Gay music Friday

Gay music Friday. Last Friday was a veritable treasure trove of new music. Most importantly, Beyoncé released her house music, queer-inspired album Renaissance. Read Craig Jenkins on the album, which he calls a “love letter to black queer innovators.”

Hayley Kiyoko’s album Panorama also came out that day, as did King Princess’ wonderfully emo record Hold On Baby. Maggie Rogers also dropped an album on Friday, but we’re not sure how that’s relevant to us apart from the fact that she has been sporting a very gay haircut lately.

With gay music comes gay music videos. Along with her album, King Princess released a music video for the song “Let Us Die,” one of the best on the album. It’s very dramatic and features KP getting her heart literally cut out and also wearing angel wings. It also stars drag queen Gigi Goode.

Hayley Kiyoko released a video for her song “Panorama,” in which nothing much happens. The highlight of this gay music week was the release of the music video for Fletcher’s (controversial!) song “Becky’s So Hot.” The video features Bella Thorne and sees Fletcher riding a motorcycle, making out with Bella, and also riding a motorcycle while making out with Bella. A “Bound” for the sapphic set, if you will. In case you had forgotten, the titular “Becky” is in fact Becky Missal, who just celebrated a birthday last week. (What an interesting coincidence.)

Some ups and downs for gay TV. Let’s start with the bad news. The Amazon series The Wilds, which follows a group of teen girls who “mysteriously” crash on a deserted island, was canceled last week. Sapphic fans were sad because the series features a beloved lesbian couple, Toni and Shelby, and also two characters who people think are gay for each other. It’s obvious that the show got canceled because they added a group of boy survivors in Season 2, which absolutely no one asked for.

In brighter news, it’s recently been announced that Kehlani will be joining the next season of The L Word. This is an especially exciting development because Kehlani only binged The L Word for the first time last year.

Also, She-Hulk premieres this month, so now’s a good time to read about how “Marvel Owes So Much About “She-Hulk” to Transness.” 

Other dispatches from the little gay people inside the internet:

• Nikki Blonsky for Hairspray is gay, apparently. Please watch this adorable TikTok for more information.

• Maya Hawke and Mae Martin were seen hanging out together last week, which has sparked dating rumors. What do you think?

• Cara Delevingne has “explained” her crazy night with Megan Thee Stallion at the BBMAs. She said, “I was living my best life, but people found it a bit odd.” That’s certainly an understatement.

• Actor E.R. Fightmaster posted a wonderful thirst trap on their Instagram account (which is hilariously titled genderless_gap_ad.)

• The EU is suing Hungary over its anti-gay law.

• Beatriz Hernandez, a New Jersey widow, is fighting Switzerland in a discrimination case under consideration for review by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Despite having recently approved same-sex marriage, Switzerland currently does not recognize the right to surviving spouse Social Security benefits for LGBT+ widows and widowers, while heterosexual widows receive full benefits under the law. You can sign Beatriz’s petition here.

• Becca Balint, the lesbian candidate for Vermont's At-Large Congressional seat, is running against well-funded Lt. Gov. Molly Gray in the primary on a platform offering an alternative to the brash politics of Washington. A win would make her the 3rd lesbian in Congress. You can read more about her politics here.

Until next time,

Your best friend’s hot and nurturing mom

This newsletter is written by GayJoy staff writer Kira Deshler