The Swedish pop juggernaut talks to Nick Levine about her ethereal new album, queer allyship and growing up as a young woman in a male-dominated industry.

Words by Nick Levine
Photography by Ninja Hanna
Creative Direction & Fashion by Umar Sawar
Art Direction by Jack Rowe
Creative & Art Production by Anisa Cleaver
Makeup by Ignacio Alonso
Nails by Danielle Lundgren
Hair by Kasper Andersen
Photography Assistant Alma Bengtsson

When Zara Larsson calls herself “a little boss lady”, there’s only one thing we could possibly quibble with. Really, there’s nothing “little” about everything the Swedish pop queen has achieved in her already substantial music career. At 26, Larsson has been racking up international hits for the best part of a decade. In her homeland, she shot to fame even earlier when she entered the TV talent show Talang as a 10-year-old. She sang Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’ in the final – brilliantly; you can find it on YouTube – and won the whole thing.

Since then, Larsson has swapped power ballads for bombastic pop bangers that show off her full-throttle vocal style – even as a teenager, she sang like a grown woman – and sassy, self-aware personality. Powerful but playful, she’s always been given her flowers by queer pop fans who call her “Mother Larsson” even if they’re the same age as she is. Her signature hits ‘Lush Life’ (2015), ‘Symphony’ with Clean Bandit (2017), ‘Ruin My Life’ (2018), ‘Don’t Worry Bout Me’ (2020) and ‘Words’ with Alesso (2022) fill dance floors at LGBTQIA+ venues from Malmö to Manchester. ‘Can’t Tame Her’, the lead single from Larsson’s gleaming new album Venus, features her quintessentially fun brand of strength and empowerment. “Club is closin’, but she ain’t goin’ home,” Larsson sings with a hair flick in the video. It’s a campy lyric to quote on your next big night out.

Another of Larsson’s pop glitter-bombs, her flawless but slightly underperforming 2019 single ‘All the Time’, has become a staple at queer pre-drinks and afters – something that hasn’t escaped her attention. “The mainstream [audience] wasn’t really hopping onto that song, but the gays, they loved it!” Larsson says with a smile. “I was like, ‘Hey, I see you on my timeline!’ But I also saw it when I performed that song live. Even though ‘All the Time’ didn’t break any records or chart super-high, I still felt that really strong support.”

Left: dress ASHISH | earrings SWAROVSKI | Right: dress ALBERTA FERRETTI | jewellery SWAROVSKI | shoes RENE CAOVILLA

When we speak over Zoom, Larsson is sitting in a plain white radio station conference room, but the bland backdrop only makes her look more vivid. She’s wide-eyed, rocking camera-ready makeup and teams with easy charisma. It’s 9.15am, but Larsson says she’s been awake “for half a day already” after a brace of early morning interviews. Is she used to it after ten years of being, well, a Main Pop Girl? “I don’t like it and I don’t think I’ll ever like it, but it’s fine,” she says, before adding in an ironic American accent: “You do what you gotta do!” If Larsson is flagging a bit, you wouldn’t guess. She’s as fun and unfiltered as she always seems on social media, where she doesn’t feel the need to hide her personality or her opinions. Her most famous tweet, from 2017, was wickedly provocative: “I’ve said it and I’ll say it again. Man hating and feminism is [sic] two different things. I support both.” Today, she sometimes throws herself down a conversational rabbit hole, pauses, then asks with a self-deprecating eye roll: “I’m sorry, what was the question again?”

This infectious energy also comes across on Venus, Larsson’s fourth studio album, but the first to be released on her own label, Sommer House. She named the 12-track collection, her follow-up to 2021’s breezy dance blast Poster Girl, after the Roman goddess of love because “it’s a beautiful word that ties all the tracks together”. Larsson says Venus is very much an album about love, but one that recognises “it isn’t always smooth-sailing and flawless”. Final song ‘The Healing’ is a stunning piano ballad about working on yourself before you give yourself to someone else. Other tracks have lashings of sass. On ‘None of These Guys’, Larsson boasts about her partner’s efforts to please her. “And I give him straight As, but I deserve only Ds,” she sings with a wink, relishing the shameless double entendre.

If Venus sounds like Larsson’s most confident album to date, that’s probably because she has more control over her career than ever before. In 2022, she bought back her entire catalogue from TEN Music Group, the independent Swedish music company that she signed to as a 13-year-old in 2011. Buying back her masters was a boss move, quite literally, that Larsson coupled with launching her Sommer House label. Sadly, as we all know, some of her peers have been denied the same agency. Taylor Swift launched her industry-shaking campaign to re-record her first six albums as “Taylor’s Versions” after learning, crushingly, that her masters had been sold to music manager Scooter Braun without her prior knowledge.

Left: full look STELLA MCCARTNEY | Right: dress MIU MIU

Larsson says that as he was planning his retirement, TEN Music Group’s CEO, Ola Håkansson, saw what happened to Swift and thought “that’s a fucking nightmare”. He duly offered Larsson the opportunity to purchase her masters. “And honestly, it was a no-brainer,” she says. “It’s like my retirement fund, you know what I mean? I’m in it for the long run.” Larsson started writing songs in 2015 – her first ever session yielded ‘Never Forget You’, a hit duet with UK artist-producer MNEK – but the deal also gives her control over tracks she didn’t write. “I don’t have a [writing] credit on ‘Lush Life’, but it’s such a career-defining song and [part of] my identity as an artist. And now it’s up to me if someone wants to sample it or use it in a commercial,” she says. “Which is the way it should be.”

With her “boss lady” hat on, Larsson grew more assertive in the studio while making Venus. Her collaborators included Rick Nowels, a Grammy-winning producer who has worked with everyone from Madonna to Lana Del Rey. “He said to me: ‘We’re gonna have fun, but this is serious business: I want you to come in with subjects for songs, titles, chords, ideas,'” Larsson recalls. “That pushed me to be a better writer.” Larsson has plenty of respect for Nowels, whom she rightly calls a “legend”, but never let herself get overawed. “I wrote a lot and realised the worst that could happen is Rick saying: ‘I don’t like that.’ But I also realised that I don’t care,” she says, before self-editing slightly. “Obviously I care what his opinion is,” Larsson continues, “but at the end of the day, if there’s something I like that he doesn’t, we’re gonna do it my way. It’s my song, my project.”

Larsson also worked closely with Casey Smith, an LA-based singer-songwriter who co-wrote the album’s thumping, fatalistic second single ‘End of Time’. For Larsson, teaming with a fellow female professional was a way of paying it forward. “I really wanted to give a chance to a woman – like, if I’m gonna have a hit, I thought it would be amazing to have a hit with another woman,” she says. Smith’s presence also brought “a refreshing” new energy to the creative process. “There are certain life experiences that you just don’t have to explain to another woman,” Larsson says.

Left: full look DIESEL | earrings SWAROVSKI | Right: full look DREAMING OF ELI

The “intimate” atmosphere she fostered with Nowels and Smith was a far cry from the testosterone-filled sessions she found herself in as a teenager. “I’ve been in rooms with me and 10 guys,” Larrson recalls. “I was like 17 and feeling intimidated. Some of those guys were fucking weird, let me tell you that. Others weren’t, but it’s still like, ‘How are you gonna relate to me? You’re 35 and there’s nine of you.’ Sometimes they’d bring in girls to party with or, like, have a dick-measuring contest. It was very weird.”

How did she navigate these male-dominated (and sometimes pretty icky) spaces at such a young age? “I’ve been very, very protected by my family,” she says. Larsson’s parents aren’t performers – her mother Agnetha is a nurse, while her father Anders was a navy officer – but they supported her pop dreams from the start. “I’ve been in weird situations for sure,” Larsson continues. “But I can only imagine what I would have gone through if my mum hadn’t come with me everywhere.”

Other Venus sessions re-teamed Larsson with MNEK, whom she calls her “favourite collaborator”. In fact, she’s heading to his east London studio straight after this interview to bounce around new material. “I’ve been begging on my knees for a year straight for him to do my next album with me, but he finally agreed. So he’s gonna executive produce my next album,” she says excitedly. ‘You Love Who You Love’, a spiky bop they wrote for Venus, showcases their creative spark. It’s not quite an LGBTQIA+ rights song, but it did take shape during Pride season after their co-writer Kian Sang suggested writing about equal love. “Me and MNEK, we weren’t like booing him,” Larsson says with a laugh, “but we did say: ‘Nah. Because how are we gonna make that sassy?’” Larsson liked the title, though, so she reimagined ‘You Love Who You Love’ as a less “on the nose” song about a toxic relationship.

Left: necklace, earrings, bangles MISHO | belt MOSCHINO | Right: dress ALBERTA FERRETTI | earrings, bangles MISHO

Larsson was acutely aware that releasing a song called ‘You Love Who You Love’ could have seemed trite, especially to her LGBTQIA+ fans. “I didn’t want it to be preachy, because I think my listeners know that you can love who you love,” she says. “And it’s more fun to twist it a little bit and say, ‘Well, you love who you love, but this man right here, you shouldn’t be with him. He’s bad for you.'” It’s a scenario you rarely hear in pop songs – but one we’ve all been in. “Oh, I’ve definitely been there,” Larsson says. “I remember going back and forth with this man for so long that my sister hated. My friends were like, ‘What the fuck are you doing?!'”

Larsson knows the bond between a cishet female pop artist and her queer fanbase is special and deep-rooted. “I think pop is an essential part of the LGBTQIA+ community,” she says. “I remember watching Madonna and Britney videos growing up, then getting into Beyoncé and Whitney Houston, and realising that all these really powerful pop girls had such a strong presence in the LGBTQIA+ world.” On top of this, pop music has always been championed by women and queer people because straight male gatekeepers have traditionally dismissed it as “disposable”. Larsson agrees – and says things aren’t changing fast enough. “Pop is still not being taken seriously,” she adds. “That’s because it’s one of the only genres where women have the stage and the popular songs. And for that reason, it’s given less credit than other genres that are male-dominated.”

She believes it’s not just the strength projected by performers such as Madonna, Beyoncé and herself that queer audiences respond to, but also the genre’s capacity for escapism. “There’s something about the show, the glitter, the performance of it all,” she says. “For some people, stepping into a character can help them find their truest self and that’s quite liberating. And sometimes this world sucks and you just want to put on a song that makes you feel good and takes you to a more blissful place. I know I do.”

It’s this heady escapism that Larsson wants to offer at her upcoming Venus Tour live shows, which will both project and be powered by female energy. “I want the whole setup to be an extension of this album, so it’s gonna be all female musicians and all female dancers,” she says. Few performers belt and strut as commandingly as Larsson, who says she spent “10,000 hours in front of the mirror” as a kid practising her stage moves. These days, it’s only “the talking between songs” that make her feel like “just regular me” as opposed to a hyper-confident pop star. “But even that is a very empowering feeling in a way,” she adds. “And for this era, it’s all about being strong, ethereal, a goddess. I’m ready.”

Zara Larsson’s fourth album, Venus, is out now via Epic

This interview is taken from the March 2024 issue of GAY TIMES. Head to Apple News + for more exclusive features and interviews from the issue. 

The post Zara Larsson’s new era is equal parts escapism and empowerment appeared first on GAY TIMES.

The British musician weighs in on that Barry Keoghan scene in Saltburn, her camp classic Heinz campaign, and answers burning questions from her die-hard fans.

WORDS BY NICK LEVINE
COVER DESIGN YOSEF PHELAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURA LEWIS

Sophie Ellis-Bextor isn’t just having a moment – she is the moment. Everyone who’s watched Emerald Fennell’s prickly, provocative, queer-coded black comedy Saltburn is obsessed with the scene where Barry Keoghan’s character, scheming social climber Oliver Quick, dances to ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ in the nude. Thanks largely to the film’s popularity on TikTok, Ellis-Bextor’s shimmering disco hit has just climbed to number two on the UK Singles Chart, matching its original peak from 2002. 

“It really is a bit of magic – I’m aware that this is a unique experience,” Ellis-Bextor says over Zoom. In a way, though, the so-called ‘Sophaissance’ has been a few years in the making. During the pandemic, her fabulously chaotic Kitchen Discos were a real tonic: live-streaming from her London home, Ellis-Bextor would sing her classic hits – ‘Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)’, ‘Get Over You’, ‘Heartbreak (Make Me a Dancer)’ – while trying not to trip over her husband and sons. Then last year, she released her seventh studio album, the sweetly sophisticated Hana, and played to massive crowds at Glastonbury and Mighty Hoopla, the queerest music festival on the summer calendar. 

Ellis-Bextor, whose 2007 third album Trip the Light Fantastic and 2011 follow-up Make a Scene are especially beloved on Gay Twitter, has a long and loyal association with the LGBTQIA+ community. She even performed with era-defining queer club collective Sink the Pink during their early days at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. “I think the word ‘icon’ gets bandied around too freely, but Dame Sophie Ellis-Bextor is the real deal,” Sink the Pink’s Glyn Fussell tells GAY TIMES. “She somehow straddles a very thin line between being a class act and a ridiculous human being. And I think that’s why we should bow down and salute her.”

She’s also a completely lovely human being with a healthy sense of self-awareness and plenty of empathy. When we bring up her endlessly relatable 2004 hit ‘Mixed Up World’ – “When you’re feeling kind of mixed up, just remember it’s a mixed up world” – she replies thoughtfully: “Who doesn’t have moments in life where they feel a bit unsure? I think people are really digging deep a lot of the time.” So, let’s take the weight off by talking about all things Saltburn and Ellis-Bextor’s upcoming dance-pop album. 

Saltburn‘s director Emerald Fennell said: “There’s no other song to me that so perfectly contains all the evil glee, the sheer FUN, the irresistible camp of ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’.” Did you realise it was quite so camp when you wrote it?

I do think that when I’m writing and performing, there’s a certain mood I like. I did it a little bit with ‘Groovejet’ as well – it’s a mood that’s slightly flirty but a little bit eyebrow-raised and arched. Also, the pop scene at the time was so keen – very shiny and friendly – and I just wasn’t coming at it from the same angle. That’s why in the ‘Murder’ video I wanted to be evil, I wanted to be a baddie! [My co-writer] Gregg Alexander already had the lyric “it’s murder on the dancefloor”, which I just thought was so evocative. It has a little bit of mischief to it and I enjoyed playing with that.

I just thought ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ was so evocative. It has a little bit of mischief to it and I enjoyed playing with that.

Can you remember what you thought when you first watched Saltburn?

It definitely gave me that feel – which I haven’t got from a film for a long time – where I wanted to keep talking and thinking about it. I guess that’s a testament to Emerald’s vision because not every film has such a strong sense of who it is the whole way through. I also found it really funny. I was so taken by the entertainment of watching it that I forgot I was there at the screening because my song was involved.

Emerald’s obviously one of those directors who uses music like another character because it just transports you; I really enjoyed the whole soundtrack. When ‘Loneliness’ by Tomcraft came on, I was like, “I haven’t heard this in ages, but it’s amazing!”

Speaking of Saltburn, which character do you think would be a Sophie Ellis-Bextor fan?

Golly. Funnily enough, I haven’t really thought about that! But I think maybe Archie’s character could have a little bit of a thing with disco-pop. You can imagine it, can’t you?

I reckon Elsbeth definitely danced to ‘Groovejet‘ in Ibiza when the song first came out.

That’s a solid answer because I suppose she’s more my peer. I can imagine that too.

Can you foresee a gig this year where Barry Keoghan joins you on stage? Fully clothed, of course.

I was lucky enough to meet him at the premiere in Los Angeles, and he was saying that the nudity didn’t faze him at all – it was just the dancing. So I’d say he’s more likely to come out naked and not dance than come out dancing.

It’s so fun that you got to discuss the scene with him.

Well, it’s funny because I’d actually seen him in the lift earlier that day, but I didn’t feel like it was the time to say “hi”. We were in an enclosed space and he was kind of looking down in a baseball cap so I was worried I was going to be a bit like an embarrassing British auntie. “Hiiii!” You know, that person. So I’m glad I waited until later. 

How significant has your relationship with your LGBTQIA+ fans been in your career?

I’d say it’s kind of everything – they’ve been the keystone of allowing me to become the artist that I am. I can actually trace it back to one specific gig at G-A-Y. After my second album, I had a baby and spent ages making an album called Trip the Light Fantastic. And for me, the stakes were quite high because I felt like if I had a third album [that worked], then I’d be able to keep a career going.

Usually on stage I’d always be quiet, reserved and still. And I was quite nervous before I walked out at G-A-Y because it was the first performance for the album. But then something happened as I walked out where I noticed this big sort of wall of warmth and support and fun. And because I just felt so safe, I performed in a way I’d never really performed before. I could just feel that something flipped and I don’t think it ever went back. All my friends were there that night and saw me being more uninhibited and playful, which was a side of myself I’d never shown on stage before. And honestly, that changed everything for me.

Did you take away anything in particular from performing with the Sink the Pink crew?

Absolutely. I remember performing with them at Bethnal Green’s Working Men’s Club and seeing what that night meant to everyone there. The crowd had put so much effort into their outfits and that’s really special. If everybody knew that was an option for themselves, everybody would want it. Not everybody gets that feeling unlocked – that feeling of being completely included and safe and supported. I think what’s clever about the Sink the Pink crew is that, whatever scale they take [their events] to, they keep the kernel of that feeling. Performing to a whole field of people at Mighty Hoopla last year was just amazing. I felt completely myself and could see everyone was having a lovely time.

We’ve had a few fan accounts get in touch with questions. The first asked: “Does Sophie expect to collaborate with a female pop artist on her next album, which will be a dance record, such as Kylie Minogue or Jessie Ware?”

Thank you for the question, and very good choices! I would like to do that. I’ve spent quite a lot of time trying to do a female duet, but they’re quite challenging, actually, because you don’t want it to be twee. But there are so many amazing singers out there and I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for Sigrid. She’s got such a good voice and I like her take on pop music. But [the account owner] is right: my next album is going to be a dance record – well, dance-pop. The funny thing is, I was already planning that before all of this happened with ‘Murder’. It’s quite weird, all the serendipity that goes on. 

My next album is going to be a dance record – well, dance-pop. The funny thing is, I was already planning that before all of this happened with ‘Murder’. 

Next, another fan wanted to know if we will be getting a Make a Scene 2.0-type album any time soon…

That’s probably not a bad comparison, but maybe this album is more like Trip the Light Fantastic. On Make a Scene, I was working with a lot of DJs so it was a bit more clubby. I don’t see this [album] being as clubby as that; I see it being more pop. I literally can’t remember the last time I went clubbing so I think that’s maybe not exactly the space I’m in. But it’s definitely going to be music that you can dance to.

Loveofhuns recently reposted the photos from your iconic 2012 Heinz Five Beanz campaign. Does it surprise you that this shoot keeps popping up on social media?

Not at all, I volunteered for it myself! [Comedian] Rob Beckett used to do this thing on Twitter where he would post “morning!” with a picture of someone doing some really dark promotional shot or something. So I replied “morning!” to him with that picture. As I commented on the @loveofhuns post, I still love my Heinz, but my personal favourite is ketchup – ketchup is my life. You know, obviously not everything I do is going to be cool. I don’t think I’ve ever been cool, actually; I just like to enjoy myself. And the dress I’m wearing in that campaign is from my ‘Music Gets the Best of Me’ music video, which I’ve always liked.

I still love my Heinz, but my personal favourite is ketchup – ketchup is my life.

Lastly, we’ve got to ask – what are you proudest of in your career?

You mean, aside from the Heinz campaign? Ha! I think I’m proudest of keeping going. When you start out, you’re encouraged to think that you have a choice. People always ask you, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?’ But actually, you don’t have a lot of say over so much of it, so the fact I’ve been able to keep doing what I love is a massive thing. I’m glad I’m still such good friends with ‘Murder’. I mean, I still love to go out and sing that song. Can you imagine what it would be like now if I didn’t?!

The post Welcome to the ‘Sophaissance’: the return of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s brand of chart (and FYP) dominating pop appeared first on GAY TIMES.

Queer people can’t seem to get enough of the hornily homoerotic, bathwater-guzzling drama. Nick Levine investigates the curious appeal of the queer-coded melodrama.

WORDS NICK LEVINE

IMAGE SALTBURN, COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS AND MGM

Come for the cum-guzzling; stay for the high camp final act and Rosamund Pike Mothering on every level. Saltburn may not be the queer love story that some fans were expecting, but it’s easy to see why LGBTQIA+ viewers are really embracing this chaotic psychological thriller. Since it arrived on Prime Video on December 22, Saltburn has dominated social media as fans dissect its homoerotic central friendship, make memes of Pike’s many priceless lines and jump on a TikTok trend celebrating the movie’s outrageous viral nude scene.

It feels correct that one of the benefactors of the Saltburn effect is Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s 2001 banger ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’. The film’s director Emerald Fennell says she chose it to soundtrack that wicked nude scene where Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) dances joyously around the country house he has just inherited because “no other song” contains “the evil glee, the sheer fun [and] the irresistible camp” of Ellis-Bextor’s Y2K classic. Now, thanks to a massive streaming bump, Murder on the Dancefloor is heading back into the UK Top 10. What could please Queer Twitter more than seeing a longtime gay icon get her flowers?

Written and directed by Fennell, who previously made the Oscar-winning female revenge thriller Promising Young Woman, Saltburn is flawed but often fabulous. When it opened in cinemas in November, much of the online discourse centred on the dubious merits of its class politics – is Fennell skewering extreme privilege or sort of glamorising it? Her film tracks the progress of Keoghan’s Oliver, an ambitious Oxford scholarship boy who becomes obsessed with Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), a classmate so posh he barely bothers with consonants. Oliver wins Felix’s friendship with acts of kindness and candour – both of which, spoiler alert, turn out to be contrived – then targets his rich dysfunctional family. The Oxford scenes are fun and nostalgic, but Fennell’s film really blossoms into homoerotic chaos when Oliver arrives at Felix’s majestic family home: the titular Saltburn.

It is here that Oliver spots Felix masturbating in their shared bathtub, then jumps in after his crush has climaxed and left. If you don’t know by now that Oliver ends up slurping from the plughole, where have you been? One Etsy seller has even created the Jacob Elordi’s Bathwater Candle. But, even if you find this scene mildly titillating rather than genuinely transgressive, it’s hard to deny that it captures the prickly thrill of unrequited lust. Many LGBTQIA+ viewers will recognise the way Oliver has fallen hard for Felix, a straight friend who maybe just maybe gives off the odd hint of flirtiness. 

"No film with a Cheeky Girls song on its soundtrack should also have a scene where the main character humps a grave"

Fennell never labels Oliver’s sexuality, though some Twitter wags have branded him a “chaotic bisexual”. Keoghan’s character has sexual encounters with Felix’s sad sister Venetia (Alison Oliver) and cutting cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe) – so far, so bi. Later, he marries then murders Felix’s vulnerable mother Elsbeth (Rosamund Pike) as his masterplan’s coup de grace: when she dies, Saltburn will finally be his. Still, because Oliver seems to view sex more as a psychological weapon than an act of pleasure, it’s unclear whether he actually fancies anyone but Felix. Even that attraction feels unclear because Oliver contradicts himself in a parting voiceover. “I wasn’t in love with him, though everyone thought I was,” he tells us. “I loved him, I loved him, I loved him. But was I in love with him?”

Whatever you make of Oliver’s sexually ambiguous but abominable behaviour, his journey definitely has a queer-coded edge. He is totally fixated on someone unattainable. He reinvents himself in order to be accepted – well, tolerated – in a world where he doesn’t belong. He does the Pet Shop Boys at karaoke. OK, that last one only happens because Farleigh, cruelly, wants to hear Oliver sing “I love you, you pay my rent” in front of the people putting him up. But in a way, it highlights the main reason Saltburn is being embraced by many LGBTQIA+ viewers: it’s unafraid to look camp right in the eye, then do something unhinged. Really, no film with a Cheeky Girls song on its soundtrack should also have a scene where the main character humps a grave. But Saltburn does and somehow pulls it off.

The film’s wicked kitsch stream is embodied by Rosamund Pike’s Elsbeth, a monstrous former model who wafts around Saltburn with blithe entitlement. This shady lady of the manor is just the sort of villain that Queer Twitter can get behind: glamorous, delusional and ill-fated in a similar way to Jennifer Coolidge’s The White Lotus character Tanya McQuoid. It helps that Fennell gives Elsbeth all the best lines and Pike repays her by eating them up. “I was a lesbian for a while, you know,” she says at one point. “But it was all just too wet for me in the end – men are so lovely and dry.” Bless you for trying, Elsbeth. Or maybe not.

It’s early days, but Saltburn already looks like a film that will live or die with its LGBTQ+ fanbase. When asked whether it should be viewed as a “queer thriller”, Fennell said “absolutely”, though it’s no more a perfect queer film than a perfect country house film or a perfect film about class. What Saltburn does possess is enough camp chaos and queer-coded weirdness to make it a future cult classic. You can even imagine watching it on a double bill with Showgirls. So, I’ll look forward to seeing you in 2034 at a quote-along 10th anniversary screening. I’ll be the one dressed as “Poor Dear” Pamela, Carey Mulligan’s character who really deserved better. You can come as Oliver in deer antlers. Or if you’re feeling bold, as a giant plughole. 

The post Seriously, why is Gay Twitter so Saltburn-pilled? appeared first on GAY TIMES.

WORDS BY NICK LEVINE

Since 1988, 1 December has been designated World AIDS Day. It’s an opportunity to raise awareness, show support for people living with HIV and remember the many, many millions lost. When Madonna takes to the stage at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome tonight, she will mark World AIDS Day by dedicating her poignant ballad ‘Live to Tell’ to “all the bright lights” extinguished by the disease.

This moving tribute won’t be a one-off – it’s a staple of her latest live show, ‘The Celebration Tour’ – and reflects the singer’s four decades of allyship. From her 1991 documentary Truth Or Dare to her Boy Scout stunt at the 2013 GLAAD Awards, the pop legend has long stood in solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community. Deborah Gold, chief executive of the National AIDS Trust, says that Madonna’s “support for people living with HIV and for the LGBTQ+ community has been unwavering”. It was also ahead of its time. “She wasn’t the first pop artist to embrace her LGBTQ+ following, but she was one the loudest and she was doing it when it wasn’t cool to be so inclusive,” Gold adds.

For this reason, Madonna’s performance of ‘Live to Tell’ in memory of HIV/AIDS victims has become the emotional centrepoint of The Celebration Tour since it began in London in October. Matthew Hodson, executive director of NAM aidsmap, says that both times he saw the tour, her rendition of Live to Tell “hit me like a wall collapsing on top of me”.

Within the set, the tribute begins with the song ‘Holiday’, when Madonna and her dancers party like it’s 1983 at seminal New York nightclub Paradise Garage – a place she frequented during her pre-fame days. Towards the end of the number, her dancers depart the stage, leaving just one who falls to the floor in front of her. After she covers him with a cape, we hear a few bars of ‘In This Life’, Madonna’s 1992 elegy to friends lost to AIDS, and then ‘Live to Tell’ begins. 

“Madonna came to New York in 1978 and was immersed in that queer club culture, she found herself at the centre of the gay HIV/AIDS epidemic,” Hodson says. The first news story about the then-mysterious disease appeared in 1981 in the gay newspaper New York Native. In 1983, the year Madonna released her eponymous debut album, two separate research groups concluded that a novel retrovirus – what we now call HIV – may have been infecting people with the more deadly AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). 

In her tour tribute, we see just how profoundly Madonna was affected by the epidemic. First, an unfolding video screen shows the face of Martin Burgoyne, her New York roommate, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1986 aged just 23. Then two more screens show Christopher Flynn, her high school ballet teacher taken in 1990, and Keith Haring, her artist friend who succumbed in the same year. All three were gay men.

As the tribute continues, these video screens are filled with the faces of dozens and dozens of other HIV/AIDS victims including Queen singer Freddie Mercury, cult actress Cookie Mueller and disco pioneer Sylvester. 

It’s a deeply personal moment, from Madonna, that flowers into something universal that LGBTQIA+ fans who lost friends and lovers of their own can resonate with. “It made me look back to when my life was filled with friends dying and going to funerals while, at the same time, family members and [straight] people were going on as normal,” Hodson says. “I think Madonna was experiencing what many gay men were experiencing at the time, which was seeing their friendship circle being decimated.”

Madonna has used her profile to shine a spotlight on HIV and AIDS since she became a pop culture colossus in the mid-’80s and this crossover of activism has continued to this day. “She was certainly one of the first major global figures to speak out about [the epidemic],” Gold says. “What made her contribution so impactful was her ability to speak directly to younger people and to the LGBTQ+ community who were already fans of her music.”

In 1987, Madonna turned the final date of her Who’s That Girl World Tour into an AIDS benefit that raised $400,000 for research charity amfAR. Two years later, she included an insert titled “The Facts About AIDS” with her latest album, Like a Prayer. “People with AIDS – regardless of their sexual orientation – deserve compassion and support, not violence and bigotry,” the insert states. It also provides clear advice on how to prevent infection: “The simple act of putting on a condom can save your life, if they’re used properly and every time you have sex.”

Then in 1991, Madonna doubled down on her safer sex message by telling fans who attended her Blond Ambition World Tour: “Hey you, don’t be silly, put a rubber on your willy.” According to Gold, “Madonna used her platform to demystify conversations around safer sex”, which proved doubly important. “Not only did this help educate people, but by talking openly about HIV, she was humanising people who were experiencing huge amounts of stigma and discrimination,” Gold says. “The impact of having a superstar like Madonna speaking about you with respect and love at that time cannot be understated.”

It was also a brave move in an era when HIV and AIDS was cruelly and ignorantly stigmatised as a “gay plague”. AIDS was first recognised by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1981, but then-President Ronald Reagan didn’t publicly acknowledge it until 1985 or give a significant speech about the epidemic until 1987. Because Madonna did so much lobbying at a time when many other public figures were silent, rumours began to circulate that she had been diagnosed as HIV positive. 

Madonna put these rumours to bed in 1991 when she received amFAR’s Award of Courage at a benefit event in Los Angeles. “Now I’m not HIV-positive, but what if I were?” Madonna said in her acceptance speech. “I would be more afraid of how society would treat me for having the disease than the actual disease itself. If this is what I have to deal with for my involvement in fighting this epidemic, then so be it.”

According to Hodson, Madonna’s refusal to be shamed for being depicted as HIV positive – albeit inaccurately – made a seismic difference at the time. “It was such a strong, uncompromising take on HIV and challenging the stigma around it,” he says. “It’s quite easy to forget how rare it was for someone to be a ‘gay ally’ back then. There were a few gay allies like Liza Minnelli, but Madonna took it to a new level because you felt that she was in the trenches fighting alongside us.”

More than 30 years later, Madonna remains fervently committed to fighting HIV and AIDS, a disease that is now easier to treat but still a major public health issue. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 39 million people were living with HIV globally at the end of 2022. On World AIDS Day four years ago, Madonna posted a photo of her friends who were taken by the epidemic, then reminded us that it hasn’t gone away. “AIDS is still a threat. There is no cure!!!! We must find one and we must keep the memories of these senseless deaths alive forever,” she wrote in her caption.

This staunch support was celebrated last Saturday at a fundraising event organised by Madonna podcast Inside the Groove alongside the National AIDS Trust. Held at an iconic London LGBTQIA+ venue, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, it brought in £5,000 for the charity. Gold says she wanted to take part in a panel event discussing Madonna’s HIV and AIDS advocacy work because the singer “has shown immense solidarity throughout her career and it felt right on World AIDS Day to honour that”.

In 2023, when we’re really beginning to question what it means to be an “ally” – is the odd supportive word really enough? – it’s important to acknowledge someone who has stuck her neck out for us time and time again. If anyone has earned Gay Twitter’s favourite term of endearment, “She’s Mother”, it is surely Madonna. 

The post “It’s easy to forget how rare it was for someone to be a gay ally”: The Celebration Tour is a bold reminder of Madonna’s loud, proud HIV activism appeared first on GAY TIMES.

In partnership with Coca-Cola

WORDS BY NICK LEVINE

Today, multi-hyphenate Callum Crighton becomes the fourth and final act to be spotlighted by Breakthrough, GAY TIMES and Coke Studio’s campaign to find the very best unsigned LGBTQ+ music talent in the UK and Ireland. As part of the campaign, Breakthrough will offer all four acts a range of exciting paid opportunities comprising a photoshoot with a leading queer photographer, valuable live experience and lasting support propelling them, beyond the summer Pride months, in an industry so few manage to break into. This support will include prestigious festival slots at the likes of Luno presents All Points East, Boardmasters and Longitude, as well as performances at Pride in London and Brighton Pride as part of Coca-Cola’s Parade Float. The four acts were chosen following an online callout which attracted submissions from more than 200 talented artists.

Callum, a London-based artist, DJ and model, says they are “mostly inspired by ’80s music” because of its distinctive “style and energy”.  Last year, they released an appealingly dreamy cover of Duran Duran’s 1982 hit Hungry Like the Wolf that shows off their shimmering, synth-led production style. And in the past, they have wryly described themselves as “the lovechild of Madonna and the Goblin King”, David Bowie’s iconic character from the cult 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth. But at the same time, Callum is no dyed-in-the-wool ’80s revivalist – they also draw inspiration from “the iconic disco artists of the ’70s” and present-day pop icons like Lady Gaga and Marina and the Diamonds. 

“I would describe my musical style as fun, upbeat, queer housey disco,” they say. “It’s spacey, gorgeous music that makes people feel good about themselves and gets them on the dance floor.” Artificial Life, a heady highlight from Callum’s debut EP Lazer Police: The Musical, definitely sets a unique musical mood. “I’ll take you downtown where the robots drink and fight,” they sing intriguingly over a gleaming, club-ready beat. The EP’s title track The Lazer Police is equally transportive: it sounds like the theme song from the best queer sci-fi film you’ve never seen. Play it loud and you can almost taste the ’80s-style dry ice.

Released in 2021, Lazer Police: The Musical showcases Callum’s ability to create an immersive music world that we can all find ourselves in. “I’m really inspired by escapism and the idea of fantasy, cosmic themes and themes of self-confidence,” they say. “I’m also really inspired by storytelling and love to encapsulate a feeling in my music through narrative.” You can definitely hear this in Universal Hand, a yearning ballad from the EP that Callum says “was inspired by the loneliness yet togetherness one can feel in the age of digital communication”. Universal Hand also shows Callum’s rare gift for giving authentically retro sounds a box-fresh contemporary sheen. “It has an old-school ’80s ballad sound with a more modern upbeat drum movement to connect the nostalgic ideals of the past with the electronic realities of the present,” they said when the EP came out.

As well as making their own music, Callum is a rising star DJ who is very much booked and busy. This year alone, they have delivered sets at the Mighty Hoopla pop festival, zeitgeist-grabbing club night Feel It and beloved LGBTQ+ venues The Glory and Dalston Superstore. Callum says they are able to create a sense of community around their music “particularly when I’m DJing as a lot of the time my shows are in queer spaces”. Bringing people together is always the aim. “These [sets] allow me to express my own identity through music and have all the other queer people connect to it, relate to it, and feel united together as one powerful, gorgeous community on the dance floor,” they say passionately. 

In April of this year, Callum played “some of the most memorable gigs” of their career when they were booked as The O2’s opening and afterparty act for legendary gay icon Elton John. “The sheer energy in the arena was magical,” they say, “and I felt so lucky to be a part of such an iconic, significant time, with this being Elton’s final tour!” Callum is keenly aware of our collective queer history and points out that in Pride Month especially, “it’s important to recognise the [community’s] history of standing up for LGBTQ+ rights”, stretching back to the Stonewall Uprising of 1969. They highlight the vital role played by Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman, in the New York City riots that became the wellspring of today’s LGBTQ+ liberation movement. “Pride to me also means the notion of embracing yourself for exactly who you are, living as authentically as you can, and standing up for your freedom in self-expression,” they say.

Music has been Callum’s outlet for self-expression for as long as they can remember. “It was my escapism as a kid when I was being bullied in school,” they say, “but I knew from an even younger age that I wanted to be a performer and have a career that centres around music.” A pivotal moment came when they moved from Liverpool, their hometown, in order to pursue new opportunities in London, the UK city with more LGBTQ+ spaces than any other. “My biggest challenge as a musician was feeling like I wasn’t being accepted and was invisible,” they recall. “I tackled this by relocating to London, finding my queer community, and surrounding myself with people who believed in me as much as I believed in myself.”

Still, Callum retains close connections with Liverpool, a city with a rich musical heritage that includes birthing legendary ’80s queer icons Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Dead or Alive. In May, Callum even got to perform in Liverpool’s Eurovision village alongside Zuzu, a fellow Merseyside-born musician who they describe as their “best pal”. The two collaborators, who worked together on Callum’s Lazer Police: The Musical EP, are now hatching even bigger plans together. “I’m currently making my next record and also making a new band with Zuzu, which is a disco synth duo called The Darklings,” they say. “And I am super-excited for that!” One thing is certain: we can expect to see a lot more from Callum Crighton in the coming months and well into 2024. 

Creative Director: Julia Salotti
Senior Producer: Sophie Christophersen
Account Director: Pav Grewal
Executive Creative Director: Josh Fletcher
Sales Director: Tiffany Gumbrell
Art Director / Designer: Jack Rowe
Designer: Yosef Phelan
Photography: Jordan Rossi
Photography Assistants: Doma Dovgialo, Ally Cook, Marcus Lister
Fashion Director: Umar Sarwar
Styling Assistants: Lily Hobson, Bradley Turner
Hair: Louis Byrne, Marc Ramos
Makeup: Byron London, Matilde Ribau
Videographer / Editor: Joe Wood
Sound Recordist: Smiley Sound, Ben Williams
Grade: Studio RM

The post Meet Callum Crighton: “The lovechild of Madonna and the Goblin King” appeared first on GAY TIMES.

In partnership with Coca-Cola

WORDS BY NICK LEVINE

Today, Irish hip-hop artist Celaviedmai becomes the third of four acts to be spotlighted by Breakthrough, GAY TIMES and Coke Studio’s campaign to find the very best unsigned LGBTQ+ music talent in the UK and Ireland. As part of the campaign, Breakthrough will offer all four acts a range of exciting paid opportunities comprising a photoshoot with a leading queer photographer, valuable live experience and lasting support propelling them, beyond the summer Pride months, in an industry so few manage to break into. This support will include prestigious festival slots at the likes of Luno presents All Points East, Boardmasters and Longitude, as well as performances at Pride in London and Brighton Pride as part of Coca-Cola’s Parade Float. The four acts were chosen following an online callout that attracted submissions from more than 200 talented artists.

Celaviedmai’s stage name is essentially a self-made portmanteau. It combines her nickname – born Maimouna Salif, she became “Mai” for short – with “c’est la vie”, the French expression meaning “that’s life”. And this portmanteau tells us, in a cleverly inventive way, that the music she puts out will always reflect the life of Mai. “One thing about me is that I have so many sides to who I am,” she says. “I’m confident and outspoken, but at the same time I really do be in my feelings a lot and of course I do care about what people think of me. It’s hard not to in this line of work.”

Celaviedmai says her multifaceted personality has “majorly influenced my musical direction in terms of working out my sound [and] hopping between genres and rap styles”. But at this point in her career, she has pinpointed the energy she wants to bring to the world – and it’s fundamentally uplifting. “The songs I enjoy making the most are uptempo, energetic, explicit and fun,” she says. “So while I’d love to be profound or use my voice to tackle big topics – like many of the rappers that I admire – it’s more my style to create music that I’d want to dance to in the club or that will translate into an incredible live show.” You can definitely hear this energy in her latest single Pay the Piper, a collaboration with fellow Dublin-based artist Zapho that throbs with a club-ready electronic pulse.

Celaviedmai’s advice to fellow LGBTQ+ musicians is also quintessentially positive. “Your sexuality and your identity doesn’t need to be part of your art if you don’t want it to be,” she says. “It’s so tiring being the spokesperson for a ‘minority’ when all you’re tryna do is make banging tunes.” For Celaviedmai, being authentic about her sexuality doesn’t mean letting it define her as an artist. “I speak so openly about the fact I fancy both men and women, I embrace sexual thoughts and desires when writing, but I don’t let it take over,” she says. When it comes to Pride season, Celaviedmai is equally upbeat, albeit in a realistic and deeply empathetic way. “It’s great to havea dedicated time of year to celebrate all types of loves and life, but I see that all year round in Dublin, so really I think it’s just the perfect excuse to party,” she says. “That’s what it means to me personally as I am comfortable with who I am and which ways I swing. But I do recognise that for some people, this is one of the only times they feel like they can be themselves. So that makes me emotional, to be honest.”

Though she dislikes “when the conversation turns to problems all the time”, Celaviedmai will say it has been “hard” for her to “find my community in Ireland”. She grew up in Galway on the country’s west coast, where “there were only a handful of small groups rapping and exploring hip-hop”, and decided to move to Dublin in 2020 to “get serious about music”. In the process, Celaviedmai says she “left behind a sense of security and essentially started from scratch when it came to making friends, let alone finding a music tribe”. But in time, once she found her manager and collaborators, the move proved incredibly enriching. “Things started to get easier when I felt a support system around me,” she says. “I’m now part of an organisation called Mo Cultivation who celebrate urban culture from Ireland and around the world. They’ve been creating events and opportunities that are more inclusive for people who still want to find their tribe. It’s great to be part of a safe space like that.”

Celaviedmai says she has been “majorly influenced” by hip-hop visionaries including Chance the Rapper, J Cole and Azealia Banks, but describes the great Missy Elliott as her “very first music idol”. “It was about how she looked, how she sounded, how she carried herself with such confidence and swagger despite not looking like the rest of the women in music at the time,” she recalls. This confidence has proved particularly inspiring for Celaviedmai because one of her “biggest challenges” as a performer has been overcoming  her own “self-inflicted pressures about body image”. At the same time, Celaviedmai says she has always been “drawn to dance music” and is now bringing this influence to the fore. “Half of my sets used to be my own verses over songs like Modjo’s Lady (Hear Me Tonight), Janet Jackson remixes and Kaytranada instrumentals,” she says. “Once I realised that it’s absolutely possible to pair rap with dance music, I was able to revisit a lot of my older demos and rework them.”

To this end, her new era of music is “heavily inspired by dance music”, but with elements of  “afro, garage and bounce” weaved in. With a new project dropping later this summer, Celaviedmai is absolutely clear about her ambitions, especially after smashing a “bucket list” set at Ireland’s Other Voices festival last December. “I want to appeal to a community of people who want to dance, who can take some sexiness and who will let me be myself while also keeping my crown as a top-tier live performer,” she says. “I already know that people outside of my home country are ready. But there’s no one in Ireland doing this right now, so the right audience are just waiting to discover me, just like they have been at festivals over the past year or so.” The only possible response to this mission statement is ‘bring it on’ – Celaviedmai’s new era already sounds iconic.

Creative Director: Julia Salotti
Senior Producer: Sophie Christophersen
Account Director: Pav Grewal
Executive Creative Director: Josh Fletcher
Sales Director: Tiffany Gumbrell
Art Director / Designer: Jack Rowe
Designer: Yosef Phelan
Photography: Jordan Rossi
Photography Assistants: Doma Dovgialo, Ally Cook, Marcus Lister
Fashion Director: Umar Sarwar
Styling Assistants: Lily Hobson, Bradley Turner
Hair: Louis Byrne, Marc Ramos
Makeup: Byron London, Matilde Ribau
Videographer / Editor: Joe Wood
Sound Recordist: Smiley Sound, Ben Williams
Grade: Studio RM

The post Irish hip-hop artist Celaviedmai just wants her audience to dance appeared first on GAY TIMES.

In partnership with Coca-Cola 

WORDS BY NICK LEVINE

Today, Keanan becomes the second of four acts to be spotlighted by Breakthrough, GAY TIMES and Coke Studio’s campaign to find the very best unsigned LGBTQ+ music talent in the UK and Ireland. As part of the campaign, Breakthrough will offer all four acts a range of exciting paid opportunities comprising a photoshoot with a leading queer photographer, valuable live experience and lasting support propelling them, beyond the summer Pride months, in an industry so few manage to break into. This support will include prestigious festival slots at the likes of Luno presents All Points East, Boardmasters and Longitude, as well as performances at Pride in London and Brighton Pride as part of Coca-Cola’s Parade Float. The four acts were chosen following an online callout that attracted submissions from more than 200 talented artists.

Keanan is an artist who prides himself on telling it like it is – especially when it comes to the tough stuff. One of his most-streamed tracks, the defiant and energising empowerment bop Obstacle, is all about the “hurdles” he has overcome on his way to “owning the top”. “One of the biggest obstacles I’ve faced and continue to face is existing as an openly LGBTQ+ rapper,” he says today. “Even though attitudes are changing, there are still stigmas present. I challenge these stigmas by unapologetically being myself and staying true to who I am as a person and an artist.”  The 24-year-old rising star, who performed at GAY TIMES Honours in 2022, believes this uncompromising honesty will “allow people to connect with me and my stories” while also helping “those who judge [to] realise that music has the power to bring us all together”.

You can soak up Keanan’s captivating candour on his dazzling remix of Headie One and Drake’s Only You Freestyle, which went viral on TikTok because he raps about his sexuality with such heart and humour. “Put a gally (woman) on me, that’s sweet,” he spits, “but I don’t want Stacey, I want David.” You can also hear it on Country Boy, a standout track from Keanan’s gleaming 2022 EP Exhibit Green. “Some call me a farmer, so I made my marks like tracks,” he raps, flipping a put-down on its head with witty wordplay. When the song dropped last year, Keanan told GAY TIMES he had “wanted to create [it] for years but never found the right words”. It’s his way of celebrating and in a way reclaiming his upbringing in Cheltenham, a spa town in the rural country of Gloucestershire. “Being from the countryside, trying to break into the industry is tough,” he said at the time. “And I always saw it as a negative, a disadvantage. But with my recent successes with TikTok and other opportunities, I realised that it makes me different and I should be proud of my hometown.”

Keanan says he has been “writing rhymes for as long as I can remember” and always “used to dream of being an artist”. He realised he could turn this dream into a reality as a teenager when he began sharing self-made videos in which he remixed popular tracks by adding his own verses. “These videos started to gain thousands of views which gave me the confidence to finally pursue music,” he recalls. Initially, Keanan approached songwriting in “a very guarded capacity” and “purely created music because I enjoyed how it sounded”. However, following the devastating loss of his mother, the fuel behind his creative fire really intensified. “Music became a form of therapy to me, and it changed how I created music,” he recalls. “I became more self-reflective, more aware, and more open to discuss harder topics and it allowed me to turn something so traumatic into a beautiful tribute.” 

Today, with the 2018 debut album Butterfly, 2022 EP Exhibit Green and multiple singles to his name, Keanan says his musical style is “constantly evolving”. Though he loves “to experiment with different sounds and genres”, he points to Nicki Minaj’s 2011 hit Super Bass as a major and enduring influence. “It was one of the first times I really heard pop and rap fused together in such an exciting way and it really sparked something in me,” he says. “Her music, drive and passion has inspired me ever since.” Keanan also says he is inspired by the “immense stage presence” of Beyoncé and Michael Jackson, and admires “rappers such as Stormzy, Drake and Eminem for their versatility and flow.” 

Keanan also draws strength from the current crop of LGBTQ+ artists who are knocking down doors and transforming what the industry expects from queer talent. “Growing up watching and listening to Sam Smith develop into the artist they are today has been inspiring,” he says, “along with artists such as MNEK and Lil Nas X who bring their unique flare and style.” Keanan is acutely aware of the importance of LGBTQ+ solidarity, especially as we head into Pride Month. “There are so many [people] who struggle to come to terms with who they are or feel as if they are unable to be who they are,” he says. “Pride creates a safe space where being yourself is celebrated and hopefully gives others hope in a world where inclusion is not always welcome. In time, I hope Pride continues to take us closer to equality, to allow people their freedom and gives people their right to love freely after being denied for so long.”

Performing for his queer peers at GAY TIMES Honours in December is a career highlight he takes pride in looking back on. “The energy was electrifying [and] I felt comfortable to be my full authentic self as an artist – it allowed me to reach new heights,” he says. At the same time, Keanan is always looking forward to the next opportunity to connect with his community of fans. “I have been working on one track in particular for a few months now and I can honestly say it’s one of my best creations,” he teases. “If I had to present one track to describe myself as an artist, it would be this. [It’s] fusing my love for pop and rap together to create funky-disco heaven. It’s fun, fresh and embodies that feel-good feeling which is perfect for the summer.”

As he readies his contender for song of the summer, Kenan has a realistic but uplifting message for queer musicians who want to follow in his footsteps. “Learn what makes you you as an artist and as a person, and accept it,” he says. “Being a queer artist can be really tough. You may be challenged and not everyone will understand you, but that self-confidence will carry you over any obstacle you may face and that unique spark you possess will shine brighter than anyone who tries to dim your light.” Amen to that – Keanan himself is living proof.

Creative Director: Julia Salotti
Senior Producer: Sophie Christophersen
Account Director: Pav Grewal
Executive Creative Director: Josh Fletcher
Sales Director: Tiffany Gumbrell
Art Director / Designer: Jack Rowe
Designer: Yosef Phelan
Photography: Jordan Rossi
Photography Assistants: Doma Dovgialo, Ally Cook, Marcus Lister
Fashion Director: Umar Sarwar
Styling Assistants: Lily Hobson, Bradley Turner
Hair: Louis Byrne, Marc Ramos
Makeup: Byron London, Matilde Ribau
Videographer / Editor: Joe Wood
Sound Recordist: Smiley Sound, Ben Williams
Grade: Studio RM

The post As an openly LGBTQ+ rapper, Keanan is ‘challenging stigmas’ by being himself appeared first on GAY TIMES.

In partnership with Coca-Cola 

WORDS BY NICK LEVINE
FASHION BY LAG WORLD AND MI MANERA

Today, rising star lleo becomes the first of four acts to be spotlighted by Breakthrough, GAY TIMES and Coke Studio’s campaign to find the very best unsigned LGBTQ+ music talent in the UK and Ireland. As part of the campaign, Breakthrough will offer all four acts a range of exciting paid opportunities comprising a photoshoot with a leading queer photographer, valuable festival experience and lasting support propelling them, beyond the summer Pride months, in an industry so few manage to break into. Festivals include the likes of Luno presents All Points East, Boardmasters, and Longitude as well as performances at Pride in London and Brighton Pride as part of Coca-Cola’s Parade Float. The four acts were chosen following an online callout which saw over two hundred applicants with three more rising stars to be announced shortly. 

London-based lleo describes their sound as “bipolar pop” because it contains “the highest highs and the lowest lows condensed into bangers”. When they say their music is “full of layers – like my mind”, they aren’t exaggerating. On their brilliant new single boyfriend, driving pop-punk guitars dovetail with savagely catchy pop hooks in a thrillingly anthemic way. Though some commentators have aligned lleo with the ultra-modern “hyperpop” sound pioneered by Charli XCX and the late, great SOPHIE, they hail everyone from indie firebrands The 1975 to pop icon Lady Gaga as an influence. 

Like those era-defining artists, lleo isn’t afraid to go there – really go there – in their lyrics. Boyfriend, an unrequited love song on which they pine for someone who’s already coupled up, features the frank admission: “I know it’s bad, but I hate him, yeah.” It’s this raw and enthralling honesty that makes them stand out as a future LGBTQ+ superstar. Breakthrough with Coke Studio is launching during Pride Month, a time when the LGBTQ+ community looks back at past victories and forward to future battles. For lleo, Pride is all about “love, acceptance, and freedom” – namely, the “freedom to be who you are and love”. It’s a time to celebrate – “what’s more amazing than that?”, lleo says – but also to take stock. “Although in many aspects, we are moving forward as a society,” they say, “I think it’s so important that we are realistic about where we are at in society for LGBTQ+ people and remember that there is still a long way to go. We need Pride more than ever.” 

lleo makes no attempt to sugarcoat their own personal obstacles, either. “As someone who lives with bipolar disorder – or cyclothymia – dealing with my head can be really turbulent,” they say. “Being an independent musician can be challenging enough, so when you add the fact that I have bipolar to the mix, you can imagine how up and down things can be!” Lleo has found a way to manage their cyclothymia, but remains committed to sharing their mental health journey in a totally open way. “With the right medication, therapy and being mindful of the decisions I make and how I take care of myself, my life has completely changed for the better,” they say. “I’m happier, healthier and my career is thriving more than ever.” 

In fact, this ongoing journey is fuel for their creative fire. On their 2021 single bipolar, a purposeful bop that packs a hefty emotional punch, lleo turns their demons into deceptively breezy pop gold. “They say i should medicate myself to regulate my feelings, tempted to try ‘cos right now I need help,” they sing on the pre-chorus.  It’s a brave and utterly unvarnished moment that reflects what lleo stands for as an artist. “My music is for everyone who feels like they don’t fit in, and for anyone who struggles with who they are,” they say. “I’ve always been different – I can’t put my finger on why. I want people to listen to my music and know that it’s OK to feel whatever you’re feeling at 100%.” Lleo’s message to others who feel as though they don’t fit in is straightforward: “Get it all out: there’s no shame in that.” 

Music is lleo’s vehicle for making sure they “get it all out”. They’ve been writing songs since they were 12 and now produce their own music, too. Their collaborators include London-based songwriter-producer Sophie Ackroyd, with whom they wrote boyfriend, and Essex-based musician Jamie Sellers, their co-writer on serotonin, lleo’s most streamed song to date. “Frustrated, jaded, you’re looking pretty tired,” lleo sings on the latter. “You’re not good at trying to hide it.” It’s clearly a pretty dark song, but also a cathartic and life-affirming one. “Music makes me feel,” lleo says. “From as early as I can remember, music has been my whole life – I can’t do anything else!” 

Though songwriting and performing has always been their calling, lleo says their musical breakthrough came when they started to trust their gut “completely. “I used to think ‘what should I write about?'” they explain. “But I had this moment one day a couple of years ago where I thought ‘what do I need to get out?’ And that changed everything.” From this moment on, lleo began drawing from a songwriting well that is uniquely their own. “Whatever is going on in my head is what I need to address when I go into the studio,” they say. “I don’t know anyone with a mind like mine, and I haven’t heard many tunes like mine. Like, who else writes about antidepressants, birthday parties and falling in love with straight girls, then puts it all on one EP?” 

Titled am i making sense, that EP dropped in 2022 and helped to expand lleo’s swelling fanbase, which has also been boosted by support from Radio 1’s Future Artists with Jack Saunders. They now have 13,000 TikTok followers and 57,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. On meds, an incredibly affecting track from the EP, lleo sings tenderly about the desensitising side effects of mental health medication that isn’t quite right. “Losin’ track of who you are,” they sing, “now I never see you smile anymore – not like before.” Elsewhere on the EP, the dreamy ballad birthday party taps into the ultimate childhood nightmare: a celebration of your special day to which “no one turns up”. “I had party rings and paper hats all by myself, how sad is that?” lleo sings longingly. 

In fact, lleo’s bipolar pop is striking such a chord with fellow “outsiders” that they are now being asked to perform on the biggest stages. Last August, they sang for an audience of 25,000 at iconic South London cricket ground The Oval. “It was wild,” lleo enthuses. “To be playing songs about mental health to a crowd that big was an incredible feeling, and something I’ll remember for a long time.” As we approach Pride season and beyond, lleo is definitely on course to create more unforgettable moments for their fans. Asked what advice they would give to an aspiring queer musician, lleo shares a pearl from their own personal journey: “Be who you are and trust your gut.”

Listen to Ileo’s new single, i hope KARMA, now. 

Creative Director: Julia Salotti
Senior Producer: Sophie Christophersen
Account Director: Pav Grewal
Executive Creative Director: Josh Fletcher
Sales Director: Tiffany Gumbrell
Art Director / Designer: Jack Rowe
Designer: Yosef Phelan
Photography: Jordan Rossi
Photography Assistants: Doma Dovgialo, Ally Cook, Marcus Lister
Fashion Director: Umar Sarwar
Styling Assistants: Lily Hobson, Bradley Turner
Hair: Louis Byrne, Marc Ramos
Makeup: Byron London, Matilde Ribau
Videographer / Editor: Joe Wood
Sound Recordist: Smiley Sound, Ben Williams
Grade: Studio RM

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From novelty to near victory, British audiences and the UK’s music industry has started to believe in the power of the world’s biggest music competition.

Words by Nick Levine
Imagery designed by Yosef Phelan

It’s no accident that Eurovision has been dubbed “the gay World Cup”. Over the years, the continent-spanning song contest has honed a reputation for camp spectacle, dazzling pop bangers and proud LGBTQ+ inclusivity. In 2018, Ireland’s representative Ryan O’Shaughnessy sang a poignant love song, Together, while two male dancers acted out an equally poignant love story. After a Chinese network censored O’Shaughnessy’s performance in the semi-finals, Eurovision bosses promptly withdrew its rights to show the grand final. The message was clear: if you’re not here for queer, you aren’t coming to the party.

Four years earlier, the contest was won by Austria’s Conchita Wurst, a glamorous bearded drag queen with seriously impressive vocal chops; her winning song Rise Like a Phoenix has since defeated countless karaoke punters. And in 1998, Israel’s Dana International claimed victory with her transcendent dance anthem, Diva. “It was the first time I had ever seen a trans woman on TV – she was so celebrated and gorgeous in her Jean Paul Gaultier feathers,” recalls Lady Lloyd, a DJ and drag queen who is preparing to host a huge Eurovision party at London’s Clapham Grand. “I do think the competition being so open, with so many diverse entrants, is a big part of why we love it so much.”

In the UK, affection for Eurovision within the LGBTQ+ community has never really faltered. But among the population at large, the contest has definitely gone through a rocky patch. Though the UK has an impressive overall record – we’ve won five times since we first entered in 1957, and come second a staggering 16 times – our recent efforts have been more flop than bop. Since Jessica Garlick finished third with Come Back in 2002, the UK has only cracked the top ten twice: Jade Ewen’s fifth place with It’s My Time in 2009, then Sam Ryder’s stunning second with Space Man last year. During the last two decades, the UK has finished bottom of the grand final in five separate contests, twice with the dreaded “nul points”.

This disappointing run of results has contributed to a negative perception of Eurovision among certain sections of the UK population. “There was a time when we took it seriously, but then something shifted,” says RuPaul’s Drag Race star Tia Kofi, who is decamping to Liverpool for this year’s contest. “Like, Katrina and the Waves won it [for us] in 1997, Imaani came second in 1998 and Jessica Garlick finished third a few years later. But after that, the acts we were sending [to Eurovision] just didn’t seem to connect with people outside of the UK. And so people here seemed to lose heart a bit. But now, thanks to Sam Ryder doing so well last year, I think that optimism is finally coming back.”

Outside of the LGBTQ+ community and Eurovision’s devoted fanbase – two groups that overlap significantly – it became common to blame the UK’s poor performance, rather vaguely, on so-called “politics”. At the same time, music snobs with heteronormative tastes tended to dismiss the contest as “tacky” or “naff”. The country that gave the world Adele, Elton John and The Beatles couldn’t possibly be falling short musically, so our failure had to be predicated on how Europe perceived us and the contest’s own inadequacy. The advent of Brexit in 2016 only fed into the reductive argument that other countries wouldn’t vote for the UK because of ongoing geopolitical tensions. Of course, this was also a convenient way of shirking responsibility and saying: “It’s not us – it’s them.”

In reality, Brexit was at most a contributing factor, never the root cause. Without wishing to be cruel, many UK acts sent to Eurovision during the past 20 years just haven’t been up to scratch. As the contest evolved to demand ever more polished song-craft and spectacular staging, the UK seemed to get left behind. Sometimes, we even misjudged the kind of camp that Eurovision voters respond to. Scooch scored a UK top five hit in 2007 with their innuendo-filled pop banger Flying the Flag (For You), but the song bombed in the grand final. Lyrics like “Would you like something to suck on for landing, sir?” were just too Blackpool end of the pier to land in Barcelona or Bratislava.

Even sending a couple of pop legends with global hits to their name didn’t help: Bonnie Tyler came 19th in 2013 with Believe in Me; then Engelbert Humperdinck finished 25th a year later with Love Will Set You Free. “It’s been a tough slog being a Eurovision fan from the UK for a long time,” admits Lady Lloyd. “I can’t remember fully getting behind a British entrant since our very best, Gina G, way back in 1996. Since then I would say our songs have ranged from passable to laughable. The show [itself] has come on so much in that period and we didn’t keep up. It’s now a slick, world-class production, and that includes the songs themselves.”

But now, thanks in no small part to the Sam Ryder effect, the UK seems to have renewed its enthusiasm for the contest. “This year feels different,” says Daniel Rosney, who reports on Eurovision for the BBC. “People have been talking about it for weeks before the contest started and I’m excited to see what 2024 and beyond will mean for the BBC and the UK in Eurovision.” The fact that Eurovision is coming to Liverpool this year has clearly piqued people’s interest, too. After all, it’s the first time in a quarter of a century that the UK has been asked to host the contest.

That honour should have fallen to Ukraine. Their entrants Kalush Orchestra won last year’s contest with Stefania, an infectious blend of hip-hop and folk that scored the highest number of tele-vote points in the contest’s history. But after bringing Eurovision to Kyiv was ruled out on security grounds due to the war with Russia, the UK agreed to step in because Ryder had finished second behind them. “It is a matter of great regret that our colleagues and friends in Ukraine are not able to host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest,” the BBC’s Director-General, Tim Davie, said in July 2022. “The BBC is committed to making the event a true reflection of Ukrainian culture alongside showcasing the diversity of British music and creativity.”

The impact of Ryder’s runner-up finish can’t be underestimated – it was the UK’s best result since Imaani claimed the same place in 1998 with Where Are You. Essex-born Ryder was pitch-perfect at May 2022’s grand final in Turin, but he had started reigniting the UK’s Eurovision fire two months earlier when he was unveiled as our game-changing entrant. For the first time, the BBC had teamed with TaP Music, a globally renowned management company with clients including Ellie Goulding and Lana Del Rey, to find a performer who stood a real chance of reversing our fortunes.

Ryder began his Eurovision campaign with over 12 million TikTok followers – more than any other British musician. “That was like a quick check mark to say, ‘Yes, we’re taking it seriously,'” says Kofi. “Plus, he had the vocals, the stage presence and the songwriting credibility.” Ryder co-wrote Space Man, a classic-sounding pop ballad in the Elton John mold, with Grammy-winning songwriter Amy Wadge. “And I think we forget that all the pre-Eurovision concerts [that take place across Europe] and press interviews can make a huge difference,” adds Kofi. “Sam having both the appearance and personality of a golden retriever who has become human was a massive boost for the UK. It was just so obvious to everyone in the UK and other countries that he really loved Eurovision.”

Ryder was the great disruptor, but the seeds of a Eurovision revival had arguably been sown a few years earlier. In 2018, the UK’s entrant SuRie finished 24th with Storm, a life-affirming electropop song that deserved to do better. Her performance at that year’s grand final in Lisbon was crassly interrupted by a stage invader, but she bravely carried on, earning plenty of respect from peers and Eurovision viewers. “I saw first-hand how hard the BBC team were working at making positive changes to improve both the artist experience and general attitudes towards Eurovision,” SuRie says today. “I had faith we’d all get there eventually, but I didn’t realise how quickly it could happen. I’ve always been proud and grateful to have been a teenie part of the UK Eurovision family, but it truly is refreshing to see a certain shedding of the negativity, snobbery and stigma.”

Then in 2020, when a traditional contest was impossible to hold because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Eurovision’s organisers the EBU arranged a profoundly moving virtual replacement show called Eurovision: Love Shine a Light. It was a timely reminder that the contest’s fundamental purpose has always been to bring people together. “I think there’s been this myth that people in the UK don’t like Eurovision but consistently it still attracts one of the biggest audiences for the BBC each year,” Rosney says. “The thing that I’ve been fascinated by is how many young people watch the contest in the UK – the competition is massive with under 24s.”

Crucially, this demographic is one that the UK music industry really wants to target. Soon after Italy’s Måneskin won the 2021 contest with their rock stomper Zitti e buoni, two of the band’s other tracks, I Wanna Be Your Slave and Beggin’, also became global hits. Earlier that year, the Netherlands’ 2019 winning song Arcade, a haunting ballad co-written and performed by Duncan Laurence, also become an international smash after going viral on TikTok. “With Sam Ryder, Måneskin and Duncan Laurence all having bona fide hits and charting high on Apple Music, it proves that the competition is resonating with a young and engaged audience and is only growing in popularity,” says Jonathan Klein, Apple Music UK Pop Editor.

Klein also notes that a song doesn’t have to win or finish second to benefit from Eurovision’s massive global platform. Snap, a catchy folk bop by Armenia’s Rosa Linn, became a significant chart and streaming hit off the back of a 20th-place finish last year. “The artists themselves are also becoming increasingly savvy with their digital campaigns,” Klein adds. This strategy is already paying off: in March, Mae Muller became the first UK entrant in a decade to debut inside the UK Top 40 with a Eurovision song. Muller, who like Ryder was hand-picked by TaP Music, has said she is aiming for a top five finish in Liverpool with her dance-pop banger I Wrote a Song. That’s a reflection not just of its quality, but also of the renewed confidence that we’re bringing to Eurovision this year.

But hearteningly, as Eurovision has become more “credible” in the eyes of people who might previously have looked down their noses, it hasn’t lost its core inclusivity. One of the favourites to win this year is Norway’s Alessandra, whose thrilling Eurovision song Queen of Kings is partly inspired by her journey to embrace her bisexuality. “In the Eurovision community you can be exactly who you are, and it’s also a community that helps people accept who they are,” she says. “There’s a lot of icons that have come out of Eurovision that represent the LGBTQ+ community and maybe help them feel more at ease with themselves, which is so important.” Looking back at the contest’s rich queer history, from Dana International to Duncan Laurence, who is also bisexual, it’s impossible to disagree. “It should always be like this for everyone all the time,” Alessandra says, “but it’s amazing that Eurovision at least creates a safe place where everyone can be themselves 100%.”

The post The good, the bad & the nul points: The UK’s changing relationship with Eurovision appeared first on GAY TIMES.

From 1720s London to RuPaul’s Drag Race, gays have been “mothering” for much longer than you think.

WORDS BY NICK LEVINE

Plenty of women in pop culture are deemed iconic, but in 2023, some are also attaining so-called “mother” status. In recent months, this has become the ultimate accolade that queer Twitter can bestow on you; it’s an acknowledgement that you occupy a special place in our hearts and minds. On her latest single Pearls, disco queen Jessie Ware sings “I’m a lover, a freak and a mother”, presumably a reference to the fact that she is, quite literally, a mum of three. But that’s not how some members of the LGBTQ+ community are reading it. When the song dropped earlier this month, one fan tweeted that its “mother” line was “enough to send my gay heart into overdrive”. 

Like so many compliments that gain in popularity online – from “she ate” to “get off my neck” – being called “mother” can be confusing to someone who’s never heard the word used in this way before. When GAY TIMES’ entertainment editor Sam Damshenas asked Sarah Michelle Gellar about her passionate LGBTQ+ fanbase at a January launch event for her new series Wolf Pack, she paused to ask him: “Can someone please explain ‘mother’ to me?” Gellar has since fully embraced this term of enqueerment by updating her Instagram bio to simply read “Mother”. Later, discussing her “mother” status in a subsequent interview, Gellar said humbly: “It’s a huge honour. This is a community that has supported me and all of the jobs I’ve done, whether they’ve been successful or not, and so I’m incredibly grateful.”

“Mother” may be hot right now – almost as hot as “Angela Bassett did the thing!” – but it’s far from a new idea. In fact, the term, “has been a key concept in gay communities for decades, if not centuries,” says Paul Baker, Professor of English Language at Lancaster University and author of Fabulosa!: The Story of Polari, Britain’s Secret Gay Language. Baker points out that Margaret Clap, a “formidable” 18th-century cishet woman whom we would probably now refer to as an “ally”, was being called “Mother” by gay men in 1720s London. “She ran a coffee house that served as a base for men who had sex with men – or ‘mollies’ in 18th-century parlance,” Baker tells GAY TIMES. “She was affectionately known as Mother Clap by her patrons and even provided false testimony to get one of her lodgers acquitted of charges of sodomy.” Sadly, Clap was eventually sentenced to two years imprisonment for running her “Molly House”, an injustice that surely secures her “mother” status for eternity.

On queer Twitter in 2023, “mother” is mainly being applied to cishet women with a certain pop cultural cachet and demonstrable queer appeal. Cate Blanchett is “mother” in her extraordinary performance as a gaslighting classical maestro in Tár; so was Alison Hammond whenever she said “babes” while co-hosting last weekend’s BAFTA Film Awards. The term has even transmogrified into a verb – there are literally dozens of tweets praising Rihanna for having “mothered” her Super Bowl halftime show. However, Baker notes that in the past, “mother” has also been used as a marker of respect for older gay men. “It’s especially applied to an older gay man who has seen everything and been through it all, and so subsequently has a lot of hard-won wisdom to impart and can provide emotional support to younger members [of the social group],” he adds. 

This particular use of the word “mother’ has even, on occasion, seeped into pop culture. Baker points to the 1971 horror film Daughters of Darkness, a much-loved camp classic where “almost every character is queer” in some way. “It’s about a young pair of honeymooners, Stefan and Valerie, who wind up in a Belgian hotel off-season and get bewitched by a vampire,” Baker explains. “Valerie is worried that Stefan’s mother won’t like her when she meets her, but it turns out that Stefan’s ‘mother’ is actually an older, very camp gay man.” The film’s “mother” is played by Fons Rademakers, a veteran Dutch actor who was actually heterosexual in real life. But, if the movie were remade today, it would surely be a plum role ready for the taking of a well-established LGBTQ+ character actor.

The word “mother” may have a varied queer heritage, but it is especially prominent within the Ballroom scene, an underground subculture fostered by queer Black and Latinx drag performers in 1960s New York City and onwards. In Ball culture, the “Mother” of the house is an esteemed community leader who takes younger LGBTQ+ folks under her glittering wing.  When Beyoncé calls herself “mother of my house” on The Queens’ Remix of Break My Soul, she’s saluting this usage of the word. The fact that her remix samples Madonna’s 1990 hit Vogue, a song that celebrates ballroom culture, but has also been accused of co-opting it, makes the reference particularly apt.

Dr. Jack Doyle, a Departmental Lecturer in LGBTQ+ History at the University of Oxford, tells GAY TIMES that “[the term] ‘Mother’ isn’t exclusive to Black American Ballroom scenes, but the way it’s used in those spaces says a lot about how queer people across cultures and times have built and named chosen families”. He points out that the “drag mother” is often not just a “mentor”, but also “literally a parent to estranged queer kids”. She is the nurturing head of a chosen family unit who makes her queer “children” feel less marginalised “by providing housing, community, healthcare and safety”. 

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Doyle believes the way queer Twitter is currently using the word “mother” stems from the Ballroom scene, albeit indirectly. The enormous global popularity of RuPaul’s Drag Race has helped to popularise language that was previously brought to wider attention by Paris Is Burning, Jennie Livingston’s landmark 1990 documentary about Ball culture. “I think what we’re seeing with ‘mother’ blowing up Twitter is the latest in the age-old story of white gays borrowing (and misusing) queer AAVE [African-American Vernacular English], which eventually jumps to straight people,” he says. “This process has changed and accelerated over the past decade with Black and Latinx American drag becoming commodified globally via Drag Race, which is how we get, say, white cishet English women talking casually about ‘serving realness’ or ‘throwing shade’.”

At the same time, Doyle acknowledges that on a more general level, “mother” is often used as “a term of respect for powerful, confident femininity [and] this respect does sometimes extend to cishet women who are also queer icons”. Lady Gaga’s longtime nickname Mother Monster, which predates the RuPaul Drag Race boom, can be seen to fit into this category. When Gaga launched her career in 2009, there were fewer queer musicians in the mainstream, so she was embraced by many LGBTQ+ fans as a symbol of strength, support and comfort: all roles fulfilled by a traditional mother. 

Still, given its rich queer heritage, we should probably try to be a little more intentional when using the word “mother” – this isn’t a compliment to be dished out lightly. For now, though, the term’s current resurgence shows no signs of peaking; the “slay mother!” variant is now taking over my timeline. When the UK celebrates Mother’s Day on 19 March, queer Twitter is bound to be chaotic, and when a designated “mother” lets us down by revealing that she once voted Tory, someone will inevitably reach for EastEnders’ “you ain’t my mother!” scene. But let’s get serious for a second, and say this: To all the queer mothers who came before, thank you for helping to raise us.

The post “Mother!”: A queer term centuries in the making appeared first on GAY TIMES.