A Prideful Noise: celebrating LGBTQ+ musicians across genres, eras, and identities
A special Pride Month collaboration with Max Freedman and Mark Edward Randall
Every June, Pride Month offers an opportunity to celebrate individuality and honor those whose courage, self-determination, and activism led to the LGBTQ+ representation we witness today. Music is a beautiful avenue for expressing the aforementioned sentiments and waving one’s queer flag freely, be it through incisive lyrical content or flamboyant stage performances.
To celebrate Pride in style, I’ve enlisted Max Freedman of Lavender Sound and Mark Edward Randall of Musings Of A Broken Record to join me for a special collaboration. Having followed them both across the interwebs, I enjoy their individual perspectives on pop culture and their creative synergy. We each picked three musicians whose work matters to us across the colorful, rich queer spectrum, focusing on a total of nine diverse artists. Turn up the volume and tune into A Prideful Noise.
Arca
Although I’m far from the only person who loves to talk about how the late trans legend SOPHIE’s rubbery yet metallic production reshaped pop music, I’m in a slightly smaller circle when I praise SOPHIE’s friend and fellow trans innovator Arca for the same. Her output has traversed engrossingly horrifying instrumentals, ballads so syrupy and gorgeous they feel like high works of art, rickety and sputtering and off-kilter club bangers, and production for FKA twigs, Kelela, (sigh) Yeezus, and mother herself, Björk. Arca has been involved with so much of the past 13 years’ best music, and her best could be yet to come, and I want more respect put on her name.
RIYL: liquid mercury rushing out of a compression tank, music that drips like molasses, having panic attacks on the subway, but it’s ok because nobody looks at anyone else on the subway. —Max Freedman
Read more: Arca: “We’re all transitioning: from birth to death, it’s inevitable” (i-D)
CMAT
When I saw Irish bicon CMAT’s Philly show last month, she told the audience she was on a work visa that could theoretically be rescinded at any time, then immediately said “F**k ICE and Free Palestine” (correct!) because she’s fearless in her politics, and she’s just as fearless in her music. If you love campy theatrics, technically showy belting, hilarious lyrics, earnest heartbreak songs, political anthems, and country-pop with a wink, look no further. Or just wait five years till she’s as big as Chappell Roan and you can’t escape her.
RIYL: giving Bette Midler a fiddle, Kacey Musgraves when she’s funny, redhead drag queens, including but not limited to Jinkx Monsoon. —MF
Durand Bernarr
When Durand Bernarr sang “I’m a bad b***h, and I’m that n***a” on his 2022 disco-soul song “Mango Butter,” genderqueer folks across the African diaspora profoundly resonated with the declaration. The fluidity of this “social media bio-worthy” statement made us feel seen. Though the Cleveland-born artist (né Bernarr Durand Ferebee, Jr.) had been steadily releasing music and going viral for memes since the 2010s, this song felt like the moment he truly broke through.
Since then, Bernarr has experienced a meteoric rise—even winning his first Grammy in 2026 for Best Progressive R&B Album and subsequently appearing on many talk shows as his newfound fame grew. He’s adored for his unabashed comedic chops, extravagant vocal runs, and show-stopping confidence. But Bernarr’s also a singer’s singer, who’s unafraid to clock in for a background vocal sesh for artists known and unknown.
Bernarr’s self-titled fifth studio album was released this spring—according to a Billboard interview, what started as a deluxe edition to 2025’s Bloom ended up becoming a project all its own. Fans can catch him supporting Kehlani on her upcoming tour.
RIYL: hootin’ and hollerin’ (complimentary), skits woven into songs, affirmations amidst heartbreak tales. —Shanté
Keith Barrow
At the height of the pandemic, I went to a “fill a box for $5” sale at my local record store. Among the albums I came across was something called Physical Attraction by an artist I’d never heard of named Keith Barrow. While listening to the album, I looked up Keith Barrow and discovered that he only recorded four albums between 1973 and 1980 before passing away in 1983 at the age of 29. Barrow was an early casualty of the AIDS epidemic, having experienced ill health since 1979.
Barrow was the son of Willie Barrow, a prominent minister, Civil Rights Activist, and the first woman to be the executive director of a civil rights organization. Despite the Reverend Barrow’s background, she was always fiercely supportive of her son, adding LGBTQIA+ activism to her many causes after he came out to her. After Keith’s death, she spoke of him in interviews and continued to fight for the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community as well as people affected by HIV/AIDS, until she died in 2015.
Barrow didn’t have much success during his lifetime. Two singles from Physical Attraction, “You Know You Wanna Be Loved” and “Turn Me Up”, were both moderate R&B hits, the only chart entries in his short career. There is no doubt he would have had a great career if it hadn’t been tragically cut short. —Mark Edward Randall
Read more: Black History Month Celebration: Remembering Keith Barrow, Chicago’s R&B Melodic Maestro (Black Alphabet)
Kelela
I can’t just mention Kelela and not elaborate further. She’s often tagged as an R&B artist, but in my eyes, her greatest impact is within the sultry side of club music, the kind you hear deep into a rave. That impact could well expand tremendously with her upcoming third LP, next month’s new avatar, on which she’s bringing shoegaze and grunge (she was in a metal band before going solo) into her sound. Based on the singles so far, the LP is gonna break new ground across multiple genres and could well be my album of the year. Leave it to a queer Black femme to lead the way forward—from music to politics and their vast intersection, history repeats.
RIYL: club tracks with some air, tricky and shifty beats, songs whose beauty largely comes from the negative space left by a lack of percussion. —MF
Read more:
Oscar Scheller is the producer fueling PinkPantheress, Lily Allen, and Kelela (The FADER)
Opinion: Being a visible black woman in the music industry (Kelela via Resident Advisor)
Labi Siffre
Labi Siffre has been through a lot. He was proudly gay in a time when it wasn’t legal in the UK. He survived the 80s. And he’s still with us today. Siffre has been recording for over 55 years, but the quickest way to sum up his hitmaking career is in two parts.
The first was in the early 1970s. Siffre was a folk-style singer who gradually branched out into other genres. Under this guise, he scored three hits. The best known of these was likely “It Must Be Love”, which was later covered by Madness. The band paid tribute to the original by giving Siffre a cameo in the video for their version.
After a lean period, which included participating in A Song For Europe with “Solid Love,” but not making it into the gay Olympics that are Eurovision, Siffre took up recording again. The 80s were a more political time. Notably, there was the anti-Apartheid movement and AIDS activism. Both of these were causes Siffre held close to his heart. He saw a documentary that inspired him to write an anti-Apartheid song titled “Something Inside (So Strong)”, and was rewarded with a career revival.
While his second run was also short-lived and he hasn’t recorded an album in years, Siffre continues to stay in the public eye, and his music lives on amongst fans. He is someone I intend to write about in more depth later on. —MER
Read more: Labi Siffre Announces First Album in 28 Years, Shares New Song (Pitchfork)
Lava La Rue
Londoner Lava La Rue is a one-of-a-kind sonic shapeshifter who’s embraced various characters and sounds throughout their genre-fluid discography. Tracing back to the late 2010s, their earliest work is a mystical amalgamation of neopsychedelic soul and underground hip-hop. Meanwhile, La Rue’s 2024 conceptual, Afrofuturist debut album STARFACE finds the artist invigorating these reference points with notes of funk, dance, pop, and more.
With lyrics like “my girlfriend has a boyfriend” (“LOVEBITES”), and the acronym behind their latest punk-leaning EP Do You Know Everything, La Rue has never been shy about exploring sapphic romance in their work. At its core, their rebellious music reflects the artistic evolution of someone who grew up immersed in facets of rave culture and spearheaded DIY music events during their adolescence—a student of the world who leaves no inspirational stone unturned. The musician/director is also the founder of NiNE8, a multicultural arts and music collective.
RIYL: indie psych rock with glittery textures, art with DIY punk ethos, future soul, conceptual albums with alien love stories, Lenny Kravitz, Yves Tumor. —S
Ms. Boogie
Following the announcement of her transition in 2018, Ms. Boogie (AKA Rose Isabel Rayos) released a trail of standout singles before unveiling The Breakdown, her fabulous debut album from 2024. I was first introduced to the Dominican-Colombian rapper when she appeared on the remix for Kelela’s “LMK,” featuring aligned collaborators like Junglepussy, Princess Nokia, and cupcakKe. My reintroduction came in late 2020 with the heavy-hitting single “Fem Queen,” a celebratory posse cut with Bella Bags, Miss Blanks, and Trannilish.
With her distinctly mesmerizing New York accent, raw lyrics, and signature trills, Ms. Boogie brings much-appreciated diversity to the hardcore Brooklyn drill scene. She’s also proof that artists can make an impact with one memorable moment that keeps fans hoping for more. —S
Read more: A Radical Oral History of Ms. Boogie’s ‘The Breakdown’ (PAPER Mag)
Peaches
Peaches crossed my path in the early 2000s when I was reading Canadian free music publication Exclaim. I remember thinking she sounded really crass. Then I heard about her again in the NME when Fatherf**ker came out and thought the same thing twice.
Here’s the thing. Peaches is crass. But it’s bloody awesome. She’s unapologetically Peaches. And while I wish I knew her entire repertoire, the songs I do know by her are incredibly catchy. In a better world, she would have had the career of someone like Lady Gaga. Listen to “Downtown” and try to convince me otherwise.
I’m glad Peaches is crass, part of the rainbow, and a Canadian. I’m glad she is someone who tackles ageism in the LGBTQIA+ community head-on. And that she is also someone who doesn’t believe you should act a certain way just because you are getting older. She’s unashamed of who she is, and that brings so much to the table. —MER
Read more: Peaches: ‘I want to show my body even more now it’s older’ (The Observer)
More LGBTQ+ music acts to know
With such vast music knowledge and appreciation among the three of us, it’s only right that we conclude with even more for you to discover. Here are 31 more LGBTQ+ music acts to add to your library!
Ahya Simone
Arlo Parks
Avalon Emerson
Bronski Beat
Carl Bean
Communards
Courtney Barnett
Dan Hartman
Destin Conrad
Divine
Dua Saleh
Dusty Springfield
Erasure
Hazell Dean
Honey Dijon
Jayne County
Jimmy Somerville
Joan Armatrading
Jobriath
Omar Apollo
Orion Sun
Patrick Cowley
Perfume Genius
Pet Shop Boys
Rough Trade
Sans Soucis
Soltera
St. Vincent
Steve Lacy
Syd
Sylvester
Many thanks to Mark and Max for collaborating with me on this special feature. Please be sure to subscribe to their individual publications and check out their latest work!
Glad you enjoyed it Mark! That Keith Barrow album is an absolute hidden gem.
Amazing. I did not know most of these. Some real gems in here. Thank you all for putting this together.