With queer visibility and acceptance on steady rise, pressure for LGBTQ musicians to maintain a "universally relatable" (aka straight) image in order to appeal to a mainstream audience remains. Luckily, an increasing number of artists are starting their careers by actively avoiding that trap.
The impact this has on fans, particularly young, LGBTQ fans, cannot be overstated. These six artists may create music that's hard to compare, but they share a fearlessness to harness their passions to challenge heteronormativity in their careers. And they're making it that much easier for the next wave of artists to follow suit.
Scroll through to meet the Pride50 music honorees...
5. King Princess
There still aren’t a ton of overtly queer love songs out there, but don’t blame King Princess, aka Mikaela Straus. The Brooklynn-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist doesn’t mince her words. Her breakthrough single “1950” offered a story of distinctly queer love, and followup tracks like “Talia” and “Pussy Is God” only cemented her place as an artist with much to offer straight and queer fans alike. King Princess released her debut full-length, “Cheap Queen”, in 2019, earning a spot on the Top 20 of the Billboard Top Alternative Albums chart.
Reminding fans and fellow artists you don’t have to conform to anyone else’s standards to find success, here’s the title track from “Cheap Queen”:
balttymore
Orville Peck is easy to figure out who he is…And he has nudes online
whateverokok
Funny. All this talk about queer artists being themselves, not compromising, and achieving success, yet no one mentioned Rufus Wainwright who was doing this before these kids were in diapers. These are more or less been there done that.
nm4047
Rufus was one of a couple, but ask a young person is they know, who is Rufus Wainwright? Apart from a couple possibly knowing his work etc, most wouldn’t have a clue. The context of this article was influence on ‘young’ people.
cliche guevara
Yeah and Gary Floyd, Randy Turner, Jayne County, Darby Crash, Pat Smear and Roddy Bottum all predate Wainwright. So by your count he was also been there done that. Or we can continue to celebrate queer musicians instead of bashing them for not being the one you like.
whateverokok
That may be, but Rufus must of had an effect on young people when he got started. Besides, his story is one that young people need to hear. Might prevent so many from getting hooked on Tina.
justgeo
Emily —– meh average girl!