FEATURE:
On the Billboard…
IN THIS PHOTO: Doechii
The 20 Best Pride Albums of 2022: Staff Picks: The Playlist
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I am doing…
IN THIS PHOTO: Rina Sawayama/PHOTO CREDIT: Thurstan Redding
a lot of Spotlight features before next year, as it is great to highlight these amazing artists who will make big waves and steps in 2023. I am also doing some end-of-year features. I have done all the best albums features I can. I was going to do the best singles of 2022, but that sort of passed me by. I am interested in the great Pride and L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ albums that arrived in 2022. Billboard named their favourite twenty Pride albums of this year. They highlighted some great work by queer artists. Some iconic new artists and anthems a plenty! This is what they wrote:
“2022 was good for a lot of things — in the music world, artists like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Bad Bunny and more had blockbuster years worthy of recognition. But when it came to the continued fight for LGBTQ rights, 2022 proved to be more of a backslide. In the United States alone, queer and trans folks spent the year working tirelessly against more than 300 anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures (including Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming care for young people), threats towards gender diverse kids and their families, a fatal shooting at a gay nightclub, and countless more tragedies and setbacks. Around the world, people struggled to support the biggest sporting event in the world being held in a country where being queer is a crime, while anti-LGBTQ sentiment and hate crimes continued to rise around the world.
Despite the onslaught of negative sentiment and oppressive ideals, queer artists showed up to represent and support their community in 2022. The methods they employed through their albums were often varied — some aimed for sheer escapism, creating new sonic worlds for their fans to luxuriate in; others looked their circumstances dead in the eye, using their music to channel the rage they felt at a world that was seemingly set against them. Either way, LGBTQ artists made their voices heard through some of their best works to date in 2022”.
To celebrate the amazing Pride albums that have come out in 2022, below is a song from the twenty that Billboard selected as their favourite. There are some truly amazing artists here! Albums I have heard part of, but I have been compelled to dig deeper. In the playlist below are songs from the best Pride albums…
IN THIS PHOTO: Steve Lacy/PHOTO CREDIT: Julian Klincewicz
OF 2022.