queer music videos
Apr. 17th, 2020 02:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
So, in group chat this morning, Thom goes:
Excerpt from ensuing conversation:
I asked some of my Internet spaces for THEIR suggestions of Queerest Music Video Ever, and so far have gotten:
Edit:
Oh. My. God.So, I watched the video and had the following reactions:
Maybe you’ve seen this, but I guess one morning Sam Smith and Demi Lovato woke up and said, “Let’s make the queerest music video ever.” And yes, I discovered this because Alok is in it and posted about it on their Instagram.
https://youtu.be/glD1M418bC0
Okay. It’s 12 hours old so maybe you haven’t seen it?
I mean, I’m not sure it actually _wins_ the title for Queerest Music Video Ever, but it’s a solid entry.
- this is really gay male
- oh, this is queer
- wait, no queer women :(
Excerpt from ensuing conversation:
Thom:They revised their pitch to: "OMG, check out this hella gay/genderqueer video that Sam Smith just dropped (with Demi Lovato). Sam is super hot in it and it has a bunch of genderqueer folks like Alok. (Though it looks like it’s entirely AMAB—my read—genderqueer folks.)"
Yeah. I almost pitched it as gay and not queer. Would that have calibrated things better? I was excited about Alok being in the video and clearly overshot the mark. Sorry. 😢
me:
Yeah, gay would have been SO MUCH better.
Because it IS gay. And it's also queer -- but it's you queer, not me queer.
Thom:
And thus not even close to Most Ever.
I asked some of my Internet spaces for THEIR suggestions of Queerest Music Video Ever, and so far have gotten:
- Ezra Furman - I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend
- Janelle Monáe - PYNK
- Björk - All is Full of Love
- Miike Snow - Genghis Khan
- Janelle Monáe - Make Me Feel
- Icona Pop - All Night
Edit:
Thom:
Sarah suggested this, but admitted she hasn’t rewatched it in a few years. https://youtu.be/hdYiYjuf0ko
[Zolita - Holy]
me:
That video is definitely a narrative journey.
Thom:
Sure is. 😮
Of the things posted here, my leading contenders are probably “All Night” and “Make Me Feel”.
But also, if the issue with the Sam Smith video is breadth of queer representation, I probably have some words about the other videos here.
But let’s be real, no music video needs to bear the burden of full and complete queer representation, I think.
me:
Yeah, a lot of these videos I was like, "Okay, this doesn't really improve on the narrow representation of the Sam Smith video" (though videos about queer women are obviously, imo, preferable* to videos about queer men/male-ish people, though I recognize the value of the latter) -- though I was also aware that it's unfair to ask any single video to bear the burden of, as you say, "full and complete queer representation."
*meaning my personal preference -- not that they're objectively better queer rep
Though it is possible to get ensemble queer rep in a single video -- e.g. Tegan and Sara's "Closer" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e9NSMY8QiQ