Pride Month: New & Classic Iconic LGBTI Anthems

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Pride Month has finally arrived! This celebration was born to commemorate the Stonewall riots of June 1969, a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the LGBTI+ community in response to a police raid at the Stonewall Inn Pub in New York. These events are considered a historic catalyst for the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Over the years, Pride has also become a cultural phenomenon, inspiring music, movies, and various forms of artistic expression that celebrate liberation and free love. In honor of this Pride month, we want to highlight some of the most popular LGTBIQ+ hits from recent years, as well as introduce contemporary tracks from leading artists such as Anitta, Young Miko, Kim Petras, Villano Antillano and others.

Here are our favorite tracks!

‘Break My Soul’ – Beyoncé

Beyoncé reaffirmed her support to the queer community in her latest album Renaissance, which harks back to the underground ballroom scene from the 1970s. She has also widely incorporated several elements of voguing culture to her tour shows, bringing back a key visibility to the LGBTQ+ community in an era in which its rights are still vulnerable. Her epic ‘Break My Soul’ has already been celebrated as a gay anthem.

‘Born This Way’ – Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga released this iconic song as the lead single from her second studio album of the same name in 2011. ‘Born This Way’ talks about love and equality in society over an electro pop rhythm. Thanks to this song, Gaga has been widely recognized as a LGBTQ+ community advocate. We’re not still over her iconic protest performance in 2014 during a concert in Russia, where she protested against the laws that limited the LGBTQ+ rights.

“I want to write my this-is-who-the-fuck-I-am-anthem, but I don’t want it to be hidden in poetic wizardry and metaphors. I want it to be an attack, an assault on the issue”, she revealed in a Billboard interview.

‘I Will Survive’ – Gloria Gaynor

‘I Will Survive’ (1978) has become an anthem for the LGBTQ+ community because of its empowering message of resilience and self-reliance. In the song, the fabulous Gloria Gaynor narrates a discovery of personal strength following an initially devastating breakup.

‘Unholy’ – Sam Smith & Kim Petras

Sam Smith and Kim Petras are both big LGBTQ+ referents and they have demonstrated it alongside their successful careers. ‘Unholy’ became a viral hit thanks to TikTok and even scaled the Billboard Hot 100 and turned Smith and Petras the first openly nonbinary and trans artists, respectively, with a chart-topping hit in the chart and they also got the Grammy for Best Pop Duo / Group Performance.

‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ – Lil Nas X

Lil Nas X has broken all the barriers for gay artists in the urban genre. The American artist has been praised for the unapologetic expression of his sexuality and challenging traditional gender roles. His hit ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ (2021) is noted for its queer themes, and it includes sexually explicit lyrics and images of a gay romance combined with several religious symbols.

‘Boys Don’t Cry’ – Anitta

Brazilian singer Anitta shows an empowering message in this retro-futuristic song, where she makes it quite clear that women don’t need any man. «When the girls don’t need your love / Who says boys don’t cry», she sings her Versions of Me lead song. Anitta has shown wide support for the LGBTQ+ community and has openly talked about her bisexuality.

‘LGBT’ – CupcakKe

In 2016 CupcakKe released this upbeat track dedicated to the LGTBQ+ community, which she openly supports and defends on social media. The song’s chorus goes: “Fuck out my way when you see me / I’m rollin’ with the LGBT / Fuck out my way when you see me / I’m rollin’ with the LGBT / I’m rolling with the LGBT / Lookin like we belong on TV / I’m rollin’ with the LGBT”.

‘I Want to Break Free’ – Queen

This iconic and liberating anthem has been performed at multiple Pride events across the years. Both Queen and his frontman, Freddy Mercury, are immortal symbols and references to the LGTBQ+ community, celebrated for its groundbreaking style that challenged gender roles, as the music video of ‘I Want to Break Free’ represents.

‘Dancing Queen’ – ABBA

ABBA released ‘Dancing Queen’ in 1976 and it hit No.1 on the Hot 100 Billboard chart in 1977 and since then, it has been adopted by the LGBT community, remaining as one of the most well-known dance-pop queer anthems.

‘I Kissed a Girl’ – Katy Perry

‘I Kissed a Girl’ is probably one of the most popular lesbian and bisexual hightlights in pop culture. Katy Perry blessed us with this iconic and catchy hit back in 2008. Here, as the title unveils, she talks about her experience kissing another woman.

‘Grace Kelly’ – Mika

Mika has a unique and innovative style that has been quite referenced in queer culture, in which we could place several of his songs. ‘Grace Kelly’ was his second single, which he released back in 2007 and sold over 630,000 in the UK. The lyric “So I tried a little Freddie”, is a direct reference to Freddy Mercury.

Girls Like Girls – Hayley Kioyo

In ‘Girls Like Girls’, Hayley Kioyo tells the story of a young girl that’s looking to start a relationship with girls that are involved with boys. Kiyoko described this drop as a “female anthem for a girl stealing another guy’s girl”.

‘Supermodel (You Better Work)’ – RuPaul

RuPaul a.k.a the queen of drags released this dance club hit in November 1993 as a part of his debut album Supermodel of the world. The song entered the Billboard Hot 1000 and Hot Dance Club Play charts, selling nearly 500,000 copies in the United States.

‘I’m Coming Out’ – Diana Ross

Diana Ross’ ‘I’m Coming Out’ has been regarded as an epic anthem for the LGBTQ+ community, since “coming out the closet” is understood as the act of hiding someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The song thus celebrates love in all its ways and represents an encouragement of self-disclosure.

‘Elton’s Song’ – Elton John

‘Elton’s Song’ was the first song that the British singer recorded “as an homosexual song”, as he revealed to Rolling Stone back in 2013. Composed as a rhapsodic ode, its verses deal with unrequited love and the music video depicts a schoolboy with a crush on an older boy.

‘True Colors’ – Cindy Lauper

Cindy Lauper’s ‘True Colors’ has become a real startar in the gay community. Lauper herself revealed in an interview that the song resonated with her after the death of her friend Gregory Natal, from HIV/AIDS. After some years, the artist became the co-founder of True Colors Fund, an NGO dedicated to help LGBT youth.

‘Raise Your Glass’ – P¡nk

‘Raise Your Glass’ is the lead single from P¡nk’s first greatest hit compilation, Greatest Hits…So Far!!!’, which she released in 2010. The song i’s a big toast to all underdogs out there, those people that have suffered just for being who they are, a feeling that has been represented in queer artistic expressions.

‘Lisa’ – Young Miko

Until recent years, reggaeton (like many other genres) was predominantly led by heterosexual male artists. However, emerging artist Young Miko is rapidly becoming a prominent figure in the LGBTQ+ community within the scene. She is one of the few female artists in the mainstream urban landscape who releases songs expressing attraction and affection for other women. Her first viral hit, ‘Lisa’, delivers this very message

‘BZRP Music Sessions #51’ – Villano Antillano & Bizarrap

Villano Antillano a.k.a. La Villana is breaking all barriers for trans women in the industry. She gained a big recognition after her iconic session with Argentine producer Bizarrap, where she shows an explosive talent in her uplifting verses. We’re not still over this empowering anthem. “M-A-L-A M-I-A, Mala mía!”.

‘Vogue’ – Madonna

Madonna released ‘Vogue’ as the first single of her second soundtrack album Im Breathless (1990). The Queen of Pop was inspired by vogue dancers and she literally brought the underground ballroom scene to mainstream culture, spotlighting elements from the queer Black and Latino-led ballroom scene.

‘Tuya’ – Rosalía

The latest song of the Spanish diva ‘Tuya’ has caught lot of attention since she speaks about a fleeting night of love with another woman. She has released this new drop during Pride Month, just in time to celebrate love. «Solo esta noche soy tuya, tuya / Solo esta noche eres mia, mia«, she sings in the chorus.