CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
Scroll To Top
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
7 Queer Artists Who Rocked Our Summer
LP
The out alt-rocker LP is clearly ecstatic to be back at music festivals, celebrating the "beautiful, extra things in life that we don't consider extra sometimes, but like, it truly is." She performed her latest song, "Goodbye," which shows LP trying to "work on my own shit, be my own therapist in a way." In her time as an out queer woman, LP has learned there's no use trying to control what other people do or say because "that shit doesn't belong to you. You're going to die. The planet is burning up, like, nothing belongs to you." There's something liberating about the thought. If everything's made up, why not invent yourself in whatever image you want, as LP suggests. "You have every right to be you and to be here and to be how you are," she says. "We made it up, like money, so just make yourself up."
Orville Peck
For country star Orville Peck, being back at live events after the year and a half we've had was "exciting and thrilling and beautiful and touching. And it's also scary and nerve-racking." The out musician has always found freedom in his songs. "Music and creativity and art and performing was a world where I felt absolutely free to be myself," he says. "The idea of having to hide who I am in that world never made sense to me. If someone tells me I'm not allowed or welcomed somewhere, you better believe I'm going to be welcomed there. It firmly makes me realize that I belong even more so and that it's more important that I make myself visible and stand up proudly, and so it keeps me going. I don't think of it as an obstacle. I think of it as motivation."
Sarah Barrios
"Thank God you introduced me to your sister," Sarah Barrios sings with a wink and a smile as she seduces some guy's hotter sibling in the song of that title. The rising pop-punk star says she "definitely has impostor syndrome singing" the track, but that doesn't make the fantasy any less real for many bisexual women out there. Barrios shares that she "came out in the middle of the pandemic" and thought she'd "feel so confident and I'll be the most me I've ever been -- it'll be like a switch that flips." She was wrong. "I'm still anxious and I'm still depressed, and I still can't talk to women," but her music is the outlet to dive into fantasies decked out in a multicolored pastel vest. The 26-year-old invents the "coolest version of herself," which is more than just a relatable concept for many LGBTQ+ people. Who doesn't want to be that girl? "We can be sexy and sad at the same time," Barrios laughs.
Jake Wesley Rogers
"I didn't really know how much I missed it until I stepped onstage," says Jake Wesley Rogers. "Then I was like, Oh, this is what I'm here to do." The singer-songwriter can't help but be his beautiful self, whether in his personal piano-driven pop songs or wearing stained-glass-styled wings onstage. Missouri-born and -raised, Rogers says he gets his power from Stevie Nicks, Lady Gaga, and Sheryl Crow (his big three), and knows the power he and his predecessors wield. "Art changes people's mindsets," he reflects. Light bursts from the 24-year-old's spirit and shines fiercely through his music. "Whatever room you're in, you're the sun," he says. "People need you to be who you are."
Cavetown
Lockdown gave Cavetown a break to make his latest record, Man's Best Friend, the way he loves to work -- in solitude. The soft-spoken, socially anxious 22-year-old keeps to himself in real life but finds freedom in his quiet bedroom pop that's brought to life by guitar strums and hushed melodies. "It was such an authentic process for me," the English singer-songwriter says. "I actually got to do it how I would usually do it at home and take my time with these songs and didn't feel nearly as much pressure to meet deadlines." That space and freedom birthed "some of my favorite songs I've ever written," he adds. Following his recent journey coming out as trans to the world, Cavetown is still figuring out his place as a public figure but advises all LGBTQ+ folks coming into their own to "just be patient with yourself. Be forgiving. Be your own friend. It's easy to beat yourself up about stuff."
Amorphous
Amorphous found his groove over quarantine. The 23-year-old producer shared remixes over Twitter and TikTok, mashing up hits from Rihanna and Luther Vandross, for example, to create the unexpected. At Lollapalooza he stepped into the spotlight. His debut EP, Things Take Shape, is a melange of icons, assembling bops from Kehlani, CeCe Peniston, Kelly Rowland, and one of his favorites, Brandy. "To be in the room with her, to get so much advice and love from her.... She told me to my face, 'Jimir, you're an incredible soul, you're a legend in the making.' It's been an incredible experience," he says. Having gone from being outed and bullied in school to celebrated among his idols, the rising star advises, "Trust yourself. Life is too short to live for anyone else."
mxmtoon
Singer-songwriter mxmtoon knows she's changing the face of indie music. "It's been weird to subvert people's expectations," she says. "I didn't have anybody to look up to when I was growing up. I never saw a bisexual, mixed-race Asian person." The 21-year-old hopes her presence will be part of the shift that needs to happen in the music industry. "I'm a very small step in a larger mission that needs to take place. If you can see yourself in the stories being told in the mainstream realm of pop culture and music, that makes it possible for you to think about, How can I also exist in that space?"
Latest Stories
Go green with envy with 70 pics from Sidetrack Chicago's St. Patrick's Day party
March 28 2024 6:06 PM
Unleash your Winter Party 2024 cravings with these 30+ pics from last year
February 15 2024 3:54 PM
21+ steamy photos of Scotland’s finest gay men in Elska Glasgow
February 01 2024 10:07 PM
2024 Primetime Emmys: LGBTQ+ celebs who walked the red carpet
January 15 2024 8:17 PM
25 pics of hot, shirtless celebs just to remind us of warmer weather
January 14 2024 10:47 AM
20 LGBTQ+ movies coming out in 2024 that we can't wait to see
January 13 2024 2:21 PM
Golden Globes 2024: Take a look at the LGBTQ+ celebs who walked the red carpet
January 07 2024 8:29 PM
10 of the Best and Steamiest Queer Sex Scenes of 2023
December 30 2023 3:03 PM
14 Steamy Photos From Fetish Gras San Diego 2023
December 29 2023 3:25 PM
20+ Pics to Celebrate Miami Dreamland NYE Party with Trixie Mattel
December 27 2023 4:07 PM
16 Gay NFL Cheerleaders We Are Happy To Cheer On
December 24 2023 11:52 AM
59 Steamy Sidetrack Chicago Santa Speedo Run Pics for Holiday Enjoyment
December 23 2023 9:33 PM
Our Picks For the 15 Best LGBTQ+ Movies of 2023
December 22 2023 10:32 AM
You'll Never Guess Which Countries Had the Most Tops, Bottoms, Verses & Sides in 2023
December 20 2023 6:03 PM
10 Drag Queens Who Absolutely Conquered 2023, Long May They Reign
December 13 2023 6:54 PM
These Are the 5 States With the Smallest Percentage of LGBTQ+ People
December 13 2023 9:15 AM
These 20 Celebs Have The Best Booties In The Business According To Science
December 12 2023 6:06 PM
Trending stories
Most Recent
Recommended Stories for You
Taylor Henderson
Pop culture nerd living in LA. When Taylor's not obsessively tweeting about Beyonce or Katy Perry, he's probably eating or working on his first YA novel.
Pop culture nerd living in LA. When Taylor's not obsessively tweeting about Beyonce or Katy Perry, he's probably eating or working on his first YA novel.