Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons 2.0
It's an exciting time for queer culture.
It's also an exciting time for us straight people. We get to enjoy and participate in something that has always been there, but perhaps was not as accessible to us. It's glorious, and we now have a role, where we can disseminate the message and make it even more accessible.
I've mentioned Troye Sivan in two previous blog posts, here and here; we were fortunate enough to see him perform live in 2016. He and singer/songwriter/actor/producer Hayley Kiyoko are highlighted in this great Wired.com article on the “queer pop revolution, and I have to say, I'm feeling both excited and smug, because despite being an “old person” according to my kids, I feel like I've been on the cutting edge here, when you know what's hot before it's hot. We've got music by both artists echoing through our home and our car, and have been for a long time.
Hayley Kiyoko's new album, Expectations, is fantastic. I heartily recommend it! What's more, she produces her own music videos, and unlike a lot of current cringe-worthy stuff on YouTube, it's really good. How do I judge good? Well, that's probably worth an entire series of articles, but it comes down to storytelling. Here's one of Kiyoko's finest:
And here’s another one, full of great dancing and a wonderful color palette, not to mention great storytelling:
I’ll just add, for the record, that Kiyoko is half Japanese. She’s already awesome just for her artistry but the Asian-American aspect is nice, too. Growing up in Honolulu, I was surrounded by Asian culture and Asian faces, but it’s still incredible when you see mixed-race artists gaining mainstream recognition. What a great feeling.
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