out musicians Archives

May 18, 2018August 20, 2019

Out Music: Matt Zarley Feels The Pull Of Sara Bareilles’ “Gravity”

Matt Zarley

Out singer/songwriter Matt Zarley drops his new music video for “Gravity” and we have the exclusive premiere.

The track comes from Zarley’s latest album titled, The Estrogen Sessions, which honors of the female pop divas most influential in his career.

About recording “Gravity:”

This is one of my all-time favorite songs and it was the first song I actually recorded for the album.

Fast forward eight or so months later, I go back to revisit the song, listen to it, make any little changes that I needed to, but I wasn’t able to access the files. The hard drive was corrupted. So I had to re-sing the song. I was not that upset because I love this song so much, so I was game for it.

At the end of the session I went to save the files and my computer froze. Well, I felt pretty confident that the session was going to be saved. I was wrong the entire session was gone.

I was so livid that I decided to re-record the song then and there. It was 2 AM.

In the end it actually turned out better than before, so all ends well.

About the music video:

“Originally we had planned out a whole narrative to drive the music video but after shooting the loft footage, I decided for a more minimal approach and let the song itself tell the story. The song has always had an ethereal quality to it…very haunting. I wanted that to take the focus.”

Stripped down and primarily acoustic, Zarley’s production work on the project showcases the strength of the songwriting and his own effortless vocals.

“As I began to arrange these tunes, I made a conscience decision to strip the songs down and reinterpret them with all live music, nothing programmed – real piano, organ, guitar, drums, bass and strings,” says Zarley.

The entire album is imminently listenable. The emotional landscape is soulful and wide, with each track showcasing Zarley’s rich, fluid voice. He shifts from plaintive, affecting intimacy to expansive vocal brawn with equal ease.

Check out more from the album here and you can get the first look at “Gravity” below.

May 17, 2018August 20, 2019

New Music: Calum Scott “What I Miss Most”

Calum Scott

Calum Scott drops the new video for “What I Miss Most” today. Happy Dance!

Way strong track. Great hook, expansive vocals, a bit of Coldplay layering going on… If you like mainstream pop (like I do) you’ll definitely like this.

The video takes us on a bit of a time-flip from childhood to wild child teens to adulthood.

“This song is all about nostalgia and missing ‘home,’ for me that’s Hull!” says Calum.

Calum was recently honored at the British LGBT Awards. In a note to his fans, he wrote:

This award signifies to me how far I’ve come with my sexuality which is beyond what I thought I was capable of, but not only that, I feel like the album I’ve created through my own experiences is for people to use as a source of inspiration or motivation for their own battles. It gives me the greatest sense of pride, honour and responsibility and for that I want to say, thank you

DVR alert: Don’t miss Calum’s upcoming appearance on Good Morning America June 6 performing “You Are The Reason” with Leona Lewis.

Check out the new video for “What I Miss Most” below. Me like.

May 16, 2018August 20, 2019

Out Music: Years & Years “If You’re Over Me”

Out frontman for Years & Years Olly Alexander

The last music video for synth-pop trio Years & Years introduced us to an imaginary society where androids control the world and humans exist for the purpose of entertaining the androids.

The pop group returns to that dystopian world for the second video, “If You’re Over Me,” from their upcoming album Palo Santo.

The music video begins by explaining the role that humans in this futuristic society play. “The human cabarets of Palo Santo are attended by androids, all hoping to experience real emotion,” reads the text. “Human performers can find themselves dancing the same routines for weeks … months … years …”

In a glittering, sci-fi cabaret, out frontman Olly Alexander performs a choreographed, sexy three-way number while fellow band members Emre Turkmen and Mikey Goldsworthy present a magic trick. The talent show is intended to help the androids attempt to experience real emotion.

The song itself is an bouncy, electro-pop jam about getting straight with an ex-lover. “This is a song about trying to stay friends with an ex,” Alexander told NME. “Spoiler alert — it doesn’t often work. In fact, in my experience, the relationship often ends up ruined.”

“Yesterday you said I’m the one, but now you say you’re done,” Alexander sings. “Stop telling me what I need baby, if you’re over me.”

Watch “If You’re Over Me” below. You can check out the new album Palo Santo (due out July 6) at most digital download sites.

May 10, 2018August 20, 2019

Out Musician Be Steadwell Releases New Album “Queer Love Songs”

Out singer-songwriter Be Steadwell has released her first full studio album, Queer Love Songs, featuring first single “Sometimes.”

This is quite delicious.

In announcing the release, Steadwell shares, “I’m a black, queer, woman, singer songwriter and I believe that everybody deserves a cheesy love song. That’s why I wrote Queer Love Songs.”

Steadwell describes “Sometimes” as a sweet and earnest love song reflecting on the experience of loving a gender non-binary partner.

The track has a sweet, undeniable honesty and authenticity reminiscent of Joni Mitchell; intoxicating and warm like a full-bodied chardonnay.

Queer Love Songs is the follow-up album to last summer’s Breakup Songs which was the impetus for her second sold out European tour in the fall of 2017.

Steadwell was a part of the star-studded line up of 2017’s Women’s March in Washington DC, sharing the stage with Madonna, Ashley Judd, Janelle Monae, and The Indigo Girls among many more artists standing up for women’s rights and social freedom in the current political climate.

Head over to Steadwell’s official website for all up and coming tour dates.

Hit play below and enjoy. “Sometimes” – it just feels good.

May 4, 2018August 20, 2019

Funky Friday: Michael Blume “R U Mad”

Out recording artist Michael Blume
(Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez)

Out indie/soul artist Michael Blume drops his latest song “R U Mad” from his upcoming EP Cynicism & Sincerity, set for release June 8th.

Hit play below to listen to the new track featuring undeniable bouncy beats with a provocative refrain, “Are you mad that I’m gay?”

The song is available now at all digital music outlets.

You can catch Blume in performance at the upcoming Annual PRIDE Reception at the Stonewall Inn in New York City on Monday, June 4th.

The yearly reception highlights the work of the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative (SIGBI), which was founded in 2017, providing support to underserved and marginalized LGBTQ communities within the United States and around the world.

About the new EP:

Cynicism & Sincerity includes six songs that could just as easily ignite the dance floor of a sweaty underground club as they could set a festival field in motion with indie charm, sexy soul, and epic pop ambition. They also allow Michael to speak freely in favor of equality and social justice, using his platform to share a message.

“It was important for me to acknowledge the good and the bad,” he explains of the EP’s title. “Even though they’re in opposition to each other, they’re both flourishing at the exact same time. There’s a dichotomy of multiple truths where two things in opposition exist right next to each other.”

I’m liking that catchy refrain 😉

April 26, 2018August 20, 2019

News Round-Up: April 26, 2018

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Paleontologist Francesc Gascó (above) redefines the old saying, “Walk tall and carry a big… hammer?” Ok, I’m not complaining… 🙂

• Out Olympic bronze medalist Adam Rippon not only attended the TIME 100 Gala in New York City as one of the news magazine’s “100 Most Influential of 2018” but he got to sniff country music star Keith Urban along the way.

• Hottie Simon Dunn trolled anti-LGBT Australian rugby player Israel Follau for saying gays will go to hell by kissing his bf after his own rugby match and then retweeting the pic to Follau. Follau has doubled-down in his hateful comments saying he’d rather end his career than take back what he said.

Victory kiss. pic.twitter.com/REvhoUN2bX

— Simon Dunn (@BySimonDunn) April 22, 2018

RT for @IzzyFolau https://t.co/PAhFg9aL2b

— Simon Dunn (@BySimonDunn) April 23, 2018

• Diver Tom Daley, married to Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black, says girls can still turn his head.

• A NYC subway rider found DWTS and ANTM champ Nyle DiMarco so hot she took creeper pics of him. She didn’t know he did the same 🙂

• Parker Matthews dropped his new music video for “Hit and Run” recently. In writing about the video, Pop Dust gushed, “Matthews’ confidence in his sexuality glows onscreen.”

I interviewed the talented popster back in February. You can catch my chat with him here and check out the video below.

March 2, 2018August 20, 2019

Out Music: Calum Scott “What I Miss Most”

U.K. singer and songwriter Calum Scott releases his new track, “What I Miss Most” today.

The track is from the breakout British artist’s debut album, Only Human, due out March 9.

According to press materials, the song unfolds as a triumphant homage to Calum’s hometown of Kingston upon Hull, located in Northern England.

Lyrically, the song dismisses the trappings of “steel and stones,” and the earthbound vessels of “skin and bone.” Instead, Scott’s memories are planted in adventures “under the sun, up on the waves, under three climbs” that took him away.

Sonically, the track takes full advantage of Scott’s obvious gifts trading off bare, sparse moments of exposed emotion to surging like an incoming tide as if to wash the scene clean.

The lead single for the album, “You Are The Reason,” has already surpassed 100 million streams worldwide while views of the official video topped 20 million in the first two weeks and are fast approaching 60 million.

Recorded with a dream team of producers whose resumes include projects with Adele, Ellie Goulding, Imagine Dragons, Taylor Swift and Britney Spears, Only Human showcases Calum’s soulful vocals and heartfelt lyrics.

Many of the tracks showcase Scott’s delicate approach to unrequited longing like the aching piano ballad, “Hotel Room.”

Or the deeply personal “Only You” celebrates a friend who helped the him during times when he was bullied and isolated from other kids during childhood.

“To me, Only Human means being okay with how you feel,” says Scott. “My hope is that these songs encourage people to embrace who they are, so that there’s a little less fear in the world and a lot more love.”

Watch Calum perform “What I Miss Most” below and check out more from the upcoming album Only Human by clicking here.

February 21, 2018August 20, 2019

Out Music: Chase Sansing “Begins With You”

Chase Sansing

Rising young country artist Chase Sansing has released the music video to accompany his single “Begins with You.”

The Mississippi native shot the video at various locations throughout Nashville and incorporates footage from gay pride festivals in Louisville, Chicago, Murfreesboro and Nashville.

“I wrote this song two and a half years ago after coming out,” mentions Sansing. “After coming out, I felt like I could finally sing the songs I really wanted to sing. I grew up struggling with balancing being a country singer and also being gay because I knew the two didn’t mix that well.”

Sansing follows in the footsteps of fellow out country singers Patrick Masse, Drake Jensen, Chely Wright, Billy Gilman and Ty Herndon, who each faced their own challenges as they chose to pursue their musical passions while living their authentic lives.

Over the years I’ve interviewed several out musicians who have all mentioned the struggles of coping with the country music industry which not been as accepting of LGBT as the rest of the music world.

Sansing, now 24, wrote “Begins with You” a few days after coming out, and recorded it at Prime Cut Studio in Nashville. “I began traveling to pride festivals to interview and film people who struggled just like me. It took me two years to finish the project because I wanted to do it right.”

Not only do the shots of folks celebrating pride resonate, Sansing includes terrific scenes of giraffe shot as the Nashville Zoo. Who doesn’t love giraffe???

“This song is basically my new start to being the singer I’ve always wanted to be because country music is about singing the truth and if I’m not singing the truth and what I’m truly feeling then I’m not singing country music.

“I wrote this song specifically to reach out to kids that are like me and are growing up in a small town thinking they are different and that there’s something wrong with them and that it’s a bad thing. I hope this song shows them that it’s not and they are perfect the way they are.”

Sansing offers an additional word of encouragement: “The most important thing I’d say about this song is that I hope it reaches a kid who feels like I did when I was keeping my secret from everyone. I hope it tells them that it’s okay.”

For more info, head over to ChaseSansingMusic.com.

And check out the music video for “Begins With You” below.

February 16, 2018August 20, 2019

Fischerspooner’s New Music Video “Butterscotch Goddam” From New Album SIR

Queer pop duo Fischerspooner releases their first album in nearly a decade, Sir, today via Ultra Records.

Entirely produced by REM’s lead singer Michael Stipe, the artists say the project presents “a resistant narrative with an overtly queer and celebratory body of work in response to the current atmosphere in America.”

Reviewing the new album, OUT gushes:

The end result is not only the most compelling full-length the group has committed to tape, but a record with overwhelming immediacy. Sir courses with the excitement of a first foray into cruising and spins tales of lust lost and found under the spell of the dance floor, told through songs made precisely for said dance floor. It is a true rarity—even in today’s crowded musical landscape—to find an album that so wholeheartedly celebrates the complexities of the gay male experience—in particular, sex—from one extreme to the other.

In addition to the new album, Fischerspooner releases the gorgeous and evocative music video today for “Butterscotch Goddam,” which was directed by Carlo Van de Roer.

Watch the video below and check out the new album here.