been doing for the past 40 years.”
Billboard reached out to teams for Midland and Ell for additional comments regarding the upcoming shows and the controversy that has surrounded the Bud Light brand. In a statement to Billboard, Ell said, “As an artist who always wants to use my voice for good, I have spent the past few years learning as much as I can about marginalized communities and how we, as humans, can work together to lift each other up. When deciding who to work with or what brands to partner with, I tend to lean into partnerships that encourage larger conversations surrounding the power of considering humanity before all else, including gender or race. Because of that, I recognize that we, as a nation, are in a phase of learning and that we’re inevitably not going to get it right every time. But I also know that doesn’t mean we should stop trying to teach ourselves how to love others better. I am looking forward to the Bud Light Backyard Tour in Nashville and hope that together, OneRepublic and I will bring both music and important conversation to fans there.”
Midland said via a press release, “We’re looking forward to showing up and rocking out for our fans at the Bud Light Backyard Tour. We can’t wait to perform for fans in Oklahoma City, reminding everyone that live music is even better when we can kick back in the backyard with an ice cold beer and all of our friends.”
Troye Sivan has announced the release date for his upcoming third studio album, Something to Give Each Other. The collection described as a “celebration of sex, dance, sweat, community, queerness, love and friendship” will drop on Oct. 13.
The album was previewed on Thursday (July 13) with the ecstatic disco anthem “Rush,” which features the dizzying chorus, “You got my heartbeat racing/ My body blazing/ I feel the rush/ Addicted to your touch/ Oh, I feel the rush/ It’s so good, it’s so good/ I feel the rush/ Addicted to your touch/ Oh, I feel the rush/ It’s so good, it’s so good.”
In a statement about the song, The Idol co-star Sivan said, “‘Rush’ is the feeling of kissing a sweaty stranger on a dancefloor, a 2 hour date that turned into a weekend, a crush, a winter, a summer. Party after party, after party after after party. All of my experiences from a chapter where I feel confident, free and liberated. Independent, yet somehow the most connected to the music and community around me.”
The appropriately sensual, sweaty Gordon von Steiner-directed video for “Rush” is meant to evoke, “big groups of people feeling the joy of life and sex,” according to a release announcing the project. In the clip Sivan attends a hedonistic day party in which revelers pull off impressively choreographed dance routines in an abandoned warehouse, with Sivan getting in on the action by doing a keg stand and making out with a fellow party animal.
Sivan wrote the album with Oscar Görres (Taylor Swift, Sam Smith), Ian Kirkpatrick (Dua Lipa, Britney Spears), Leland (Selena Gomez, Ava Max) and Styalz Fuego (Khalid, Imagine Dragons). Something to Give Each Other is the follow-up to Sivan’s 2018 second full-length album, Bloom; he released the EP In a Dream in 2020.
The Australian-born singer/actor recently teased that he was prepping his first album in half a decade. “It’s not lost on me that some of you guys have been following along since i was the kid w the stye in my eye in that first video,” he captioned a series of videos posted to Instagram in June. “Btw — I didn’t mean to take 5 years to make this album.”
In addition to the album, Sivan is prepping the launch of Tsu Lange Yor, described as an “independent luxury lifestyle collection of fragrances and art-driven objects.”
Watch the “Rush” video below.
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A Wisconsin elementary school teacher who got into hot water earlier this year for trying to include Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton‘s anthem of love and acceptance “Rainbowland” at her school’s spring concert has been terminated.
According to WISN, the School District of Waukesha Board of Education voted unanimously (9-0), on Wednesday (July 21) to end teacher Melissa Tempel’s employment at Heyer Elementary School in Waukesha, WI after saying she violated three school board policies. District officials said Tempel was place on leave on April 3, followed by a May letter in which Superintendent James Sebert said he would recommend to the Board of Education that her job be “terminated.”
During the hourslong termination hearing Tempel and school administrators testified, with lawyers for the school board saying that the teacher violated board policies by expressing her feelings on social media before she talked to her supervisors.
“Ms. Tempel deliberately brought negative attention to the school district because she disagreed with the decision as opposed to following protocol and procedure and I believe that behavior is intolerable,” said Waukesha School District Superintendent Sebert; Tempel’s lawyers argued that their client was exercising her free speech rights.
“I thought that the fact that the tweet that I made, that ‘Rainbowland’ wasn’t going to be allowed, was something that the public would be really concerned about and that they would be interested in knowing about it,” said Tempel during the hearing.
Back in March, language teacher Tempel called out the school’s administration after claiming that they vetoed the inclusion of a pair of rainbow-themed songs in the spring concert. “My first graders were so excited to sing ‘Rainbowland’ for our spring concert but it has been vetoed by our administration. When will it end?,” she tweeted at the time, along with hashtags for the school system, Parton, Cyrus and GSafe (which create safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth in Wisconsin schools) and civil rights.
Tempel also included the lyrics to “Rainbowland,” the Cyrus/Parton duet about acceptance that appeared on Miley’s 2017 album Younger Now. “Living in Rainbowland/ Where you and I go hand in hand/ Oh, I’d be lying if I said this was fine/ All the hurt and the hate going on here/ We are rainbows, me and you/ Every color, every hue,” they sing on the song.
On March 24, Tempel wrote, “The latest I heard is that the song was banned bc @MileyCyrus is controversial. D’oh, I thought for sure it was @DollyPartonvand her beautiful drag queen followers! Oh well, I can’t stop my students if they still sing ‘Rainbowland.’ It’s a fun, catchy song!” First grade teacher Tempel later speculated that the duet was pulled because of its “beautiful LYRICS. Because saying an ARTIST is controversial would be a very slippery slope and they wouldn’t want to go there. Amirite?,” she wrote.
When a commenter asked why the song was pulled from the concert Tempel responded, “no reason given.” A day later, Tempel reported that the administration had also banned the beloved Muppet Movie ballad “Rainbow Connection,” writing, “so it seems the reason is rainbows”; Tempel later clarified that “Rainbow Connection” had been unbanned after “parents sent emails to admin,” though at the time it appeared “Rainbowland” was still off the lineup.
The mother of a first-grader at the school said she was told the songs were pulled because they were too “controversial,” telling the Los Angeles Times that the local school board had undergone a “conservative flip” following COVID-19 mitigation strategies during the global pandemic. “One of those is a controversial topics policy saying that teachers can’t have any kind of signage that could be deemed political. … Discussion of pronouns with students was another thing that came up. And teachers aren’t allowed to wear rainbows,” parent Sarah Schindler said.
Another parent with a student enrolled in the district told the paper that the Waukesha school district has “really cracked down on anything LGBTQ… so this song being an ‘issue’ has not in any way come as a surprise.” The Board of Education reportedly said that the principal checked with the central office about district policy when the song was suggested and, “they determined that the song could be deemed controversial in accordance with the policy,” the board said in a statement in March.
The school’s principal, Mark Schneider, told the School Board at Wednesday’s hearing that he never said he thought the song should be vetoed or banned, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. Schneider also said that he was flooded with voicemails — some of which were threatening — which made him concerned for the safety of the school community, including “vulgar” messages that said he would “get what’s coming to (him).”
Superintendent Sebert also reportedly testified that he got a large volume of inquiries from parents, community members and people outside the district, which also included some threats. “I thought the way in which she disagreed with this decision was in direct violation of multiple board policies,” Sebert said at the hearing. Following a closed-door deliberation, the board voted unanimously to fire Sebert, saying she violated three different school board policies, including not following the chain of command by going to the media before airing her concerns to supervisors, engaging students on social media and making statement that “sowed disharmony among [the] staff.”
In the wake of the ruling, NBC reported that Tempel’s attorney said they believe they have a strong First Amendment case, with the teacher telling reporters she wouldn’t have done anything differently even if she’d known this would be the result. “And I really just want to say ‘hi’ to my students, because I haven’t been able to talk to them since March, and I really miss you guys,” Tempel said.
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While George Michael may be remembered today as a queer icon in his own right, the “Freedom ’90” singer’s former bandmate recently revealed that his delayed coming out cost the superstar dearly.
According to Michael’s longtime Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley, the “Faith” singer’s decision to keep his sexuality secret before eventually announcing it on live TV in 1998 ultimately hurt him more than it helped. “I think it is fairly unarguable,” Ridgeley told People in an interview published Wednesday (July 5). “He made the point that it had a personal cost, which I don’t think he ever quite reconciled.”
“George was thinking, ‘Yeah, I’ll just come out and say it,’ and I thought, ‘Well, how’s this gonna change anything for us?’” Ridgeley also told the publication. “The music’s still great and once the initial sort of hullabaloo is over, then it’ll probably be just that. But that was not the case, and George says that for him personally, that was the wrong decision.”
Michael’s decision to delay his coming out was based out of fear for “how his father would react, along with the press and the label,” Ridgeley said. “He was all ifs and buts, but the fact is the decision was taken not to make his sexuality public, and that personally cost him.”
Michael hid his sexuality from fans for years before he was arrested in 1998 for lewd conduct, an event that essentially outed him to the public and led him to confirm he was gay in a televised interview on CNN. Before his death in 2016, the English musician said himself that he regretted staying in the closet for so long, even though doing so likely helped his career in the long run.
“I’d been out to a lot of people since 19,” he said in a 2007 radio interview. “I wish to God it had happened then. I don’t think I would have the same career – my ego might not have been satisfied in some areas – but I think I would have been a happier man … Then AIDS changed everything. I was too immature to know I was sacrificing as much as I was.”
The difficulties Michael faced before and after coming out are covered in the new Wham! documentary, which arrived on Netflix Wednesday (July 5). But while the “Careless Whisper” musician faced judgment and scorn from some listeners afterward, Ridgeley shared with People that for him, his longtime friend’s revelation didn’t change a thing between them.
“Shirlie told me George was anxious about telling me, which I found a little surprising,” he reflected, referencing former girlfriend and singer Shirlie Kemp. “When he told me it was like, ‘Oh, well, yeah. That explains a few things,’ but it was unremarkable. It was unsensational.”