State Champ Radio Pride
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As the 2024 presidential race starts to heat up with more than half a dozen republicans already throwing their hats in the ring to take on President Biden, Paramore singer Hayley Williams told New Jersey fans that she’s not afraid to get political from the stage. In fact, the outspoken vocalist told the crowd at […]
Little Richard knew exactly what he was doing when he sang the seemingly gibberish lyrics “Awop-bop-a-loo-mop-alop-bam-boom/ If it don’t fit, don’t force it/ You can grease it and make it easy.” The iconic couplet he originally wrote for his 1955 breakthrough hit “Tutti Fruitti” is explored in a new episode of PBS’ American Masters, “Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” which will debut on public stations on Friday (June 2) at 9 p.m. ET as pat of LGBTQIA+ Pride Month and African American Music Appreciation Month.
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The show, which features interviews with the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, Nile Rodgers, Pat Boone, Ringo Starr, Bobby Rush and Big Freedia, as well as activist/drag performer Sir Lady Java and Richard’s spiritual advisor, Rev. Bill Minson, tells the origin story of Richard (born Richard Wayne Penniman) from a child prodigy steeped in the world of gospel to global rock stardom; it features never-before heard audio recordings of Richard made by his authorized biographer, Charles White, who is also featured.
In a Billboard exclusive clip from the show (see below), Little Richard’s bandmates and contemporaries talk about the origin story of “Tutti Frutti,” which was birthed at the raucous Dew Drop Inn in New Orleans. “When we went into the Drew Drop Inn there was a piano… and that’s when I began to know and understand Little Richard,” says Specialty Records producer Robert “Bumps” Blackwell.
“‘Cause that’s all you gotta do is give Richard an audience, turn the lights on and show is on,” Blackwell says. Richard’s longtime keyboard player and friend Ronald “Ron” Jones adds that one day Richard jumped on the piano and played the “alop-bam-boom” riff and his producers asked about the hook they’d never heard before, even though the singer — who died in May 2020 at age 87 of bone cancer — had been using it for years while playing to Black audiences on the Chitlin’ Circuit.
In the episode we hear archival tape of Richard reciting the next two lines in the chorus, “If you want it, you got it/ Tutti-frutti, good booty.” The lyrics, of course, could be interpreted as being about gay sex, laughs Deacon John Moore, a blues musician who recorded with Richard. “They’re not gonna play that on the radio. ‘Tutti-frutti, good booty!’ And everybody knew this ain’t about ice cream!”
The bottom line from Richard’s producer, though, was that regardless of what he was singing about, “Tutti Fruitti” sounded like a slam-dunk hit record. Informed that he would have to clean up the “smutty” lyrics a bit to get airplay, Richard agreed, with Blackwell explaining how they changed the first bit to “tutti frutti, oh rootie,” while adding girls named Sue and Daisy. After two or three takes, history was made.
The PBS doc follows on the heels of producer/director and former label exec Lisa Cortés’ recent doc, Little Richard: I Am Everything, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and has been streaming on Prime Video and Apple TV since April.
Watch the American Masters preview below and watch the full episode on Friday night.
Pride Month has officially arrived, and pop superstar Sam Smith is ready to help you celebrate with a new cover. On Thursday (June 1), Smith unveiled their cover of Christina Aguilera‘s 2002 anthem “Beautiful” exclusively on Amazon Music. Stripped down to focus on Smith’s sonorous vocal and a single guitar, the cover slowly grows, adding […]
This Pride Month, Billboard asked artists to write a series of love letters to their LGBTQ fans, highlighting what the community means to them, as people and as artists. Below, Chappell Roan recalls finding herself in the queer community and being able to finally tell herself “Thank God I’m gay.” Explore Explore See latest videos, […]
This Pride Month, Billboard asked artists to write a series of love letters to their LGBTQ fans, highlighting what the community means to them, as people and as artists. Below, Hope Tala rejoices in the queer community’s ability “to be endlessly varied, containing every kind of multitude,” even in a world “that increasingly feels like a dystopia.”
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The first time I can remember hearing the word ‘gay,’ I was eight or nine years old, playing in the sunshine the morning after a sleepover. I asked one of my friends what it meant and received a child’s definition — ‘when a boy kisses another boy’, whispered in my ear like it was something bad.
I was shocked; this concept was so far outside my understanding of how the world worked that it had never even occurred to me that it could happen in a way that wasn’t familial or platonic. I had never encountered anything that resisted the idea that a woman should be with a man so I didn’t consider that ‘gay’ could have anything to do with me until I was fourteen and began spending copious amounts of time trying desperately to locate that newly discovered part of myself externally.
Eleven years later, through the world’s progress (however insufficient it has been) and the intentional reconstruction of my own world, I’m now able to see and feel queerness everywhere. It was always there, of course, just not in my line of sight. The wonder of it still feels astonishing, the comfort immense.
In a world that increasingly feels like a dystopia where the political right is bent on destroying it, the queer community continues to be endlessly varied; powerful and vulnerable all at once, containing every kind of multitude. I am grateful to know queer people closely and from far away; to be inspired by them, to be able to live through the knowledge that they are thriving, laughing, crying, hurting, resisting, making food and mistakes and love and art absolutely everywhere. Now this thing that often felt like a source of fear and ostracization, separating me from the world I had always known, has brought me closer to the community I was always supposed to be a part of and the person I really want to be.
This Pride Month, Billboard asked artists to write a series of love letters to their LGBTQ fans, highlighting what the community means to them, as people and as artists. Below, Isaac Dunbar breaks down a lifetime of being “inspired by queerness,” and offers a message of encouragement to his queer fans: “Don’t mind the commentary, […]
After giving the world a taste of the “Unholy,” Sam Smith is ready to deliver something even dirtier with their new song — and this time, they’ve got pop icon Madonna on board to help. On Wednesday (May 31), Smith and Madonna confirmed the release of their upcoming collaboration, “Vulgar.” Madge shared some artwork across […]
Sam Smith may have declared that “I’m Not Here to Make Friends” — but that doesn’t mean they can’t work with rising Latin superstar Anitta. In a new cover story on Anitta for Harper’s Bazaar, Smith confirmed that the pair are working on a new song together. “Anitta’s energy is amazing,” they said. “We connected […]
With Pride less than a week away, freshen up your playlists with some new 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 Arlo Parks’ long-awaited new album, to Demi Lovato’s rocked-out version of a fab-favorite track, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:
Arlo Parks, My Soft Machine
For all of the talk of your 20s being “the best years of your life,”rising alternative star Arlo Parks has a slightly different take. With My Soft Machine, her sophomore album, the UK artist floats between existential dread over the ending of relationships (“Weightless,” “I’m Sorry”) and introspective musings on self-worth (“Impurities,” “Devotion”), all done with an eclectic blend of dream-pop and rock to form a singularly fascinating project. It’s a further testament to Parks’ inimitable talent and vision that My Soft Machine stands firmly as a distinctive, moving body of work, even in the wake of an album as lauded as Collapsed in Sunbeams.
Demi Lovato, “Cool for the Summer (Rock Version)”
After reimagining her much-beloved song “Heart Attack” as a rock anthem earlier this year, Demi Lovato is ready to give you more. This time around, they’re taking their warm-weather ditty “Cool for the Summer” and amping up the intensity. With raging guitars, pounding drums and an all new set of vocal tracks, the song is radically transformed into an edgy, gritty pop-punk single worthy of Lovato’s latest musical era.
Hayley Kiyoko, “Greenlight”
Hayley Kiyoko is tired of waiting for permission to live her life — so she’s giving herself the “Greenlight” on her latest single. Co-written with pop luminary Jesse St. John, the new track from Lesbian Jesus keeps her streak of life-affirming pop singles alive, playing with delicious falsetto while accompanied by stacked synths and a steady bass line. Be warned, though; once you press play, you’ll “wanna keep goin’ and goin’,” as Kiyoko says.
Towa Bird, “Boomerang”
Living in a long distance relationship is maddening, as rising singer-guitarist Towa Bird can attest. On her latest single “Boomerang,” Bird agonizes about the “separation anxiety” of being in L.A. with a girlfriend in New York — sure, she knows she’ll see her soon, but that doesn’t make the time in between any easier. Punctuated with some excellent garage-rock sounds, and you’ve got a theme song for the frustration of loving long distance on your hands.
Miya Folick, Roach
To say that Miya Folick’s new album Roach is about any one thing in particular is to largely miss the point of its construction. With this wide-ranging, often-chaotic sophmore album, the alt-pop singer instead takes a scattershot approach when it comes to subject matter — whether that’s serene self-reflection (“So Clear,”) bitter anger (“Cockroach”) or familial dynamics (“Mommy”). The most consistent thing about this extensive project is the top-tier quality, keeping you invested for the entirety of its 42-minute runtime.
Cat Burns, “You Don’t Love Me Anymore”
There are a plethora of reasons why a relationship might end — Cat Burns is simply asking her ex to give her one. On “You Don’t Love Me Anymore,” the UK up-and-comer begs her former lover to “list all my baggage,” or “drag my ego to the floor” rather than use the song’s dreaded title when describing why their relationship has to end. It’s a heartbreaking song made even more gutwrenching by how endlessly relatable it is.
Royal & the Serpent, “One Nation Underdogs”
If you’re planning on protesting the seemingly endless onslaught of anti-LGBTQ bills being proposed around the country this Pride Month, then Royal & the Serpent has just the song to soundtrack your demonstration. “One Nation Underdogs” speaks directly to our current dark moment in history, throwing a defiant middle finger in the face of right-wing politicians, offering this grinning kiss-off in response to their attacks: “There’s more of us and less of you/ We’re the future where you fell off.”
Jeffrey Eli, “Sleeping Beauty”
If you somehow haven’t heard Jeffrey Eli’s haunting voice on TikTok, now is the time to remedy that situation. With his latest release “Sleeping Beauty,” Eli claims his space and plays with the fluidity of his ridiculous range to drive home a point. Examining his own childhood, Eli deconstructs the gender binary right before our eyes — and the moment he’s done so, you’ll realize that the music followed perfectly along the journey, building into a glorious explosion of sound. Seriously, if you haven’t listened to Jeffrey Eli, stop reading this and go listen.
Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist below:
Leave it to Lil Nas X to find the most hilarious way to smack down the conservative freakout over Target’s Pride Month products. Days after the mega-retailer removed or moved some Pride merch following backlash from conservative activists and media — which reportedly included some threats against the safety of its workers — the “That’s What I Want” rapper clowned the criticism with a hysterical tweet of his own parodying the tempest in aisle 20.
“Can’t believe target is supporting this nonsense, im never shopping there again, my son is not ‘too cool for school’ these shirts are ridiculous,” Lil Nas joked in a post that did not specifically mention the backlash, but instead alluded to it using the his signature arch comedic voice. “He is going to school and he WILL learn.”
In the midst of a wave of conservative legislation targeting the LGBTQ community — from bills restricting attendance at drag shows to laws banning gender-affirming treatment for transgender minors and adults — Target became the latest business to come under scrutiny after outrage from right-wing media over some of its pride products. According to NBC News, some Target customers posted TikTok videos showing Target Pride merch displays that had been moved to less visible locations, including in the back of some stores.
On Tuesday (May 23), a Target spokesperson told NBC News the company had “offered an assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month” for more than a decade. But since rolling out this year’s collection, “we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and wellbeing while at work.”
“Given these volatile circumstances,” the spokesperson added, “we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior. Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.”
After Target rolled out some of this year’s products for June’s Pride Month — which includes rainbow tops, tees that read “Trans People Will Always Exist” and more — it reportedly began to get pushback on items from the LGBTQ brand Abprallen, which offers items featuring “spooky, gothic imagery, such as skulls and Satan, in pastel colors.” The AP reported that among the items conservatives were outraged about was a “tuck-friendly” women’s swimsuit that allows adult trans women to hide their genitalia.
One tweet showed a man tossing a Pride display to the ground and stomping on it. Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson reacted to the latest culture war firestorm with a tweet featuring a dire warning: “Extremist groups want to divide us and ultimately don’t just want rainbow products to disappear, they want us to disappear.”
In April, transgender actor-activist Dylan Mulvaney reacted to a Fox News story over Bud Light sending one-off, not-for-sale commemorative cans to Mulvaney that spurred musicians Kid Rock, Travis Tritt and John Rich to swear off the popular brew.
“I think it’s OK to be frustrated with someone or confused, but what I’m struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel. I just, I don’t think that’s right. Dehumanization has never fixed anything in history, ever,” said Mulvaney, 26, in a video to her 13 million followers. After describing her childhood in a conservative family and in the church, Mulvaney said she still had faith, but that it’s been a struggle to hold on to it in the midst of attacks that reminded her of similar criticism she faced as a child for being “too feminine.”
“Now I’m being called all those same things, but this time it’s from other adults,” she said. “And if they’re going to accuse me of anything, it should be that I’m a theater person and that I’m camp. But this is just my personality and it always has been.”
See Lil Nas’ tweet mocking outrage over Target’s Pride Month products below.
can’t believe target is supporting this nonsense, im never shopping there again, my son is not “too cool for school” these shirts are ridiculous. he is going to school and he WILL learn.— pussy (@LilNasX) May 25, 2023
