Big Freedia on Queer Faith, Why She's Grateful to Beyoncé and Going Back to Church With ‘Pressing Onward’
Big Freedia’s voice has always been a force — loud, joyful, defiant — but on her new album, “Pressing Onward,” it becomes [...]
How Taylor Swift’s Music Gave a Trans Scholar Her Girlhood
When Harvard professor and celebrated poet Stephanie Burt listens to Taylor Swift’s “Fifteen,” she doesn't just hear a bittersweet teenage [...]
Maren Morris Talks Coming Out as Bisexual, Country Music and Her ‘Ceremonial’ WeHo Pride Debut
When Maren Morris headlined OutLoud Music Festival during West Hollywood Pride in May, she reveled in the “very ceremonial” moment. It had been a [...]
Sufjan Stevens Emerges From Two-Year 'Shitshow' With Rare Interview, Calls the Bible 'Very Gay'
In his first interview since revealing both his Guillain-Barré syndrome diagnosis and the death of his partner Evans Richardson IV last year, Sufjan [...]
In Glam and Gospel, Jake Wesley Rogers Finds God in the Margins
Jake Wesley Rogers is a poet in glitter and leather, a kind of spiritual guide for queer kids growing up in a world that still hasn’t fully figured out [...]
The Midwestern Spotlight: What Is It Really Like to Be a Queer Musician in Michigan?
With the recent rise of its princess, Chappell Roan, the Midwest's music scene has gained newfound attention. Roan’s journey to the top wasn’t [...]
An Ode to Kim Petras: Why America Needs More Trans Pop Stars Right Now
I was once putting my new sex playlist to the test when my hookup paused to point out that it was exclusively Kim Petras. I clarified that it was Kim Petras' [...]
When Arabic Lyrics Become American Refuge: A Queer Veteran's Relationship with Mashrou' Leila
Recently they’ve returned to my mix for reasons too obvious to state.
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan’s ‘Sweat’ Tour Launch in Detroit: A Queer Club on Steroids
If you popped on Grindr at around 8:20 p.m. on Saturday anywhere in Detroit, you saw a grid of faces and torsos that signaled Something Very Gay Is Happening [...]
Chappell Roan, Lollapalooza and a Whole Summer of Queer Celebration
Chicago’s Grant Park has likely never seen as much pink as it did on Aug. 1.That’s because Chappell Roan, self-proclaimed "Midwest princess" and [...]
The Michigan Roots of the Midwest Princess: Chappell Roan’s Interlochen Instructor on the Impact of an Artist Who ‘Knocked Me Out Immediately’
For its princess, Chappell Roan, the roots to the Midwest run deep. At Michigan’s own Interlochen Arts Camp, Roan wrote the song that would help launch [...]
Michigan LGBTQ+ Choruses Sing to the Rafters at National GALA Choruses Fest
The GALA Choruses Festival, held July 10-14 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is something to sing about, and not just because six Michigan-based choruses were in [...]
Muna and the Power of Queer Representation at Pitchfork Music Festival
I saw the indie pop band Muna perform live for the first time on my 22nd birthday. I had been a fan for years, and they were opening for Phoebe Bridgers at The [...]
Detroit’s Baddie Brooks Makes History at NYC Pride March
Detroit’s own Baddie Brooks repped Michigan like the talented boss bitch she is at the annual New York City Pride March on June 30, where she served as a [...]
Her True Colors, Still Shining Through: Cyndi Lauper Talks Reflective New Era, Farewell Tour and Championing LGBTQ+ Causes
At 70, Cyndi Lauper’s special place in pop music history can be seen everywhere you look. Look around at abortion rights rallies and you’ll see [...]
5 Things You Might Not Know About Cavetown
When Robin Skinner, aka Cavetown, brings his latest tour to Sterling Heights on July 12, expect the “bedroom pop” vibes the performer has been [...]
From Small-Town Roots to Big Pride Performances: How Michigan Shaped Wreckno's Musical Queerness
Growing up in the small town of Manistee in northern Michigan, Brandon Wisniski, better known by their stage name Wreckno, didn’t have much of a queer [...]
‘Queer Drunk Punk’ Author Zehava Frieman on How Growing Up in Grosse Pointe Park Inspired Her Debut Novel
When Zehava Frieman finally sat down to write “Queer Drunk Punk” in 2021 on the tail end of decades of what she describes as “creative [...]
Three Years Ago, Detroit Techno Icon DJ Minx Came Out. Now, She's Living a Life She Never Thought She Could.
Jennifer Witcher is better known as DJ Minx at the Spot Lite Detroit nightclub and coffeehouse, where she saunters in one weekday afternoon in late February in [...]
Fern Fest Women's Music Festival Is Moving, But Staying True to Its Inclusive Roots
Change is in the air for Michigan’s Fern Fest, a six-day women’s music festival that has experienced rapid growth since its first ever gathering in [...]
Let’s Try This Again: Meet Cakes da Killa, a Rap ‘Foremother’ Who Just Happens to Be Queer
It’s a sign of the times that a rapper can be Black, openly queer and free from the genre’s deep-seated hypermasculinity, and not just be named Lil [...]
From Movement to Electric Forest and Beyond: Your Queer Guide to Music Festivals
Something about a music festival feels intrinsically and irrevocably queer. Perhaps it’s the fact that they pretty much originated, at least in the United [...]
5 Questions with Queer ‘On Your Feet!’ Cast Member Jake Dylan Ahead of Fox Theatre Performance
Detroiters will have only a brief opportunity to see the Broadway hit musical “On Your Feet! The Story Of Emilio & Gloria Estefan” when the [...]
