Disclaimer: The pronouns and labels used in this article are taken from available information from the Internet and other sources. However, sexuality and gender are both incredibly fluid, so these identifiers could change and those used in this article may not be representative of these artists in the future.
In recent years, there have been more and more famous singers openly identifying themselves within the queer community. Even though this is easier to do now than years past, it is still incredibly brave of them to be open about their identities on such a large scale, especially since they are doing it within their workplace and could lose “fans” and income because of it. Here are ten of those queer artists that you should be listening to right now.
1. Angel Haze
Angel Haze is a pansexual, agender rapper and singer who uses their platform not only to entertain, but to discuss serious issues. One of the issues they have discussed at length is their life growing up in a cult where they were sexually abused; their song “Battle Cry” and its video tackle this topic. They also have focused some of their music on their Native American heritage.
2. Sia
Sia Furler is a hesitant Australian celebrity, who was actually featured in Angel Haze’s “Battle Cry,” as she often collaborates with other artists. Her disdain for the spotlight has led her to often write songs for other artists such as Rihanna and Beyoncé; songs like “Diamonds” and “Pretty Hurts.” However, recently she has been publishing a lot of her own songs as well. Sia has contributed to the It Gets Better project in video and essay form, and has talked about dating and falling in love with people regardless of gender.
3. Halsey
Ashley Frangipane–known as Halsey–is an American singer-songwriter who defines herself as “tri-bi:” bisexual, biracial and bipolar. She got her start on Tumblr, and has only grown in popularity once her song “Ghost” was released. Her newest album, Badlands, is a concept album set in a dystopian land, touching upon topics of sexuality to an equal extent as her EP Room 93.
4. Troye Sivan
Troye Sivan is an Australian singer-songwriter who got his start on YouTube, eventually officially coming out as a gay on that same platform. His latest EP Wild has a video series called Blue Neighborhood along with it that highlights the story of a character played by Sivan navigating his love life.
5. Tyler Glenn
Tyler Glenn is the lead singer of the band Neon Trees, and has come out recently after years of struggling with reconciling his Mormon faith and his identity. Glenn has said that many of the songs on Neon Trees’ latest album, Pop Psychology, reference his struggles with his sexuality and his relationships. The first video for the band that shows his sexuality directly is for their latest single “Songs I Can’t Listen To.”
6. Mary Lambert
Most people know Mary Lambert from her vocals in Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s 2012 single “Same Love,” which culminated in a same-sex marriage ceremony during that year’s Grammy’s. However, the vocals sampled for that song were from “She Keeps Me Warm,” a single she had written, recorded, and published years before. Lambert has continued to make music since, highlighting her beautiful vocals and touching lyrics.
7. Sam Smith
Sam Smith is a probably a household name at this point, but his voice and imagery is so strong that he still needs to be mentioned. He is a British singer who announced that his first album was written about unrequited love that he had for a man. His song “Lay Me Down” and its accompanying music video is a tearjerker for sure, no matter what sexuality you are.
8. St. Vincent
The musician Annie Clark–better known by her stage name, St. Vincent–does not use labels to define her gender or sexuality. Her pulsing electronic-esque music provides an interesting flair to the indie scene, and her relationship with model and actress Cara Delevingne has received much publicity and created discussion on queer female sexuality surrounding Delevingne.
9. Laura Jane Grace
Laura Jane Grace is an incredible transgender rocker; she is the lead singer of the band Against Me! Her band was already well known by the time she decided to transition, and she has been very open about it–their latest album was even entitled Transgender Dysphoria Blues and includes a song of the same name as well as a song entitled “True Trans Soul Rebel,” discussing her viewpoint of the world as a trans woman and the dysphoria she dealt with.
10. Shamir
Shamir is singer who has completely rejected the binaries of sexuality and gender – quite eloquently–in a tweet a few months back, as well as in articles in which he discusses what not having a gender feels like to him. Shamir constantly seem to have fun with everything they do, creating incredibly catchy and danceable music.
The more queer artists that can be open about their identities in the mainstream, the better. Love songs have been a staple of pop music for years and years, so why not have those songs be more inclusive?
This list only scratches the surface of notable queer pop artists of recent years–there are plenty more artists that could have included on this list. Who’s your favorite openly queer artist? Comment below!
Information gathered from:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/shannonkeating/the-evolution-of-angel-haze#.ghKO6Q6Ve
https://twitter.com/shamirbailey/status/580175617192169473
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoL-MnXvK80
http://www.out.com/hot-list/2015/5/04/hot-list-shamir
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-dream-world-of-st-vincent-20140623?page=2
http://just-the-same-but-bound2.tumblr.com/post/101103177258/virginalvalour-televisionlightsmyway
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/sam-smith-comes-out-gay-new-album-2014285
http://www.astralwerks.com/news/halsey-signs-to-astralwerks-with-debut-single-ghost/
http://www.allthingsgomusic.com/interview-halsey/#/interview-halsey/ http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/neon-trees-tyler-glenn-gay-mormon-and-finally-out-20140325
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/11/shamir-bailey-ratchet-on-the-regular