Frank Ocean made a bold, career-defining decision ahead of his 2012 debut album. Before Channel Orangewas released, the R&B singer silenced the growing speculation about his sexual orientation.
In a poignant letter, posted on Tumblr and initially intended as the album’s liner notes, he sweetly detailed falling in love with a man, something he sang about on the album. It was a groundbreaking move for an artist in R&B and hip-hop, genres long riddled with unbridled homophobia.
“I don’t know what happens now, and that’s alrite,” he wrote. “I don’t have any secrets I need kept anymore.” What happened He became a critic’s darling, scored a Grammy and topped numerous year-end lists.
But nearly two years later, it’s worth asking, have the music industry and audiences grown any more comfortable with gay culture
Although the film and TV worlds have increased their number of LGBT stories, there is still no openly gay pop star ruling the charts and driving the conversation the way Beyonce, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Justin Timberlake do.
The openly gay British soul singer Sam Smith may be narrowing that gap with his recent chart success. And there are plenty of visibly out performers: From Ricky Martin to Adam Lambert to Scissor Sisters to Tegan and Sara to Dave Koz to Gossip, who are making interesting music in various genres. But name another openly gay performer who has managed to reach the same heights, or influence, and maintained the same cultural relevance as Elton John.
The lack of gay superstars in pop is especially odd considering how much of today’s music finds inspiration from gay culture. But the tide appears to be changing, finally.
It was a big deal when breakout Seattle hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis issued Same Love in 2012. A hip-hop song celebrating same-sex marriage, from a straight rap act at that, was unheard of – especially as hit rappers like Eminem use anti-gay slurs without consequence – and it became a Top 40 smash. It was even nominated for song of the year at the Grammys.
But as courageous and poignant as Same Love was (during the Grammy performance dozens of gay and straight couples were married), it’s hard not to wonder if the song would have enjoyed similar success had it come from a gay rapper.
Yes, artists like Jay Z and Adam Levine and Pink and many others have championed marriage equality, and pop divas Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Rihanna have incorporated choreography and vernacular lifted from gay culture as Madonna did before them, but the thought of mainstream gay performers still seems curiously distant.
Pop music has long been a youth-driven medium, which should have pushed it to the forefront of progressive thought – especially as society’s consciousness toward equal rights reached a tipping point.
After Ocean stunned the industry with his beautifully crafted letter, he was embraced, even heralded, by many – although he did face criticism for not divulging more details or actually using “gay” or “bisexual” in the letter.
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But what Ocean did was something many out performers didn’t have the luxury of doing: Addressing who he was on his own terms. By not subjecting himself to the People magazine cover story or PR-orchestrated announcement that has long been the standard, Ocean made his sexuality far less important than the music.
In the wake of Ocean’s glass ceiling moment, there’s been indicators that the landscape is changing – albeit slowly.
The queer rap scene has gotten more notice in the last two years, as explosive performers like Mykki Blanco, Big Freedia, Le1f and Zebra Katz have gotten notice with flamboyant aesthetics (many incorporate drag or subversive performance art into their act) and unapologetically gay rhymes.
Freedia, who has been around since the ’90s and helped put sweaty, twerk-centric New Orleans bounce music on the map, has a reality show on Fuse tracing his growing fame.
Blanco is winning over critics with his venomous rhymes channeled through a drag character who switches from street tough male to ultra-feminine. And since breaking out with party anthem “Wut” in 2012, New York rapper-producer Le1f scored a deal with Terrible Records and made his TV debut on the most mainstream of platforms – “Late Show With David Letterman.”
Their success and rising female voices such as Banks and Angel Haze openly discussing their sexuality continue to challenge hip-hop’s unacceptable yet shamefully tolerated misogynist and homophobic ways. Other genres are shifting too.
Last year, Steve Grand went from an unknown singer-songwriter and underwear model to viral celebrity in just a week after his video, All-American Boy, a tale of sweet, unrequited love for another man, amassed more than 1.2 million views on YouTube in 10 days. The country tune quickly gained traction for its groundbreaking potential in a genre that has been particularly shy about gay acts. Internet virility (and his striking looks) worked in his favor, and the $81,000 budget he set on Kickstarter to fund his debut album was matched four times over.
American Idol, which has been around for a dozen years, only recently had its first openly gay contestant when M.K. Nobilette competed last season.
Nobilette wasn’t the first gay competitor on the singing competition, but in previous years the show didn’t have contestants discussing their sexual orientation on camera despite delving, profoundly, into their personal lives.
The show’s most famous gay contestants, Adam Lambert (who never hid his sexuality) and Clay Aiken, “came out” after appearing on the show, although the media speculated on their orientation and the voters’ readiness for an openly gay winner during their seasons.
Now, Smith seems poised to make another kind of splash.
Since exploding on UK radio with hit collaborations Latch and La La La, all eyes have been on the baby-faced singer, 22, with stunning vocals and a knack for gorgeous, emotional balladry. His single Stay With Me, has peaked at No 1 in New Zealand and
