bop after bop

Lil Nas X’s shining moment, Alaska’s true colors & more: Your weekly bop roundup

Welcome to the weekend, readers! Time to leave your worries behind and just chill out. Monday-you can deal with those.

It’s been a revealing week! The boys in particular have really been opening up: Greyson Chance opened up about his time with Ellen, Colton Haynes opened up and let the girls breathe, and Adam Levine… well, he didn’t open up voluntarily, but it’s surely all hanging out now.

The guys in music have been putting it all out there this week, too. Some with confessional lyrical stylings, and some by just putting on their Saturday shoes and cutting footloose.

From hotel rooms to feel-good tunes, here’s your weekly bop roundup:

“Star Walkin'” by Lil Nas X

However much League of Legends paid for this partnership/endorsement/collaboration, Lil Nas X deserves a lil tip. He’s had that “Been that ***** since I came out my mama” snippet running the TikTok sound arena for weeks, and for good reason. Even with the price tag hanging off the track, when it slaps, it slaps. Those little League nerds better go crazy when he plays this at the Worlds open later this month.

“All That She Wants” by Alaska 5000

Ace of Base? All red everything? Bosco’s whole entire posterior out? Alaska came on this video set ready to check boxes we didn’t even know were on the list. It turns out that dragging this song up meant putting a lot more bass in that Ace, and it works. Alaska’s reclamation of ’90s and y2k sounds throughout her new Red 4 Filth album are so effective at spinning periods of queer suppression into ones of celebration, and having her Drag Race sister gyrate to this thumping beat certainly fits the bill.

“Sad Songs in a Hotel Room” by Joshua Bassett

You know, we as gay people, we get to choose to call a mid-tempo ballad a bop, especially when it’s coming from this egregiously charming little Disney prince. Between a teen divorce album, health problems, and a weirdly received coming out moment, Mr. Bassett has been taking it these past couple years. As much as this song and the EP of the same name share in that melancholy, they also sound like an acceptance, a breathing out. Very “you get to exhale now, Simon” teas. There’s not an exact closure in this titular song, but its head-bobbing reminiscence makes for a good listen.

“Faith in Me” by David Archuleta

David Archuleta went through his Therapy Sessions, then through his coming out, and now seems ready to just cut loose and have some fun. The track is full of feel-good danceability, and the video is serving cute teen movie complete with Breakfast Club dance moves in 10 Things I Hate About You football stands. The fact that it’s directed by Kevin McHale and former NLT bandmate Justin Thorne just adds an extra layer of cute guy spice to it all. Also, the cuffed jeans and high tops? Fully realized bisexuality right there.

“In My Head” performed by Joe Serafini & Andrew Barth Feldman

It was a tumultuous process deciding whether to include a double dose of HSM:TM:TS cast member songs on this list or not. Then I realized that this duet actually constitutes a triple dose, which therefore makes it all even out. PEMDAS or something, I’m not a scientist.

Anyways, this is the sweetest pop broadway mutual gay crush tune you’ll hear for a minute. Writers Smith & Mertzlufft are offering a balm to everyone who heard “For Forever” and thought for just a moment that Dear Evan Hansen would be cute and fruity, and the adorable vocalists did what needed to be done. A little ambitiously melismatic towards the end, but who would fault tenors for being tenors?

Join us back here next week for another bop after bop!

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