The Soundtrack To Your Gloriously Gay Summer!
(written in June, plucked up the courage to release into the world in late August)
What a time to be a queer pop music lover. Every time I hear Billie Eilish sing “I could eat that girl for lunch”, which let’s be honest is currently dozens of times per day, I want to shriek with delight. WHAT A BOP. On any measure Billie’s ‘Lunch’ is a certified banger. But it is also a glorious addition to the rapidly growing gay pop music canon. A canon I have been following closely for years. A canon I wish had existed when I was younger. A canon I’m so fucking grateful exists now. SO, in honour of Billie, ‘Lunch’ and all the pop girls, gays and theys I have made the ultimate playlist for soundtracking your gloriously gay summer. You’re welcome!
I should probably mention that I wrote the substance of this piece in June - it was intended to be a Pride month offering - but then I got too nervous to share it! As I was scrolling through my notes app this weekend I came across it again and re-read it. I was delighted to find I wasn’t horrified by it (lol). It’s also quite fun to look back on what I thought was noteworthy in the landscape of queer pop music back in those early days of summer!
‘Red Wine Supernova’, Chappell Roan
ALL HAIL CHAPPELL ROAN. Chappell has been doing the work for queer pop music for years with very little mainstream recognition. She’s now having a moment (hey ‘Good Luck Babe’) and seems poised for a main pop girl summer (June 2024 Ash CALLED IT, well done babe!) RWS speaks for itself in terms of its gay girl summer credentials. A playful, sexy & hilarious bop including the campy queer AF opening lines “She was a Playboy, Brigitte Bardot, She showed me things I didn’t know, She did it right there, out on the deck, Put her canine teeth in the side of my neck”. And that’s before we even get to Chappell’s wand and her rabbit!
‘Silk Chiffon’, MUNA & Phoebe Bridgers
SILK!!!!! A gay girl anthem. This song is pure, unadulterated queer joy. I love every syllable of every word of every line. I hear it and I FEEL my fucking self. Because life really is so fun, I’ve put two versions of this song in the playlist: the original AND the live version recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York which, whilst it sadly doesn’t have Phoebe, does have MUNA’s Naomi singing Phoebe’s verse and is a far too rare example of their gorgeous singing voice.
‘This Hell’, Rina Sawayama
This song queers so many references - “cos the devil’s wearing Prada and loves a little drama” - and is so effective in its reclamation of the homophobic slur about gays going to hell I actually can’t wait for someone to refer to me as bitch, ask me to pass the wine and then take me straight to hell. A Shania Twain reference, a boot stomping beat and an insatiably proud singalong every time I hear it, this song will be on every summer playlist I make for the rest of my gay little life. The recent Gyarupi Remix feat. CHANMINA is gorgeous and also on the playlist because why have one version of a song when you can have two?
‘Pussy Is God’, King Princess
A song so sapphic and so sexy it’s definitely one my ex-boyfriend was referring to when he remarked that he did actually listen to the ‘gay music’ I played constantly and maybe it was something we needed to talk about. Spoiler alert: we had the chat and here I am writing my gay little list of my gay little songs! Growing up in the 90s/00s the best lesbian representation on offer was Tatu’s ‘All The Things She Said’ or maybe Katy Perry’s ‘I Kissed A Girl’ (both of which I absolutely loved, obviously), but it’s clear sapphic representation is now in a whole different league. A song about sapphics worshipping pussy, “you know that it’s God baby when you’re around her, I’ve been praying for hours”. Thank fuck we have it now.
‘Born This Way’, Lady Gaga
QUEER POP CANON. Back when BTW was released I listened to it and connected to it from a sort of fledgling self-love perspective. I felt that it celebrated my (and everyone’s!) difference, at a time when I felt deeply ashamed of my body and myself, and spent hundreds of hours jumping around my bedroom screaming “I’m beautiful in my way cos God makes no mistakes” whilst trying to convince myself that being different was ok, maybe even cool, cos Gaga said so.
In recent years I’ve re-fallen for this song as I’ve softened and let go of the need for everything to be perfect. Yes, we have come so far from the “born this way” mentality as there has been more mainstream understanding of sexual and gender fluidity and at the same time, Gaga shouting “No matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgender life, I’m on the right track baby, I was born to survive” in 2011 was INCREDIBLE. For Pride month last year I immersed myself in the MANY remixes of this song and I’ve added my favourite to the playlist along with the original. I’ve also learnt a new fact about BTW (the album, not the song) that remarkably I wasn’t aware of until now, it was released on MY 23rd BIRTHDAY (23rd May) in 2011! In the Eras style introduction to my life I can now open with, hi my name is Ash and I was born in 1989… AND Born This Way, the album by Lady Gaga, was released on my 23rd birthday. Hahaha.
‘Girls Like Girls’ & ‘Sleepover’, Hayley Kiyoko
If the gay pop music canon was hierarchical Lesbian Jesus (aka Hayley Kiyoko) would sit high amongst the leadership ranks. Hayley paved the way for so many of the queer artists on this list, singing openly about loving women back when the gay pop music canon was CONSIDERABLY smaller. It’s impossible to choose only one song by Hayley and so I’ve whacked in two of my faves. Girls Like Girls is LESBIAN POP CANON and I’m convinced there isn’t a queer person alive who doesn’t have memories of the confusion, desire and love felt at sleepovers throughout their life!
‘Loveher’ & ‘She’s On My Mind’, Romy
Mid Air - Romy’s debut album - opens with ‘Loveher’ and closes with ‘She’s On My Mind’, a deliciously queer sandwich for a deliciously queer album. What I feel when I hear these songs is so beautiful and expansive whilst at the same time there is deep sadness and grief. I am reminded that for so many years I simply didn’t have the language to describe queer joy (I hadn’t even heard the words), let alone feel it. Every song on this list describes feelings I’ve felt my whole life but not known how to articulate. These two Romy tracks especially have helped understand myself deeper and guided me towards SO MUCH joy in my queerness.
‘The Wedding Song’, Reneé Rapp
I LOVE THIS SONG. When the chorus hits it really does feel like flyin’ and I am here to soar every damn day with Reneé. A love song AND a heartbreak anthem all in one. I’ve just asked google to tell me about the meaning of this song and learnt that it really is Reneé trying to remember a forgotten song she wrote whilst with an ex, which is a pretty unique origin story for a song!
‘Pineapple Slice’, Tove Lo
Please can we all agree to put bicon Tove Lo’s Pineapple Slice in every Pride playlist we make for the rest of time?! Everything about this song is perfection. Sexy AF (it’s Tove!) this song makes me blush a little haha. It’s tricky to choose only one Tove song for a queer playlist but I have been strict with myself because otherwise we’d end up with Tove’s entire discography on our hands (a situation you can and absolutely must put yourself in ASAP)!
‘Cruel Summer’, G Flip covering Taylor Swift
I live for the gay panic this cover unleashed earlier this year as we all realised that G did, they ACTUALLY DID sing “SHE looks up, grinnin’ like a devil!” Trust G to bring the gloriously gay to the Tay. A wonderful cover of an incredible song. If you’re interested in the wider world of queer Taylor covers THIS is a fun read.
‘Girls’, Girl in Red
‘Do you listen to Girl In Red?’ is one of my all time favourite sapphic references. Urban dictionary describes this question as, “A discreet way of asking a girl if she likes girls/is gay. Inspired by the iconic lesbian musician Girl In Red. Because if she listens to Girl In Red, she is most likely LGBT”. I have spent years of my life yearning to this song because girls in button up shirts really are so pretty it hurts.
‘Blow Out My Candle’ & ‘I Can Be Your Man’, Betty Who
I LOVE YOU ALWAYS FOREVER BETTY WHO. Betty’s self titled album (their most recent) is the first of theirs I’ve consumed in real time, single by single and as it was rolled out. It’s a fucking great album and these are two of my favourite tracks from it. It’s also the album that really made me realise that what I felt for Betty was very much that I want to BE them, rather than be WITH them, that classic dilemma! Something I find so incredible about Betty and so many queer artists is how they take us with them on their beautiful journeys as they learn more about their queerness and themselves, sharing and evolving and growing right in front of our eyes. Watching and cheering for someone else as they do this makes it seem like people in my life might cheer for me as I evolve too.
Signing off with the gloriously gay summer playlist itself for your listening pleasure… ENJOY!