Sarah Shook had the makings of an artist from an early age. By 9 years old it wasn't uncommon to see her writing songs, poems and short stories that would become the precursors to the [...]
Dress off. Hair down. "Flowerbomb." Like many sexual experiences, there's a slow but powerful build, and it takes Siena Liggins' brand-new song a full minute to drop. But at that point, it's still far from over. As [...]
Even in prison, Shea Diamond was a star. The concrete floor her stage, the men her audience. And the acoustics? “The best,” Diamond says. The 40-year-old soul songstress stretched her body over the hard ground, [...]
The pessimism of their name aside, Liz and the Luckouts are a safe bet if you’re looking for “Detroit rock 'n' roll, just raw rock 'n' roll,” said Gretchen Domino, who plays bass and joins in on vocals. “Our sound is hard to describe.”
Will the opportunity to spend an intimate evening of song and music with cast members from the national touring production of “On Your Feet” motivate enough people to jump to their feet on the evening [...]
Few artist are willing to take on topics as complex as the prison industrial complex, painkiller addiction and faith — let alone on one album — but the Indigo Girls certainly don't shy away from [...]
Falling in love, as thrilling as it is, requires a huge level of vulnerability. That immensely happy and slightly uncomfortable feeling is encapsulated in Rachael Cantu’s most recent music video “You’re the Most.” Its dreamy [...]
That Britney album better come quick – preferably before the world combusts from nuclear warfare. On the horizon for the rest of what’s shaping up to be a very gay 2018 outside of Brandi Carlile’s recently released must-hear masterwork? New Robyn, new Kylie, new Troye. If only our current political era was as promising as this year’s albums-release slate.
Take a look at his picture, and there’s no getting around it: Detroit native and dance music sensation Simon Black is a little unusual. “I’ve always danced to the beat of my own drum,” Black said. “I used to think that was something bad. But now I don’t.” Black traces his love of music to his formative years in the 1980s. “I was an ‘80s baby and MTV was new,” he said. “The artists that were hot at the time are the ones who inspired me to be who you see today: Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson.” Madonna, especially, spoke to young Mr. Black.
That Britney album better come quick – preferably before the world combusts from nuclear warfare. On the horizon for the rest of what’s shaping up to be a very gay 2018 outside of Brandi Carlile’s [...]
It’s been nearly five years since Detroit-based recording artist Logan Mario sat down for an interview with BTL. Since that time, Mario has been busy. When last we spoke Mario had just released “Love is [...]
Never one to take it slow, 21-year-old Lansing rapper Mikeyy Austin has released a full-length album, a mixtape and multiple singles in two years. Now, the emerging artist is cooking up another project, a mixtape [...]
Ever since The Ark got its start in Ann Arbor in 1965, it was envisioned as a place for University of Michigan students to be able to gather together in a creative space. Four local [...]
Donald Trump is still tweeting (oh yeah, and somehow still president). Free internet porn could be a bygone luxury thanks to #RIPNetNeutrality. But hey, music in 2017 didn't suck! Read on for the music that [...]
The resistance is in full swing, with late-night talk show hosts railing against Donald Trump's total incompetence as president and oppressed communities uniting to rally for equality. But they're not the only ones giving freedom, [...]
Kesha, 'Rainbow' Don't be surprised if Kesha needed "Rainbow," her first album since 2012's "Warrior," as much as the queer kids questioning their place in this mad, queer-resistant world do. Her comeback album's soaring first [...]
Kesha, 'Rainbow' Don't be surprised if Kesha needed "Rainbow," her first album since 2012's "Warrior," as much as the queer kids questioning their place in this mad, queer-resistant world do. Her comeback album's soaring first [...]
Mary J. Blige, 'Strength of a Woman' Fear not, weary gays, the rock that is Mary J. Blige is here to save the day with new muses - see: drama - for her latest serving [...]
Ryan Adams, 'Prisoner' Ryan Adams, known in part for making Taylor Swift cooler to pop-resistant granola girls (he recorded, in full, a beautiful version of her Grammy-winning "1989" behemoth), is back to his old tricks [...]
Bette Midler, 'The Divine Miss M: Deluxe Edition' Long before Bette Midler became social media's beloved socio-political rabble-rouser, before "Wind Beneath My Wings" and your annual viewing of "Hocus Pocus," she was singing the soundtrack [...]
Frank Ocean, 'Blond' The genius of Frank Ocean's intimate second release is its scant emphasis on sexuality. Despite the attention given to Ocean's queerness after his groundbreaking coming out in 2012, when the gifted Grammy [...]
'The Complete Trio Collection,' Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt Nowhere in the backstory notes to the "The Complete Trio Collection" does it say that when Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt finally [...]
Lori McKenna, 'The Bird & the Rifle' Music Row's renowned wordsmith Lori McKenna doesn't exactly bury this casual burn, but still, you might miss it. You might because Lori McKenna's exceptional 10th studio album teems [...]
Everyone has their own theory about Beyonce's "Lemonade." Is it about her marriage to Jay Z? Her father's infidelity? America's pervasive racism and its wrenching consequence: the slaughtering of innocent blacks? Is it about Orlando [...]
Cyndi Lauper, 'Detour' Girls just want to have... a country album? If you're Cyndi Lauper and your repertoire is as delightfully ADHD as hers - the American Songbook, pop ear-candy, the blues, a damn musical [...]
Gwen Stefani, 'This Is What the Truth Feels Like' Poor Gwen Stefani, all heartbroken on "Used to Love You," the launch single from her long-delayed album that set the stage for what seemed like a [...]
Sia, 'This Is Acting' Before she rebranded herself as a behind-the-scenes scribe for mainstream pop giants, Sia reveled in authenticity. Every feeling was pure - and even if it didn't reflect her life, you believed [...]
10. Madonna, 'Rebel Heart' In 2015, it was strange hearing Madonna sound so... human. A cluster of cuts from the queen's 13th studio album imparted a rare authenticity and striking vulnerability typically not ascribed to [...]
David Bowie, 'Five Years 1969-1973' The iconic cover of the U.K. edition of David Bowie's 1971 release "The Man Who Sold the World" features the queer icon sprawled out in a silky gown, pensively gazing [...]
Internationally acclaimed countertenor Terry Barber has teamed up with 17-time Grammy-winning "Classical Producer of the Year" Steven Epstein (of yo-yo ma, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Placido Domingo, etc) to create "Christmas Presence," a collection of [...]
Janet Jackson, 'Unbreakable' With her nipple safely tucked away, Janet Jackson resurrects a bygone bondage-less sound that's more "Good Times" than straight up sexy time. No "Would You Mind"-type on-tape masturbation. No "Damita Jo"-era "Sexhibition." [...]
Carly Rae Jepsen, 'E*MO*TION' Carly Rae Jepsen came out of nowhere, seized radio, dug a hole in your head and planted a little song there named "Call Me Maybe." It grew and grew. It grew [...]
Miguel, 'Wildheart' Carnal sex is the gateway to bittersweet romanticism on Miguel's modern-lust-and-love odyssey, "Wildheart." And the pompadoured R&B seducer's third studio album is not beating around the bush. Or is it? In the most [...]
Shamir, 'Ratchet' The latest wave of gender-defying youth just got wavier with Shamir, a 20-year-old cutie-patootie from Vegas who's tearing down rigid archetypes by way of gender ambiguity and a brazen "no fucks to give" [...]
Los Angeles - Wedding bells will be ringing this summer for many in the LGBT community and in singer Garrett Miller's first single off of his new album, "Blond Jesus." Celebrations will get started off [...]
You don't have to part with your Madonna. You can keep your Diana Ross, your other divas and all the queer classics that stoke your Pride playlist. But is your rainbow losing its luster? Is [...]
"Tori Amos who?" My dear friend, then boyfriend, must have been dumbfounded when I - a gay man - uttered these words that, in retrospect, are among the most naive of my life. I rolled [...]
Sufjan Stevens, 'Carrie & Lowell' Grief guides Sufjan Stevens' muse on "Carrie & Lowell." It's a remarkably wrenching release from the indie darling. "The evil it spread like a fever ahead / It was night [...]
Country music hasn't been fair to its underappreciated female populace, especially lately, as dudes increasingly dominate airplay with their beer-guzzling, truck-revving, bro-y ways. And even if Kacey Musgraves doesn't change that - and let's hope [...]
Kelly Clarkson, 'Piece by Piece' Kelly Clarkson's seventh studio album finds the "American Idol" champ at a crossroads. Does she fix what's not broken? And if not, how does a 32-year-old pop star demonstrate she's [...]
Fifth Harmony, 'Reflection' Raise your glass to girl-group power. It's returning thanks to music-maven Simon Cowell, who understands the need to resurrect this abandoned, gay-celebrated American tradition, where female voices unite for the purposes of [...]
Meghan Trainor, 'Title' It's true: We weren't ready for this jelly. But Meghan Trainor plopped her booty down anyway and made a seat for herself with "All About That Bass," 2014's doo-wop polemic that had [...]
10. Against Me!, 'Transgender Dysphoria Blues' Breaking from the aggressive rock roar of Against Me!'s sixth LP is "Two Coffins," a whisper among the glorious chaos of "Transgender Dysphoria Blues." Its simplicity might standout sonically, [...]
Mary J. Blige, 'The London Sessions' Nobody was sensing Mary J. Blige needed a change more than Mary J. Blige. To reinvent her sound, which she says was going "stagnant," the "No More Drama" singer [...]
Idina Menzel, 'Holiday Wishes' Idina Menzel is the luckiest person to have ever been called Adele Dazeem. The awkwardness of having her name butchered by John Travolta during this year's Oscars telecast gifted the Broadway [...]
If anyone epitomized a "moment in time," it was Whitney Houston. At her peak, she unleashed her unmistakable, hit-making voice to seize each one, each song, like it was her last. And then sadly, in [...]
Maybe you've heard: Taylor Swift has a new album, her fifth, and it's really good. It's actually the closest thing to a perfect pop release this year (that's right: Nashville's darling has gone full-on '90s [...]
Mary Lambert, 'Heart on My Sleeve' One chorus did wonders for Mary Lambert, the guest vocalist professing romantic interest in a girl on Macklemore's "Same Love." The Seattle slam poet was nominated for two Grammys, [...]
Melissa Etheridge, 'This Is M.E.' Since going indie, Melissa Etheridge must be feeling as free as when she first came out gay two decades ago. Throughout the punny, super-charged "This Is M.E.," the loose feels [...]
Jennifer Hudson, 'JHUD' Jennifer Hudson has never needed the post-studio polish her contemporaries depend on. Hudson proved she had the pipes on "American Idol," and then later, as Effie in "Dreamgirls," she triumphantly tore into [...]
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