my slo-mo video
serpentwithfeet - cherubim
I get to devote my life to him
“‘There was a time that I wasn’t using any of the words I learned in church. I was like, That language is oppressive.’ Now he doesn’t just use that inherited vocabulary, he actually seems to subvert it, singing gay love songs about caring for a man, about loving him, in a way that he used to sing about loving God. Wise understands that acknowledging his history can help him make art that’s more unique, and in turn, more powerful. ‘I don’t have to be brand new every time,’ he says. ‘I get to be all of myself.’” (The Fader)
Figgy Baby - Goodbye to Begin With feat. Made By Crooks
Growin’ up ain’t that hard until you’re grown
[x]
Elizabeth Wyld - Child
I wonder what you’d be like to come home to
Elizabeth Wyld captures the rush of a new love in the sweet music video for “Child.” “I stayed at yours and wrote five songs about you,” she recalls, head over heels for the girl who’s coming into her life. Her voice is delicate but strong, like a shoulder to lean on. Gentle backing vocals and a steady guitar strum support her as she carries the melody through its peaks and valleys.
LEOPOLD - Symbols
Every glance is dangerous
German artist LEOPOLD shows off his power poses in the music video for “Symbols,” his debut single. Decked out in glam-pop sequins and high heels, he owns the room. The subtle opening quickly picks up into a party track, telling the story of a chance encounter in a club. At the song’s best moment, his alluring alto escalates into Ariana-esque acrobatics. LEOPOLD recently opened for Big Freedia at Queerfestival Heidelberg and has more European shows scheduled for this summer.
Strip Down - You Can’t Know Me
You’re lying through your teeth
Berlin-based artist Elie Gregory has returned from a hiatus with the defiant track “You Can’t Know Me.” Infectious synths zip around their cool-headed vocals while the music video, filmed in reverse, shows a downpour of colorful paints slowly dripping upwards into nothingness. After revealing their piercing gaze, Gregory is vulnerable but in control of their image. “Marking a new chapter in their career, the raw and unapologetic exposure represents not just a release from imposed gender norms – but acknowledges the stains they leave behind” (EPK).
Follow Strip Down on Instagram.
Lucy & La Mer feat. Bugsy - Rebel Babe
It’s my right to misbehave
In this summer jam, Lucy LaForge rallies her sisters and resisters for a celebration of fluidity. Dancing on the beach to the confidence-boosting track, they bend the rules and topple false binaries. The video also shows LaForge creating a gender-neutral bathroom. “Rebel Babe’s” sunny dance-pop style is new territory for the artist and a promising preview of her upcoming EP I Feel Better Now. It’s an important statement about the dangers of trying to erase and control marginalized groups.
As the singer-songwriter told Billboard, “This is a huge issue of masculine and feminine and how we have to draw this straight line through it and make laws about it. It is absolutely infuriating, and it has caused so many needless problems in our society … We’re dividing people instead of embracing their differences and the fact that there is a fluid gender spectrum and a spectrum of sexuality as well.”
Follow Lucy at @iamlittlespoon.
Young M.A - I Get the Bag (Freestyle)
I just gotta keep killin
In this freestyle over Gucci Mane’s “I Get the Bag,” Young M.A boasts her deep pockets and sexual power. The Brooklyn rapper delivers bold lines with internal rhymes that lock into place, and every repeat listen reveals more punchlines and hidden gems. She touches on her experiences with loss, depression, fake friends, and rappers who “ain’t really saying shit.” With “God’s Gift” tattooed on her neck, she’s cocky but grateful for her voice.
M.A doesn’t soften her bluntness for anyone’s comfort. Talking about her more explicit lyrics, she told Genius: “All the dykes out there know exactly what I’m talking about. It ain’t for a guy to understand. If you don’t understand, you don’t gotta understand it.“
