Five LGBT+ Anthems to Listen to This Pride Month (That Aren't by Taylor Swift)

A couple of days ago, a pop star named Taylor Swift released a new single called You Need to Calm Down. Although the song was ostensibly about gay rights and the accompanying music video featured numerous LGBT+ celebrities, not all of the community were particularly happy with it. I don't personally have the energy to get into all the very valid criticisms that have been made of the song right now, although inevitably my bitterness will get the better of me and I'll end up writing a grumpy blog post about it. If you want to read up on the discourse then I would recommend this article at Esquire as a good place to start. In the meantime, what I do have the energy to do is create a list of LGBT+ artists that you can support this Pride Month, none of whom are Taylor Swift. So if you would rather spend your time listening to people who are actually queer or trans and not simply trying to make money off the struggles of marginalised groups, then look no further: here, in no particular order, are five genuinely gay anthems.*

'Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels' - Todrick Hall

I actually hadn't heard of Todrick Hall before he appeared on an episode of Queer Eye, but this song is a tune and the video is iconic.

'Love Yourself' - Billy Porter

The king of the Met Gala! Anyone who thinks Billy Porter didn't have the best look at the Met can fight me, but I'm sure you'll agree that this song is great either way.

'I Don't Want it At All' - Kim Petras

Just to be clear, Kim Petras is not gay. However, she is a trans woman and so is an equally valid member of the LGBT+ community. She also makes absolute bops, like this "sugar baby anthem".

'Take Me as I Am' - Rina Sawayama

This isn't Rina Sawayama's most well-known song - that would be Cherry, which is also amazing - but I think the fuck-you theme in Take Me As I Am makes it especially appropriate for Pride. You should also listen to Cherry though.

'Bloom' - Troye Sivan

I was tempted to link to the lyric video version here, but honestly the CGI in that scares me too much. Google it at your own risk.


*I initially wanted to make this a list of ten songs, but BlogSpot wouldn't let me embed certain videos in this post, and obviously since skipping some would mess with the aesthetic I had to just leave them out. 

If you are looking to listen to more LGBT+ artists than I've listed here, I would recommend the 'Out Now' playlist on Spotify. Their other Pride playlists include a lot of straight, cisgender artists, but as far as I can tell the 'Out Now' one doesn't.

Please feel free to comment if you have any recommendations for other LGBT+ artists/songs to listen to this Pride Month. You can never have too many!