Queer Music October

By Laurine Payet, Music Journalist

Another month means new music is being released. The summer happened to be busier than last year for artists. With the comeback of festivals, concerts and cultural events in general, recorded music was not the main focus. Some major albums were released but even more is to come as we enter autumn. Here, we’ve listed our favourite new queer music, focusing on up and coming artists, and a playlist that brings together music without genre borders.

A long wait of three years separated Snail Mail’s last album and the release of her new single ‘Valentine’. Snail Mail is the solo project of guitarist and singer-songwriter Lindsey Jordan. The 22-year-old American woman started playing as Snail Mail in 2015 and made a name for herself in 2018 with her debut ‘Lush’. Often mentioning them in interviews, Jordan has overcome the struggles of being a young gay woman in the indie rock scene. ‘Valentine’ is the first single for her newly announced album coming out November 5^th. The emotional track is the tale of a woman missing her ex-girlfriend after breaking up. She blends the sadness with the anger of waiting for someone to come back extremely well and sets the level high for the future album.

Formed in 2014, The Greeting Committee is an indie rock quartet from Missouri. Alongside Snail Mail, the band got their fame from their debut album ‘This is It’ in 2018. They released last week their sophomore LP ‘Dandelion’. The lead single ‘Ada’ is a queer anthem, telling the story of a transgender woman. The singer Addie Fraser has always been open about belonging to the queer community and has used her voice and platform many times to raise the voice of those who are marginalized. She said she writes music for people to listen to with the “intention to learn and love”. The Greeting Committee evolved towards a grittier and distorted sound, heavier guitars and a crooning atmosphere. It is the perfect soundtrack for the upcoming autumn.

Inspired by what they call the “90’s Italian Queens of Queens”, BIIANCO is a talent to watch out for. They aspire to represent the queer-femme community in music production. BIIANCO found their strength in creating a world for themselves, where sounds and visuals have been crafted by their own hands. BIIANCO is a dreamy chamber-pop project that started with the release of their first single in 2019. Their new track ‘pins and needles’ is the story of someone waking up after a break-up, feeling all the pain they could have never possibly imagined existed. Going through the impact of heartache on the physical body, BIIANCO expresses the intensity of the feelings in the interactive 360 degrees music video where you can watch them perform the song on what seems to be a lost beach.

The duo Bestfriend is pretty secretive about who they are. All we know is that they met online, became best friends and now have a long-distance musical relationship from opposite sides of the United States. After releasing a couple of singles for the past year, their EP ‘Places I’ve Lived’ is finally out. The softness of the voice and electric guitar will probably be a reminder of your days reading inside while the rain is pouring down in your garden. Bestfriend’s website allows you to anonymously write your favourite beautiful story which is going to be sent on a postcard to another randomly picked fan.

The unapologetically queer artist Foxgluvv released her latest EP ‘Deep Dive’ two weeks ago. Since her first single ‘Crush’ in 2017, Foxgluvv has evolved within the London LGBTQ+ community. As well as dropping her new EP last month, she’s played Birmingham Pride’s main stage and opened for Tom Aspaul’s UK tour. Her extravagant performances reflect the colourful and camp energy of the singer. The blend of mainstream pop, 80s influences, synths and queer lyrics make Foxgluvv the iconic artist she is.

Finally, the Nashville-based up and coming artist daena makes us come back to the noughties with her latest single ‘Just the Girl’. The dreamy and musical-like sound of her music would be expected in the soundtrack of your favourite teen lesbian drama. The singer-songwriter explores queer crushes and falling in love through sounds as well as lyrics. Daena had released her first EP ‘Electric!’ in 2020, with the viral and explosive track ‘Close Isn’t Enough’. We are hoping for some more cinematic sounds from daena in the following months.

With the release of Lil Nas X’s long-awaited and risky album ‘MONTERO’ a few weeks ago, the queer music scene has had a big platform to be represented. However, big artists shouldn’t shadow smaller queer performers. You can follow our playlist with more releases while we watch out for new bangers.