Cher 'Believe' at 20: The story behd the world's most endurg gay anthem | PkNews

Contents:

• FROM YMCA TO BLOOM: CHARTG THE EVOLUTN OF THE GAY ANTHEM
• THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG
• CHER ‘BELIEVE’ AT 20: THE STORY BEHD THE WORLD’S MOST ENDURG GAY ANTHEM

FROM YMCA TO BLOOM: CHARTG THE EVOLUTN OF THE GAY ANTHEM

Three inic gay anthems turn 40 this year: Sylvter’s You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive and the Village People’s YMCA.

The 2009 book Queer by Simon Gage, Lisa Richards and Howard Wilmot lists 10 thematic creria for gay anthems: “a big-voiced diva”, “overg hardship love”, “you are not alone”, “throw your r away”, “hard-won self-teem”, “unashamed sexualy”, “search for acceptance”, “torch song for the world-weary”, “love nquers all” and “no apologi”. Gay pop n now, like never before, be both mastream and sexy: Troye Sivan’s Bloom is a thly veiled scriptn of losg his virgy, begng wh the playground chant of “Take a trip to my garn / I’ve got so much to show you” before the chos has him repeat, tong hard on every tough snare beat: “I bloom, I bloom, jt for you”.

THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG

Compare that wh Bronski Beat’s Smalltown Boy, an 80s gay anthem all about havg to pe opprsn.

Janelle Monáe’s Make Me Feel, meanwhile, is a bisexual update of Prce’s Kiss, wh a central rea – “That’s jt the way you make me feel / So real, so good, so fuck’ real” – payg homage to Sylvter’s earlier gay anthem. Usg terviews to -sign fans’ terpretatns of the lyrics, all three acts have cemented the songs’ stat as gay anthems. ” It is remiscent of gay in Lana Del Rey’s morbid attu, and post-Aids crisis gay anthems past that spoke about ath: Ja Jackson’s Together Aga, TLC’s Waterfalls, Pet Shop Boys’ Beg Borg, Gee Michael’s J to a uld jt be the more playful e of the word ath: when somethg is so good mak you jt “die”?

CHER ‘BELIEVE’ AT 20: THE STORY BEHD THE WORLD’S MOST ENDURG GAY ANTHEM

This nstant prciple of her work, along wh her vol support for her gay brother Frankie, had tablished her as a gay favoure long before the Manchter Arena bombg. Yet wh tragedy a relatable theme for LGBTQ+ people – who were among the hundreds affected May 2017 – and Gran performg Judy Garland’s Somewhere Over the Rabow at the subsequent One Love chary ncert, she acquired gay in ’s Heaven Is My Thg Aga, rellg two gay ins Madonna and Cyndi Lper, suggts good gays n go to heaven – “Jt take, take, take me away / I wanna go to heaven” (a le first livered on their 2004 breakthrough Heaven) – while Years & Years’ Sanctify ascrib gay sex a hols: “Sanctify the love that you crave / Oh and I won’t, and I won’t, and I won’t be ashamed.

Though was released 2017, Prayg ntu to tell a story 2018, as Dr Le’s new protege Kim Petras is herald by the ternatnal gay prs as “your new favoure popstar”, and supports Sivan on tour. Seemgly Petras’s trans inty – which she prefers not to mentn, spe her trans fanbase – is enough of a story of hard-won self-teem to five her volvement wh the wh more permissivens than ever around LGBTQ+ performers, are gay and straight pop cultur, like our clubbg scen, blendg to one?

”But who said gay anthems n’t still be daft, misleadg fun?