#and its all made so much better by freddy absolutely fuckin LOSING it in the background.

[critdeeznuts]

just thinking about how GOOD the lou bega bit was. easily the best reveal in dndads so far.

THE ANAGRAM MACHINE. THE COLLECTING OF THE BODY PARTS. "A LITTLE BIT OF YOU MAKES ME YOUR MAN". "ERICA" DRIPPINS. MARGA "RITA" PIZZA.

fucking incredible. anthony burch i will never laugh at anything more for the entire rest of my life

#and its all made so much better by freddy absolutely fuckin LOSING it in the background. #also can we talk about that episodes cold open. fucking awful i love it #Taylor: (auto-tuned super low) Theres a rock in my pee stream #is something i never thought id have to hear #dndads #dungeons and daddies #dndads s2 #dndaddies #taylor swift dndads #normal oak #scary marlowe #lincoln li wilson #erica drippins

[roidespd-blog]

Chapter Four : MODERN QUEER MUSIC featuring Mike, Troye, Janelle & Annie.

Back when my grandmother was my age (1963), no huge celebrity was officially a homosexual. Andy Warhol’s sexuality was an open secret and Rock Hudson was far inside the closet his shirts and trousers were his roommates. When my mother was my age (1992), Freddy Mercury had just died due to complications from AIDS — so did Hudson a couple years before. George Michael was hiding and Elton John would still be bisexual for another year. A couple of years ago, I complained to a friend of mine about how so many few music Artists were full-blown Queer. Where’s that fresh music that everybody (and I mean, EVERYBODY) could listen to ? Sure, Lady Gaga and Madonna said loud and clear that they weren’t against taking a dip in the lady pond but there are still constraint to basic heteronormativity in their public lives. Sure, we have Christine and the Queens but I’m talking GLOBAL.

I was so wrong I would like to time travel and smack the shit of my past me.

Perfume Genius was considered a pretty low key artist from the commercial and critical strength of his first two records (Learning in 2010, Put Your Back N 2 It in 2012). 2014’s Too Bright brought him more recognition with a more synth-pop power sound. This album’s music videos were filled with glitter, genderfucked outfits and SM fantasies. He objectively coined the best lyric of all time with “No family is safe when I sashay” (1). No Shape confirmed his incredible talent. Deepening in his idea of masculine and feminine combining into one, Perfume Genius gave us a more optimistic fourth effort about love and the search of a peaceful mind. Singles like Slip Away (2) and Wreath (3) emerge as full queer anthems with lyrics like “they’ll never break the shape we take” and “I’m high, I’m out / I see the sun go down / I see the sun come up / I’m moving just beyond the frame” Though not actually a mainstream artist, Perfume Genius helped all decade long to usher a new wave of Queer Artists and with them, Queer acceptance.

One that benefited greatly from PG’s way-paving journey was South-African-Australian child actor-turned pop sensation Troye Sivan. 

After making his intentions clear with his debut album (2015’s Blue Neighborhood) and his fantastic music video trilogy — Wild, Fools, Talk Me Down (4) — Troye created what I personally a pop masterpiece with Bloom and possibly the first major mainstream album that doesn’t shy away from queer themes and same-sex pronouns in love songs. In Seventeen (5), he explicitly talks about losing his virginity to an older man. The title track (6) was confirmed (though it’s obvious) to be about bottoming. A friend of mine seems to think it’s about fisting though I would respond that every anal pleasure is valid and the listener is free to interpret the lyrics with his/hers/theirs own liking in mind. The music video for Bloom shows him play dress up, wearing gorgeous gowns and makeup, shattering preconceived notions of how a male pop star should act publicly. “Lucky Strike” (7), the album’s sexiest cut, has “And my boy like a queen /Unlike one you’ve ever seen /He knows how to love me better” to say about desires. He closes the record lying next to his “fellow”, singing “An ode to the boy I love /Boy, I’ll die to care for you /You’re mine, mine, mine, tell me who do I owe that to?” (8). We’re not far enough in the future to know for sure, but I’m sure Bloom will be recognized as revolutionary. Nevertheless, we can all “Dance to This (9)”.

While Perfume Genius and Troye Sivan went further into their explorations of the opposite sex trait, Janelle Monae liberated herself from the chains of her previous persona adopted through her first records. With 2018’s Dirty Computer, the artist said bye to tuxedos and welcome a sexier, more feminine aesthetic. 

That doesn’t mean a woman should absolutely be feminine to be considered. No fuckin’ way. But when it comes to Monae, I sometimes felt that her visual choices, though fantastic at times, were restraining her from showing her true self. A mystery for years, it seemed like the character of Cindi Mayweather (10), a messianic android sent back in time to free the citizens of Metropolis from The Great Divide was just the surface of the real living person behind that. 

“Dirty computer, walk in line / If you look closer you’ll recognize / I’m not that special / I’m broke inside /Crashing slowly, the bugs are in me” (11) were the first words uttered in her third opus, a concept album exploring the power of women and the spectrum of sexual identities. The album’s 14 tracks can be grouped into three loose categories: Reckoning, Celebration and Reclamation. The first deals with Monae’s recognition of how she is viewed by society, the middle explores her acceptance of “the cards she has been dealt”, and the closing tracks deal with her reclamation and redefinition of American identity. Overall, the album is Monae’s attempt to “step into a more authentic self”. A coming out party of sorts.

“If you try to grab my pussy cat / this pussy grab you back” (12). Dirty Computer is a declaration of independence from a woman who has nothing else to fear and a homage to Queer life. Was it mainstream ? Well, it was nominated for the Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. So, yeah. Go listen to it. And watch the 48 min movie that goes with it (13) We’re all Dirty Computers.

Also taking a more sexually explicit approach to music is St. Vincent is her latest LP, Masseduction (14) (2017). Annie Clark never hid her sexuality to the public, with high profile girlfriends like Carla Delevingne. She responded to a journalist asking if she was gay or straight : “I don’t think about those words. I believe in gender fluidity and sexual fluidity. I don’t really identify as anything. I think you can fall in love with anybody. I don’t have anything to hide but I’d rather the emphasis be on music.” 

Clark has stated that the album focuses on themes of power, sex, drugs, sadness, imperiled relationships and death. Contrary to her previous efforts, Masseduction is very first person narrative, a diary encompassing years of her life. Though not a explicit in her lyrics as some of her companions, St. Vincent made an incredible album that infuses in its listener the idea that it actually does not matter if she’s singing about a male or a female love interest. In the eye of the storm called life, we’re all the same.

The visuals (15), though, have clear intentions of destroying the male gaze and give more value to the female body and mind. From the mouth of a Queer icon, it has value on so many levels.

Okay, okay. Four is enough for this article. I was told not to be too talkative around here. But guys, there’s so many great Queer artists at the moment. 

Serpentwithfeet (16) released his debut album Soil a year ago and this guy will break your heart with his incredible vocals and poetic imagination. Jake Shears (17) remains a fascinating creature to admire, even more so now that he’s taking a little time off from Scissor Sisters. Courtney Barnett (18) is awesome as fuck and her second opus was just as good as the first one. Frank Ocean (19) needs to do a third album — and make it better than the second one. Eddy De Pretto (20) is not my cup of hot jizz but he’s objectively great and , apart from Chris (21), who else is Queer in France right now ?

For the first time in our history, Queer people are able to exist in the public eye as Queer people, ending tabloids’ craziness about who’s closeted or not. Those artists, and some much others that I didn’t mention, give us voices that stays inside the minds of people that are not us and don’t always understand who we are. In my opinion, they are doing God’s work… and I’m a atheist. But we all know that God is a Queer Jewish Black Woman. Halleloo.