We close things out with some Pride Month music picks. If you missed the movie list, you can find it here. The TV list can be found here. And the book list is here.
This one will be organized based on style and genre. I’m primarily an album listener, so my picks are albums, but I’ll also mention other works by the artist if they seem relevant.
Americana and Country
White Trash Revelry, Adeem the Artist, 2022
Adeem is a precise singer/songwriter with songs about all the standard Americana ideas mixed with queerness. They have an understated style that packs a thematic punch. This album is a must-listen for music fans, country or otherwise.
Diamond, EmiSunshine, 2022
I can’t tell for sure if Emi is queer (and really, that’s perfectly fine) but some of the songs on this album—like “Josephine,” “Teo and Tedora” and “Dandelion”—certainly are. It’s spunky folk rock, a refreshing listen. And with Emi about to turn 19, we can hope that she’ll be around making kick-ass music for a long time to come.
Expectations, Katie Pruitt, 2020
I am impatiently waiting for the follow-up to this one, because this album is excellent. Mostly ballads, it maps a lot of quiet emotional corners of the soul onto stirring country music. Songs like “Normal” and “Loving Her” are particular queer highlights, but the whole album is excellent.
By the Way, I Forgive You, Brandi Carlile, 2018
I’m not sure there’s any Carlile album that’s more or less queer than any other, so I’ll just pick this one as it’s still her best. She’s really a groundbreaking figure for Americana in the 2010s as one of its most acclaimed voices and one of its still too few lesbian and queer voices. Her most queer song, though, is probably “If She Ever Leaves Me” from The Highwomen (2019) collaboration.
Hip-Hop/Rap
I Lie Here Buried with My Rings and My Dresses, Backxwash, 2021
Backxwash is a trans rapper whose music is so heavy I almost put it in the metal/experimental category. But wherever you place her, this music is worth your time. It has a lot to say about queerness and its intersection with Black identity and religious trauma. She spoiled us with a new album in 2020, 2021, and in 2022, and they’re all more than worth your time.
DAMAG3, DAMAG3, 2022
This is a friend of mine, so I’m biased, but also their music kicks ass. This is a very personal album connecting skits and experiences with songs. At times it does get a little bogged down in some of the skits (in my opinion), but the musical highs are well worth it. Also check out singles like “DOUBL3 TAK3” and “G3NOCID3.” And be on watch for whatever else they have coming out soon.
Everything Is Beautiful / Everything Sucks, Princess Nokia, 2020
She graced listeners with two great albums on the shorter side back in 2020. I think they work great as one cohesive whole. It’s been a while since I listened to this project, so I don’t remember specifics, but I remember really enjoying it and thinking that it was a good deal better than a lot of the queer rap I’d heard.
Herstory in the Making, Young M.A, 2019
Slotting neatly into the trap aesthetics of the late 2010s, Young M.A just makes catchy, queer bops that center female experience and pleasure. There’s nothing too deep here, but I always have a good time jamming to this album.
Indie Rock
(This is a loose and unstable genre; I’m just going based on my Spotify playlists)
The Record, boygenius, 2023
The supergroup of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker called their major joint effort “The Record” and then delivered on that lofty aspiration. You’d have to seriously be living under a rock to have not heard it at this point if you are an indie rock fan, but yeah, it’s worth the hype.
Home Video, Lucy Dacus, 2021
Speaking of Lucy Dacus, her solo project deserves a shout-out too. Songs like “Hot & Heavy” and “VBS” in particular tap into a particular kind of 2000s queer existence that really speaks to me (and many other fans).
Punisher, Phoebe Bridgers, 2020
And you knew this album had to be here. It’s one of the best of the decade so far, turning specific experiences and ideas into sprawling concepts that sound universal.
Preacher’s Kid, Semler, 2021
Semler has a discography that basically exclusively made for church kids who are now queer, and that’s me! And every song on this brisk album—”Bethlehem,” “Jesus from Texas,” “Youth Group”—hits straight in the childhood in the best way possible. Just listen to it. You’ll be glad you did.
Metal/Experimental
Transgender Dysphoria Blues, Against Me!, 2014
This is an album of gnarly transgender punk rock. I’m not sure what more one needs. (I could probably put this in rock but it has some similarities with other bands in this section, so I’m putting it here).
Peaceful as Hell, Black Dresses, 2020 (and also all Black Dresses projects, really)
It’s very difficult to describe the sound of this band. It’s sort of like glitchy hyperpop but if it was actually rock kind of? Either way, it’s excellent, and super duper queer. Give it a shot. It’s not for everyone, but if it is for you then you might have found your new favorite thing.
Origin of the Alimonies, Liturgy, 2020
Another trans artist making amazing and hard to characterize music. This style is definitely something kind of like Black metal, but the lead singer’s mind does everything with a great deal of philosophical purpose. And, as with Black Dresses, you really can’t go wrong with anything Liturgy has done.
As a final pick for this category, there’s Xiu Xiu. The lead singer is bisexual and queer, and the music is too in a very jagged and jarring way. It’s a dense catalogue (one I still have to make my way through), but I would recommend starting with Plays the Music of Twin Peaks in which the band, well, covers the music of Twin Peaks. It’s amazing. Girl with Basket of Fruit is also a good one.
Pop
(several of these will be the hard-to-explain genre hyperpop, which you can read about here)
The Kick series, Arca, 2021
Arca could have gone under the previous category, too, but her music is often a little bit more pop than those others. It’s still very jarring with a lot of sharp edges, but give it a shot.
Emotion, Carly Rae Jepsen, 2015 (and all other albums, too)
Carly isn’t, to my knowledge, queer herself, but I also don’t know many queer people that don’t love her music. It’s great pop music with just a flavor, kind of like with some projects of Charli XCX, that feels like it should be on this list.
My Agenda (Deluxe), Dorian Electra, 2021
The embodiment of hyperpop, I think this deluxe version of Dorian’s earlier album is their peak to date, while also being maybe the most comprehensive “yep, that’s hyperpop” album to date, too. And most of remixes are excellent.
Expectations, Hayley Kiyoko, 2018
These picks aren’t all the glitchy weirdness of hyperpop. Hayley delivers a straightforward pop album that’s also just really queer and romantic. “Curious” and “Sleepover” are among the lesbian anthems you need in your life. An easy-going pop gem of an album.
Dawn of Chromatica, Lady Gaga, 2021
Lady Gaga is an obvious pick for this list, and while I love the Fame Monster era, I think this project—which goes full hyperpop—is even better, and criminally underrated and ignored. It blows the original Chromatica out of the water IMO.
Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides, SOPHIE, 2018
All the other albums on this list—and that includes most of the other genres, too—owe a debt to this album, the most complete SOPHIE project we got in her tragically short life. The mark that this left on the world of queer music cannot be overstated. It turns 5 years old in the middle of June, and if you’ve read this far on the list and somehow haven’t heard it, you definitely need to change that.
Let’s Hope the Heteros Fail, Learn and Retire, Alice Longyu Gao, 2023
My last pick for this section is a tight 20-minute hyperpop EP that’s probably my favorite project of 2023 so far. Seriously, read that title. That’s all you need to know. It’s just excellent.
I want to close things out with a few rock-ish picks from artists you’ve surely heard of as they are queer music icons. But some of my favorite projects of theirs aren’t as well known, so I wanted to mention them here.
I’ll start with Elton John (also, watch his biopic movie Rocketman if you haven’t). Elton John has a ton of great albums, but I’m partial to Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. It doesn’t have the hits, but it has some of his most outlandish and wild songs.
Next up is Prince. Purple Rain and Sign O’ The Times are, of course, great, but I also love the short raunchy collection that is Dirty Mind, an album that certainly lives up to the name.
And finally, we can’t do a four-part survey of queer media without mentioning David Bowie (I haven’t seen Moonage Daydream yet or I might have mentioned that in the film guide), so I give him the last word. And I give that last word to the very queer early masterpiece Hunky Dory.
And that is it! Please use and share these guides around. It took a lot of time and energy to put them together. I’ll be back soon to talk about David Lynch movies and then probably do a follow-up to this when Pride Month has come and gone.
Remember that Pride and queerness are inherently anti-capitalist, that forces of patriarchy trap and limit us all, and that trans people need you to be as incensed about anti-trans legislation as they are. This year Pride is a celebration but also very much a battle cry.
