Openly gay artists like Lil Nas X top Billboard charts, and musical subcultures like queercore have emerged. “Being gay isn’t counterculture anymore, it’s culture,” Buckmaster says. One of many contradictions in our current political climate is how there is now greater representation of sexual minorities in popular culture at the exact same time our civil liberties are being dismantled. Of course, queer and so-called mainstream cultures are constantly evolving. I feel safe with pretty blonde girls singing to me about boys, because I also like boys! That’s easier and safer than a radical queer singing, like, ‘Drone Bomb Me.’ That’s much scarier.” “There’s also this age-old thing of little young queer boys and their girl best friends - they understand each other,” Simon adds. For generations of LGBTQ music fans turned clubgoers, pop music provided communal catharsis.
“It’s catchy! It’s a team of producers that know how to write a beat that’s easy to dance to.”Īnd with gay people essentially forced underground for the majority of human history, women singing passionately about unrequited love became a proxy for unfulfilled gay desire. “I grew up with Britney and Christina there was overt sexuality, there was feminism,” says Simon. Lady Simon, a Brooklyn club kid and DJ, thinks nostalgia is a factor.
