Hot Hits & Celeb Bits

Gary Campion

Pride is finally here! I have been so busy living my best life with gigs from Girls Aloud, attending my 1st Mighty Hoopla and stadium gigs from P!nk and Swifty that I nearly forgot about Pride month. Let’s get stuck in:

LGBTQIA+ Artists on the Rise My Favourite Tracks

Beth McCarthy is a Singer-songwriter from York who is best known as a TikTok star, where she posts original and song covers. Her account has gained over 840,000 followers and more than 18 million likes. Her music tells the stories of a twenty-something trying to understand love, friendship, and the feelings that come with figuring out who you are. Beth’s ability to tell a story through her songs, combined with her cheeky on-stage presence engages her audience on a more personal level making her performances feel more like an experience than a show, something I experienced first-hand at Mighty Hoopla. Favourite Track: IDK How to Talk to Girls

Tim Chadwick, a Dublin-based singer-songwriter, he was signed to Sony Music Ireland but has since become an independent artist in the last two years. Tim has supported artists such as Rufus Wainwright and Mabel. His music has been streamed over 10 million times across streaming platforms and has amassed a 100k monthly listenership. He independently released his second EP “Timothy” which received rave reviews across the UK, Ireland and North America. Over the last year, he has completed his self-funded debut album which is set to be released this year.. Favourite Track: 1 + Only

Chayla Hope is bringing the next wave of pop, a lover of driving beats and synth as a soundtrack for lyrical theatre. She is an esteemed member of the LGTBQA+ community, and former drag queen/king, Chayla brings a sense of unrivalled empowerment like nothing is going to stop her in her tracks. Her latest single ‘All Over Now’ is a triumphant funk electro-pop anthem that you could easily hear amongst the best of the current modern-day pop stars. Her song “Love In Lo-fi” which I featured in my 2nd ever Hot Hits and Celeb Bits Column last year was used in the Love Island Games. Favourite Track: Love in Lo-Fi

JXCKY a queer, dark/alt-pop Chinese-Cambodian JXCKY generates anti-pop chaos with an unapologetic explosion of attitude and hyperbole. Once going by the name Jacky X, an unfortunate confrontation with another artist of the same name forced them to rebrand, but they took it as an opportunity to switch up their sound. Their blending together of notorious moments with a rock and trap flare, unfiltered lyricism, bulletproof hooks and falsetto voice brings relatable dark/alt-pop tracks that are unapologetic, relatable and brutally honest. Favourite Track: LFG!