To coincide with their monthly residency on the MDR airwaves, Where Are The Girl Bands? offer us a monthly glimpse into what they’ve been up to and what’s caught their attention over the past 30 days…
As June comes to a close we see companies put their rainbow marketing away. The brief and fleeting focus on celebrating Queerness through pride month comes to a steady halt. The lives of LGBTQIA* people are no longer profitable or in season, and so the outspoken championing of Queer voices starts to fade into the background.
Regardless of when companies decide to turn their eye to Queer creatives, there is always an abundance of work, love and creation going on all year round for LGBTQIA* people. From fighting for human rights to creating artworks that allow people to see themselves reflected in the media they consume, the essence of pride is always with Queer people.
We wanted to find ways to help people support LGBTQIA* artists all year round and so we’ve put together a playlist titled ‘Where are the Queer Bands’ (a play on our project name, Where are the Girlbands) to help people find media that resonates with their experiences.
As a young Queer person, finding music that told my story was a huge part of finding self-acceptance and eventually coming out. I will always remember hearing ‘Girls like Girls’ by Hayley Kiyoko for the first time and sighing the biggest breath of relief. At this point in my life I’d already spent years taking ‘am I gay’ quizzes online, muttering prayers in shame at night, and searching different terms on Tumblr, hoping to find myself somewhere in the chaos. Some things had clicked, but I still felt as though I didn’t have the language to articulate the things I felt, and that, along with the other challenges that come with Queerness, was incredibly isolating. ‘Girls like Girls’ gave me that language, it gave me strength, and a song to scream along to through the years of teenage sapphic yearning. We hope that you find songs that can hold you like that within this playlist.
This playlist will continue to be updated throughout the year, so if you would like to be added (or have a suggestion of a local LGBTQIA* musician/band you would like to recommend) please let us know via DM at @wherearethegirlbands or email at wherearethegirlbands@gmail.com
|| WHERE ARE THE GIRLBANDS? ||