In the fall of 2022, the sexy, sacrilegious pop-EDM song “Unholy” by non-binary and trans artists Sam Smith and Kim Petras went viral on TikTok, spawning countless thirst traps, lip syncs, dances and more. Though the song circulated widely, users on the algorithmically created LGBTQ+ public #QueerTok used the app’s common forms to center “Unholy” within queer and trans communities, desires, and practices. This article reveals how the visibility that #QueerTokers achieved through “Unholy’s” viral circulation allowed them to leverage the algorithm and affordances of their online public to challenge heteronormativity and assimilation. #QueerTokers’ instrumentalization of visibility follows from a history of LGBTQ+ activism, both online and IRL, in which publicity has played an important role in queer and trans politics. Through historiography and media analysis of creator-made “Unholy” TikTok videos, this article traces how “Unholy’s” circulation on #QueerTok insists on the song’s queerness against its mainstream assimilation on TikTok. Although TikTok’s algorithm privileges straight and conventionally attractive creators, #QueerTok thirst traps proudly proclaim queer and non-normative desire. Despite rampant cultural appropriation in mainstream lip sync videos, #QueerTokers recenter the practice as an LGBTQ+ art form derived from drag performance. Users on #QueerTok utilize their algorithmic knowledge to express queer desire, find community, share inside jokes, and carve out a space for LGBTQ+ people to thrive on the app. This article captures the strategies of these pandemic-era queer and trans creators in order to illustrate the importance of LGBTQ+ publics in propagating queer and trans culture.
This article critically examines the operationalization of the concept of “gay music” within Lisbon’s gay nightlife scene, drawing from an ethnomusicological study originally conducted in 2013. Building on a qualitative analysis involving ethnographic observation and participation in clubbing activities at Finalmente Club, Trumps and Construction Club, along with structured and informal interviews with employees, DJs, drag performers, and customers, this study concludes that the concept of ‘gay music’ is dynamically constructed and negotiated on a nightly basis within these clubs. This construct also represents the hegemonic model defining the musical repertoire played in these clubs, either through its acceptance and incorporation (as observed in Finalmente Club and Trumps) or rejection (as observed in Construction Club). Furthermore, the analysis of the music played at Finalmente Club reveals that “gay music,” as operated by its resident DJs, shares an affinity for the cult of the feminine and the diva, historically tracing back to Disco Sound and, more recently, to anglophone popular music.
When Kendrick Lamar released his apparent final album with Top Dawg Entertainment, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, the track “Auntie Diaries” drew immediate controversy. Many celebrated an openly trans-allied hip hop track by a mainstream artist, and many others were dismayed and disappointed by Kendrick’s use of language, including deadnaming, misgendering, and offensive slurs. This article attempts to reconcile these seemingly opposed characterizations by offering a cohesive analysis that integrates both lyrical and beat composition, drawing on both scholarly analysis and vernacular commentary. It argues that “Auntie Diaries” presents an “ontic rupture”: a deliberate exposure of the disjunctions between language, our understandings of self and others, and what it is possible to be. The composition contains a central contradiction between its movement toward trans allyship and its use of language that is generally understood to be phobic, underscored by the track’s evolving musical configurations that support a telos of trans affirmation, even as the overall narrative can provoke distress. Rather than offering resolution, this analysis presents these tensions as necessary terrain for supporting a diversity of trans experiences and for resisting colonializing logics of clarity, legibility, and ease of understanding. This article contains the use of strong, uncensored language relating to race, sexuality, and gender identity, as well as discussions on racism, homophobia, and transphobia. Discretion is advised for readers sensitive to these topics.
