Loud & Proud

To highlight some of the acts that are awaiting festival and headline show bookings, a number of ’s partner agencies have submitted details of LGBTIQ+ artists on their rosters. In addition to the talent showcased in the following pages, we have also compiled tracks for a special Pride Playlist, which includes submissions from ATC Live, CAA, ICM Partners, FMLY, Hometown Talent, ITB, Mother Artists, Paradigm, Primary Talent, Progressive Artists, UTA and WME.

BIG FREEDIA (US)

AGENTS Zoe Williamson & Christian Bernhardt, UTA

Known as the larger-than-life ambassador of New Orleans bounce music, Big Freedia is a nationally recognised hiphop artist, performer and TV personality. In addition to releasing her own critically acclaimed EPs – 3rd Ward Bounce (2018) and Louder (2020) – Big Freedia has appeared on several high-profile projects, including her cover of Judas on Lady Gaga’s Born this Way The Tenth Anniversary album (June 2021).

She also appeared on Beyoncé’s Grammy award-winning Formation and on Drake’s Nice For What, always bringing her distinctive voice and signature catchphrases to her work.

In 2011, her ascension in the music industry was chronicled on the highly rated reality show, Big Freedia Bounces Back. She was the official host for the 2019 Met Gala IG live-stream red carpet event, and a host on 2021’s Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve TV show. Known by her fans as the “Queen Diva,” Big Freedia is a loud-and-proud advocate for racial and gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights.

Big Freedia’s highly anticipated EP Big Diva Energy will be released in July 2021.

JERRY PAPER (US) AGENT Joren Heuvels, Hometown Talent

Jerry Paper is Lucas Nathan. Jerry Paper is instant coffee, bullshit jobs, weekly therapy sessions, crises of conscience, corporate mascots, 5-MeO-DMT trips, jokers down on their luck, surveillance, a jacked dad high on meth at a child’s party, apologies, trash cans, cacti, and the magic of words.

From its initial days as a DIY solo synth project in the early 2010s to its current incarnation as a five-piece band, Jerry Paper has always been the earthly conduit for the wild and uncanny imagination of its creative mastermind. Lucas began performing under the alias Jerry Paper in 2012, releasing their latest album Abracadabra via Stones Throw Records in 2020.

JOHN GRANT (US) AGENT Rob Challice, Paradigm

When 2017’s BBC Proms season at London’s Royal Albert Hall presented the Songs of Scott Walker (1967-70), bringing to life some of the most glorious, rousing and poignant songs of their era, it was almost a given that John Grant would be one of the select chosen interpreters. He was a perfect fit, possessing a similarly glorious dulcet baritone to Walker and an equal command of melody, depth and power, with lyrics that scoped out across love, pathos, tragedy and resilience with poetic candour.

Grant has collaborated in film, with songs chosen for Andrew Haigh’s film drama Weekend, HBO TV series Looking, and Daisy Asquith’s Queerama, which documented a century of LGBT+ pride and persecution. His own repertoire includes three outstanding solo albums to date, starting with 2010’s Queen Of Denmark (MOJO magazine’s Album of the Year) and 2013’s Pale Green Ghosts – which helped earn him Attitude Magazine’s Man of the Year award in 2013. 2015’s Grey Tickles, Black Pressure was a top five album in the UK, showing how Grant continues to broaden his audience.

Live, he is simply a great entertainer, whether playing as a duo, or with a full band, or a band plus orchestra, such as the Royal Northern Sinfonia or the BBC Philharmonic.

If this wasn’t enough, Grant might win awards for best singing multilinguist; alongside his mother tongue he speaks fluent German, Spanish, Russian, and now the incredibly difficult language of Iceland, which led to him providing the English translations for Icelandic superstar Ásgeir’s album In The Silence.

Grant toured with Elbow in Autumn 2017 and released his acclaimed fourth album, Love Is Magic, in October 2018. His incredible journey continues ever-upwards.

© GregLinJiajie

GIRLI (UK)

AGENT Rob McGee, FMLY

If you describe something as ‘girly,’ it’s not necessarily the strongest,” says 22-year-old Milly Toomey. “It’s kind of derogatory. I wanted to take that back and be, like, why? I wanted to make pink punk again and reclaim the word ‘girl.'”

That feminist impulse has driven the defiant, brash, electro-pop music Milly has made under the name GIRLI since she was a teenager, earning her plaudits from The Guardian, NME, and i-D, for hit singles like Hot Mess and 2019 debut album Odd One Out, which was described as “gutsy” by The Guardian, and "unapologetic and audacious" by Clash.

Newly confident in her identity as a bisexual woman and an artist on an independent label, she’s releasing EP Ex Talk as a reintroduction to GIRLI. She's grown a lot since she first emerged at 17, not least because of how she's thrown herself into the online LGBTQ community, but also in her embrace of different sounds and styles, pushing the boundaries of what girly actually is.

“This EP is me not being afraid to make new things. Before I think I was always trapped by thinking is this GIRLI enough? Well, what is girly? I’m kind of starting from scratch, and I don't need to be boxed in.”

RINA SAWAYAMA (UK)

AGENT Sally Dunstone, Primary Talent

Releasing her critically acclaimed debut album, SAWAYAMA, in the height of a global pandemic was a brave decision for Rina, however her leap of faith paid off in leaps and bounds. The album has amassed over 100 million streams since release and ranked in more than 50 album of the year lists for 2020, including New York Times (#2), The Guardian (#3), Dazed (#2), Rough Trade (#3), Rolling Stone (#6), Vogue (#14), NME (#7) and a prominent feature in the BBC’s Albums of the Year, while her place as a true popstar was cemented at the end of 2020 when she made her TV debut performing single XS on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

The pace hasn’t reduced in 2021. In April, Sawayama released a special rendition of Chosen Family with Elton John. The powerful ballad explores the concept of a chosen family through a queer lens – highlighting the many members of the LGBTQ+ community who have been ostracised by their family, friends or community after coming out, but who find love and comfort in their new ‘chosen’ family.

Sawayama has already secured support slots with Years & Years and Charli XCX, while her own six-date headline tour of the UK kicks off in November, and already includes two sold-out London dates.

TAYLA PARX (US)

AGENT Ari Bernstein, ICM Partners

Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and boundary breaker Tayla Parx reimagines genre, gender, feminism, popular music, and the very definition of an artist. From the onset of her career, Parx has consistently shifted perspectives on stage as a performer, behind-the-scenes as a songwriter, and on-screen as an actress in television, films and video games.

In 2019, Parx was the first female songwriter to have three simultaneous top 10 songs – Ariana Grande's 7 Rings and thank u, next; and Panic! At The Disco’s High Hopes – in the Billboard Hot 100 since 2014. Parx notably penned a total of six tracks on Grande's blockbuster album Positions, including 34+35 and pov. Not to mention co-writing the double-platinum track Love Lies for Khalid and Normani; Anderson .Paak's Tints; Dan and Shay’s Glad you Exist; Dua Lipa’s If it Ain’t Me; and four cuts from Janelle Monáe’s album Dirty Computer.

Following her breakout TaylaMade mixtape and the success of her smash Runaway (feat. Khalid), her 2019 debut album, We Need to Talk was powered by anthems such as I Want You, Me vs. Us, and Rebound. As her profile rose, she served up an unforgettable live show, night after night, on tour with the likes of Lizzo and Anderson .Paak.

Her second full-length album, Coping Mechanisms, touches on the importance of self-care. “The main topic of the album is finding yourself again,” she says. “On each project, you can hear me discover myself at different ages. On TaylaMade, I was in my early twenties. Now, I’m in my mid-twenties. This is the journey I’m going through now and how I coped with the story I told on We Need to Talk.”

RINA MUSHONGA (IN)

AGENT Rob Gibbs, Progressive Artists

Rina Mushonga has a rich cultural background and a history of moving around. She was born in India and grew up in Zimbabwe, London and Amsterdam. It’s from this impermanent nature that Mushonga has crafted her unique, genre-defying musical approach and buzzing eclecticism.

The pop innovator weaves a glittering constellation of warped synths, Afropop rhythms and addictive, soul-lifting vocal harmonies. Her sophomore album In A Galaxy was written and recorded in London and explores themes of transformation and identity. Full of reflections on the cosmos and our place in it, Mushonga describes the album as sounding like “Paul Simon in a sweaty, African dancehall club.”

The album received stellar reviews from the likes of Pitchfork and The Independent, while the NME pegged Mushonga’s performance at The Great Escape 2019 as one of their festival highlights. For her part, Mushonga says, “I hope people find what I do refreshing and maybe even hear something new and be moved; maybe to dance, maybe to cry.”

KING PRINCESS (US)

AGENCY WME

King Princess is a singer, songwriter, and music producer. She rose to fame in 2018 with her singles 1950 and Talia, before her debut album Cheap Queen was released in 2019.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, as Mikaela Mullaney Straus, she is the daughter of recording engineer Oliver H. Straus Jr. and Agnes ‘Aggie’ Mullaney. Her parents divorced while she was young and she spent much of her childhood following her father to work at his recording studio, Mission Sound. There she learned several instruments, including bass, guitar, piano, and drums, as well as music production techniques and insight into the music industry. Legend has it that she was first offered a record deal at the age of 11.

After high school, she moved to Los Angeles to study at the USC Thornton School of Music. However, after a year, she dropped out in favour of her music career. Early songs like Send Pix and Sunburn, before breakthrough queer love anthem 1950 became her first release for Mark Ronson’s Zelig Records label. Her debut album was a top 20 hit on the Billboard Top Alternative Albums chart, while last year she followed up with singles, Ohio and Only Time Makes It Human. "I use ‘she’ as my preferred pronoun,” she says. “In my experience, ‘she’ encompasses my gender and my sexuality, which are very different. I identify as a genderqueer person, and simultaneously as a gay woman and I'm okay with those being at odds with each other sometimes.”

BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT (UK)

AGENT Phyllis Belezos, ITB

Bright Light Bright Light (aka Rod Thomas) is an award-winning independent artist who is the only unsigned artist ever to have performed on Graham Norton's BBC One TV show. He has recorded and toured with Sir Elton John, Erasure and Scissor Sisters, and opened for Cher. His 2020 #1 UK dance album Fun City was written to amplify and uplift the LGBTQ+ community and featured 12 LGBTQ+ guests including Andy Bell of Erasure.

Through his live career, he has opened for heritage LGBTQ+ acts, given opening slots on his tours to upcoming LGBTQ+ artists and DJs, and used live shows to raise money – and crucially, awareness – for local independent LGBTQ+ charities in the cities he plays. He has had three Top 20 UK Independent Chart albums with no label backing, been supported by BBC Radio 2 across three album campaigns, and is now scoring an LGBTQ+ film before live shows come back into full effect.

TODRICK HALL (US)

AGENT Emma Banks, CAA

We all respond to crises in different ways, but when lockdown hit, Todrick Hall knew right away what he needed to do. Which, of course, was to buy a full-size, pink, blue and yellow, 80s Ms. Pac-Man arcade machine and install it in his house. But there was something else he needed to do too. On a Monday in April, he decided to record a lockdown-themed EP, by Tuesday night he was recording the first songs, by Friday the whole thing was finished, and four days later the Quarantine Queen EP was streaming worldwide. “People tell me they see it as work ethic,” he says, “but I see it as passion. I wake up and the only thing I want to do is create.”

Upon leaving American Idol in 2009 (after reaching the semi-finals), he put his Broadway career on pause and moved to Los Angeles, reasoning he could raise his profile high enough to return to Broadway and land bigger roles. “Moving to LA was the only way I knew how to be able to come back to Broadway as a star.”

His own MTV show, Todrick, ran for precisely one season, but touring, or albums like Straight Outta Oz, Forbidden or Haus Parties, or a scene-stealing Drag Race appearance kept him in the limelight and it’s no coincidence that Todrick has become one of the planet’s most inspiring LBGTQ+ role models. “It took me such a long time to say, as a kid from Texas: ‘I’m a proud gay man, I’m African-American: this is me,’” he says. “The only time in my life I feel completely understood is when I’m performing. When I’m making people smile and laugh, it’s my food, my energy, my fuel, my drug, my everything.”

And the next few years? His current goals involve a kids TV show, a Netflix extravaganza, and his own Broadway production.

ANJIMILE (US) AGENT Colin Keenan & Stuart Kennedy, ATC Live

Anjimile Chithambo, known mononymously as Anjimile, is a queer and trans song maker, born and raised in Dallas but now based in Boston, Massachusetts. When it comes to composition, Anjimile draws upon everything he’s learned, from the African pop beloved by his parents, to his time in a youth choir, to later influence from Sufjan Stevens and 80s music.

Inspired by faith, addiction, and his own transition, each song on Anjimile’s debut album Giver Taker tells a small story, which together encompass a larger voyage of self-discovery. The album was awarded one of the best 50 albums of 2020 by National Public radio in the United States.

LIST 2021

The wait is finally over: Magazine’s first annual LGBTIQ+ List launches here and now.

The LGBTIQ+ List 2021 celebrates the outstanding LGBTIQ+ professionals who make an immense impact in the international live music business. This year’s top 20, as nominated by our readers and verified by our esteemed steering committee, have gone above and beyond to wave the flag for a more diverse and inclusive industry – one that we can all be proud of. Drumroll please…