To create our list of the 100 Greatt, Gayt Albums of All Time, we polled more than 100 actors, edians, micians, wrers, crics, performance artists, label reps, and DJs, askg each to list the 10 albums that left the most lible imprsns on their liv.
Contents:
BEYONCé’S RENAISSANCE IS A BIG, GAY MS
Our mic is no different — even the Wikipedia entry for the phrase “gay anthem” not how LGBTQ artists revel the them of “perseverance, ner strength, acceptance, pri, and uny. Such is the se wh this 2002 soul document om a long-retired Atlanta artist who had the dacy and visn to addrs sexualy long before Frank Ocean, though Donnie’s groundbreakg The Colored Sectn don’t live s own self-imposed gay ghetto. It’s filthy and — to quote some other hedonistilly bent homos — geo.
Their alt-leang die rock is now cidly die pop, and the softer environs su their songs of squashed gay love, hookups, fatuatns. Havg taken the charts by storm wh what uld easily have turned out to be a one-h wonr, the “Old Town Road” wunrkd turns the gay up to fy and beyond, mak social media his booty ll bch, and tak over the world as the pop star he always was even when he was hangg out wh Miley’s dad. Now wh sexy flecks of gray hair as he approach his middle ag, his mic is more ntemplative, his fah more important if no ls ght for a gay man to rencile, and his overall posivy more hard-fought than should ever have to be.
Josiah Wise’s sophomore release as serpetwhfeet is no slump; fact, mh his unbridled gospel-fluenced experimentalism wh the groov and trop of morn electronic rhythm and blu to create a new, gay template of “quiet storm” croong, love, and eroticism. This is sad and soulful, gentle and turbulent, experimental and accsible: what you might hear a gay baret on another pla. Her send full length release is softer and ls bative than her but, which was necsary to be heard above the homophobic terwl of rap mic.
DOLLY PARTON’S NEW ALBUM SEEMS INSANE(LY GAY)
In the Uned Stat alone, queer and trans folks spent the year workg tirelsly agast more than 300 anti-LGBTQ bills state legislatur (cludg Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and Arkansas’ ban on genr-affirmg re for young people), threats towards genr diverse kids and their fai, a fatal shootg at a gay nightclub, and untls more tragedi and setbacks. Mic rapper/R&B sger born Danielle Balbuena v listeners to a web of her own sonic sign wh her darg sophomore album You Can’t Kill Me. For his long-awaed sophomore album, unrground NYC rapper Cak Da Killa uld have merely rumed his posn as the motor-mouthed firebrand of his early reer.
Wh Hold On, Baby, feels like she’s fally found — the sger-songwrer’s sophomore album strik a balance between sacchare pop hooks and broodg die rock productn that her but never que managed. The years may have put a slight stra on his voice, but they’ve only sharpened his penchant for cisive tal of sorrows both small (rejectn “Gay Bar Blu”) and far-reachg (the tle tracks tails a romance the face of racism, which ends tragedy). After a but of experimental, Korn-meets-Brney-Spears sonic fn, many were surprised when Sawayama’s sophomore effort felt more subdued and hive s soft-pop-rock feel.