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 [...]
Ariana Grande, 'My Everything' Ariana Grande doesn't wanna be your "next Mariah Carey." Shattering the classic-Carey image she somehow became known for (aside from a honeyed coo here and there, I still don't get the [...]
Barbra Streisand, 'Partners' Joined by a plethora of esteemed men on "Partners," Barbra Streisand duets with one in particular who stands out above the rest: her gay son, Jason Gould. The two share Irving Berlin's [...]
Tori Amos has so many babies - you know, those precious things, her songs, that she's seen change and grow throughout the years. Taking the stage on Wednesday night, Aug. 6, at the Fox Theatre [...]
Amy Grant, 'In Motion: The Remixes' When you're grinding up against a shirtless prospect in the thick of a gay dance orgy, nothing sets the sexy-time mood quite like some Amy Grant, right? You know, [...]
Jason Mraz, 'Yes!' Here to make you feel better about your life is Jason Mraz, the Oprah of white-boy balladry. He's got your "remedy," and it's called "Yes!," an album of life-affirming mantras expressed simply [...]
BTL Staff MotherJones reports that singer and actress Demi Lovato has released a video with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) supporting marriage equality. According to the HRC, "Demi has made anti-bullying advocacy a cornerstone of [...]
Sia, '1000 Forms of Fear' Sia's come a long way since "Breathe Me," a song so emotionally vulnerable, it's overwhelming. No wonder premier pop starlets have been knocking on her door, hoping for a piece [...]
Lana Del Rey, 'Ultraviolence' The feigned public image adapted by Lizzy Grant (better known as Lana Del Rey) extends to the singer's latest album, "Ultraviolence," where her divisive commentaries on greed, danger and dying complement [...]
Miranda Lambert, 'Platinum' While Miranda Lambert's restless peers stray from the purity of the country genre to achieve mainstream acclaim, the "Nashville Star" alum has been widely popularized by sticking to her guns. She's known [...]
With the glorious powerhouse "Vanishing," off her star-making 1990 debut, Mariah Carey couldn't have known she'd be foreshadowing another release some 25 years later. "If I could recapture all of the memories, bring them to [...]
Lykke Li, 'I Never Learn' Because it's Lykke Li, heartache is the obvious impetus for "I Never Learn," a ceaseless outpouring of dire, pillow-soaked woe inspired by the Swedish singer's very public post-breakup brokenness. Though [...]
Tori Amos, 'Unrepentant Geraldines' It took Christmas carols, 400-year-old classical music themes and a lovestruck "light princess" for Tori Amos to recapture her burned-out muse. The fire, though, is back with "Unrepentant Geraldines," the piano [...]
Dolly Parton, 'Blue Smoke' A song off Dolly Parton's 42nd studio album, "Lover du Jour," is as hilariously cheesy as some of the legend's own quips. On it, she warns, "I am not for your [...]
Photo: Andrew Potter It wasn't even Easter, but on April 12 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, a deity was resurrected. Towering above her disciples on a pillar, and in a headdress that [...]
Cyndi Lauper, 'She's So Unusual' Essayist Jancee Dunn (co-author of "Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir") sums up the influence, reach and enduring relevance of Cyndi Lauper's 1983 debut "She's So Unusual" with a single thought: "How [...]
George Michael, 'Symphonica' Those personal woes, the drugs, the health problems - the toll all that's taken on George Michael's voice must be immense, right? Wrong. Though "Symphonica" is the pop star's first release since [...]
Kylie Minogue, 'Kiss Me Once' You gotta feel bad for every non-gay American not currently enraptured by Kylie Minogue. Sure, they know the Aussie diva for "The Loco-Motion" and, if they are at all conscious, [...]
Lea Michele, 'Louder' The business of turning a theater-born star into a bona fide pop act isn't as easy as it looks, and Lea Michele knows this from seeing her "Glee" co-stars, Matthew Morrison and [...]
Against Me!, 'Transgender Dysphoria Blues' The remarkable thing about "Transgender Dysphoria Blues" - besides, of course, it being an emancipating declaration of independence - is that it even exists. Can you imagine, in the late [...]
Jennifer Holliday, 'The Song Is You' Jennifer Holliday is not going. And even though it's been 23 years since the Grammy winner - the original Effie in Broadway's "Dreamgirls" - released a secular solo studio [...]
