Acceptance in the music industry is still conditional for queer artists

Music has long been an indispensable part of queer culture, aiding in self-expression, community building, and social empowerment. The 1920s saw the rise of the ballroom scene. In the 70s and 80s, there was disco culture and the queercore movement — a branch of punk subculture — which created accepting spaces for the marginalized in an otherwise tumultuous time.

When, at the age of 13, I found myself questioning my identity, I turned to music in the same way that the generations of queer people before me had. At the peak of my teenage angst and sexuality crisis, I found Troye Sivan. His music — which alluded to his experiences with adolescence, queerness, and unrequited love — became a source of comfort and solidarity for me.

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Until his single Youth was released in 2016, I was the only one in my class — maybe even my school — who listened to Sivan. But with the song’s popularity, the singer was catapulted into mainstream success. All of my classmates suddenly knew who he was. It seemed inevitable that Sivan would become the Next Big Thing: His groovy music, boyish charm, and strong social media presence made him the perfect candidate.

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Despite these factors, the singer was unable to consistently replicate the success of his first few singles. While he continues to be a prolific and affluent musician, there is a sense of unreached potential.

Sivan discussed this challenge in 2019 on the Homo Sapiens podcast, where he said he wondered if his inability to reach the same level of commercial success as his cis-het counterparts could be attributed to him being “in your face gay.”

“We are seeing more and more queer artists pop up,” he added, “but we don’t have a queer Taylor Swift, we don’t have a queer Rihanna, or a queer Beyoncé.”

The last decade has seen several queer musicians soar to fame. To name a few, Sam Smith, girl in red, Lil Nas X, and Troye Sivan have gained both critical acclaim and loyal audiences. While it may seem like the music industry is more inclusive and liberated than ever before, many of these artists have found it challenging to be expressive about their queerness.

In 2022, Old Town Road singer Lil Nas X — the only artist to have come out as gay while having a No. 1 song on the Hot 100 — also talked about the music industry’s suppression and sanitization of queer identity, saying the industry wanted artists to “be gay without being gay.” When the singer was sexually explicit in the video for MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name), he faced tremendous backlash.

Sam Smith has also been on the receiving end of similarly relentless hate since they came out as nonbinary and became bolder in their music videos and performances. While before, their music primarily consisted of asexual, sorrowful ballads with music videos featuring heterosexual couples or simply Smith alone singing to the camera, the singer has now embraced their sexuality and become increasingly comfortable making more provocative and sexually empowered videos.

This empowerment has led to several comments about them belonging in hell, and to them being heckled and called a pedophile while out walking. An article published in Vogue dove into how no one would have given Sam Smith any thought if they were a cis, straight woman. It is their queerness that makes their behavior supposedly scandalous and harmful.

Thus, audience acceptance is conditional. It is apparently okay to be gay as long as there is no mention of queer desires, sex, or romance. As singer-songwriter Hayley Kiyoko said, she is not trying to turn heads by making out with or singing about women in music videos — that is simply her life.

Even as they are forced to sanitize their experiences and identities, LGBTQ+ musicians’ queerness is inextricably linked to their work, whether they like it or not.

Despite girl in red’s debut album being primarily about her struggles with mental illness, the singer is still pigeonholed as someone who makes music exclusively for queer audiences. Asking “do you listen to girl in red?” has become a coded way to ask if someone is queer. The singer has talked about this phenomenon, stating that while she was happy her songs had become anthems for young LGBTQ+ people, she wished her sexual orientation wasn’t such an issue amongst listeners.

The comments brought back memories surrounding the release of Youth, when a boy in my class humming the song under his breath immediately clarified that he was not gay, spitting the word out like it was a profanity. Some weeks later, an older girl was quick to turn the song off when it played on my phone, wrinkling her nose and telling me she didn’t like that gay singer.

I realized then that my favorite musicians would never be able to escape the label of their queerness in the way that straight artists can transcend their sexuality.

Taylor Swift could make endless music about men without anyone complaining she is being repetitive or shoving an agenda into people’s faces. But for queer artists, it is impossible to be separated from their identities. They are always seen as queer icons instead of simply an icons, as lesbian singers instead of simply singers. This is one reason why — despite creating music for a long time — musicians like Hayley Kiyoko, Arca, SOPHIE, and Troye Sivan are still seen as indie musicians with niche, cult followings, never able to fully break into mainstream pop and sell out huge arena tours like their cis-het counterparts.

Despite being unable to find the success they deserve, it is vital that queer artists continue to resist the suppression of their identities and strive to take up space in the music industry.

Fortunately, this is exactly what they are doing: Lil Nas X recently finished his debut world tour in March; Hayley Kiyoko just released her first novel based on her hit song Girls like Girls, and Troye Sivan’s newest album is expected to come out in 2023.

By staying true to itself, queer music continues to form a safe space for the marginalized like it always has, aiding young people like me in our search for community and acceptance.

We have certainly come a long way from when it was difficult to find any queer representation in the industry at all, but there is still a long way to go. When I found Troye Sivan all those years ago, I realized that there were others out there who had experienced the same confusion, isolation, and shame that I had — and they turned out fine.

This is why queer stories must continue to be told, and community needs to be at the center of queerness. Because somewhere out there is a 13-year-old kid looking for someone to tell them there is nothing wrong with who they are.