Graphic by Everett Vereen.
ODYSSEY Media Group Visuals Staffer Katie Grace Upchurch runs through six current LGBTQ singers and musicians in honor on October being LGBTQ History Month.
Amandla Stenberg
Actor Amandla Stenberg is best known for starring in a number of films like “Everything, Everything” and “As You Are.” Less known is her work as a solo artist and her EP and album with her folk duo, Honeywater. Recently, Stenberg covered Mac DeMarco’s “Let My Baby Stay” which was used in her movie “Everything, Everything”. Stenberg is bisexual, and has often spoken on the fluidity of gender. “I tend to believe that gender as we’ve set it up in current-day society doesn’t actually exist,” Stenberg said in an interview with People Magazine. “I’ve said before that I’m comfortable with using the pronouns ‘they’ or ‘them’ alongside ‘she’ and ‘her’ just because that’s a conversation that’s important to me.” In addition to discussing LGBTQ issues, Stenberg frequently speaks on race, gender and intersectionality.
Frank Ocean
R&B/hip-hop singer-songwriter Frank Ocean came out in an open letter he wrote and posted on Tumblr in 2012. In the letter, Ocean wrote about the first time he fell in love, and his experiences as a queer person. As one of the first mainstream artists to come out in a genre that is historically homophobic, his letter has stood as an inspiration for people in minority and LGBTQ communities. His album, “Blonde”, was released in 2016 after a four-year hiatus and features vocals from André 3000 and Beyoncé. Since, he has released multiple singles including “Chanel”, a song which makes references to Chanel’s founder and infamous double-C logo and has been interpreted as a representation of the sexual fluidity. “My guy pretty like a girl / And he got fight stories to tell / I see both sides like Chanel / See on both sides like Chanel.”
Hayley Kiyoko
Hayley Kiyoko is an Asian-American singer-songwriter and actress, who was most recently in the Netflix original, “XOXO“. Kiyoko has been making music and acting since she was 6 years old. She has released three solo EPs, “This Side Of Paradise” (February 2015) and “Sleepover” (March 2017). Her breakout song, “Girls Like Girls”, was released in 2015 and was the beginning of a change in Kiyoko’s music. In an interview from 2016, Kiyoko told Paper Magazine, “Growing up, everything I did was always about girls. I took dance because of girls. I got involved in student council because of girls. Not that I ever expected any of them to like me back, but I just felt comforted being around them, even if I could never date them. So there we were. The song ‘Girls like Girls’ was born. I imagined a very emotional, heart-wrenching, but real music video to go along with the song. When we shot the music video for ‘Girls like Girls,’ I felt like I was finally telling my story for the first time.”
Kevin Abstract
Kevin Abstract is an R&B/hip-hop singer-songwriter and film director from Corpus Christi, Texas. At the age of 17, he released his first album, “MTV1987”, and has since released one more solo album, “American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story”, along with the three albums with the artist collective and “the internet’s first boy band”, BROCKHAMPTON. Abstract started BROCKHAMPTON with friends in 2014 when he was 18 and it has grown into a group of musicians, rappers, producers and directors. In Abstract’s words, “I think what we’re doing hasn’t really ever been done before because on one end, we’re a boy band and on the other end, we’re like this media company/ad agency. Also, we want to be record label. So I’ve never really seen anything truly like it.”
Abstract’s music chronicles his experiences growing up at the intersection of being queer and black with lyrics like, “A broken heart led me to you / She said ‘I’m seeing through you’ / And this before I knew you, way before I knew you” from his song “Papercut”.
Shura
English electropop singer-songwriter Shura aims to make music that balances being a representation of her everyday life while also bringing visibility to the LGBTQ community. Shura grew up in Manchester, England and began playing guitar at the age of 13, recording by 16. She has released numerous singles over the years, and one album which came out July 2016, titled “Nothing’s Real”. Shura is a proud of her identity as a gay woman, making music about her life and experiences, but she believes that should not mean her identity overshadows the rest of her.
In an interview with The Guardian, Shura said, “Suddenly, this one question where I’m asked directly about my sexuality, and give an honest answer, becomes the headline. If you’re purporting to be supporting gay rights and gay people, then by taking this one answer and sensationalising it, and making it clickbait, you’re doing the exact opposite of what it is you say you’re trying to do. You’re making it a tabloid story,” she continues. “Someone will say, ‘Shura’s album is about being a gay woman in London.’ Umm. I feel like my album’s just about me. I am a gay woman, and I live in London… It’s not about being a gay woman in London.”
Taylor Bennett
Chicago-based rapper Taylor Bennett (brother of Chance the Rapper) came out as bisexual in January via Twitter post. Since 2013, Bennett has released a number of mixtapes and albums, including “Broad Shoulders” (December 2014) and his most recent, “Restoration of an American Idol,” which came out in February 2017.
Bennett says that ever since he was a kid, he dreamed about becoming a performer and being able to spread the messages of love and positivity that he does today. “I think the whole idea of my music — and especially with this project — has always been to bring people together.” Bennett said in an interview with Fader. “My biggest dream that I’ve ever had was [when I was] 14. [In my dream,] I was performing at this huge concert. When I looked out into the crowd, everybody all looked so different and at one point I just said, ‘Everybody turn to each other and look at each other and realize that we’re all the same.’”
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