“`html
The Stalled revolution: Why Gay Male Pop Stars Are Losing Their Place in the Landscape
November 2, 2024
Despite initial breakthroughs, the rise of openly gay male and non-binary artists in mainstream pop music has seemingly stalled, raising questions about the industry’s willingness to fully embrace queer representation and challenging the notion that visibility automatically translates to sustained success. The early 2020s promised a shift, with artists like Lil Nas X achieving unprecedented chart dominance, but recent trends suggest a retreat, leaving many to wonder if the industry is truly ready for a revolution.
The Initial Surge and Subsequent Setbacks
Lil Nas X’s meteoric rise with “Old Town Road” – which sold approximately 18.5 million copies and remains tied with Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” as the longest-running No. 1 single in US history – signaled a potential turning point. Together, artists such as Sam Smith, Troye Sivan, and Olly Alexander from Years & Years were openly exploring themes of gay love and sexuality in their music. However, this momentum has waned. Lil Nas X’s subsequent albums have failed to replicate the success of his debut, and he has publicly discussed his struggles with mental health.
The challenges extend beyond Lil Nas X. In october, Khalid released his first album as being publicly outed by a former partner, selling onyl 10,000 copies in its first week in the US – a stark contrast to the 200,000 copies sold in the first week of his 2019 album, Free Spirit. Olly Alexander’s debut solo album, Polari, peaked at No. 17 in the UK, with only “Dizzy,” his 2024 Eurovision entry, reaching No. 42 on the charts. Alexander himself has described navigating the “major label machine” as an “impossible magic trick,” asserting that “men explicitly loving men is so threatening to the status quo and patriarchy, which makes it harder to gain mainstream support.”
The “Beige World” of Pop and the Glass Ceiling
One surprising factor contributing to this slowdown, according to music critic Michael Cragg, author of Reach for the Stars, is a broader decline in male pop stars overall. “There aren’t many male pop stars full stop,” Cragg explains, “not in the Madonna tradition of bombastic spectacle.” He notes that many male artists have been absorbed into a “beige world” dominated by the ballad-heavy sounds of Ed Sheeran and Lewis Capaldi, where significant album sales are still achievable. Calum Scott,an openly gay singer who found success with a stripped-down cover of Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own,” exemplifies this trend,tho his recent tours have played smaller venues compared to Capaldi’s large-scale performances.
Jason King, dean of the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, confirms the existence of a “glass ceiling” for gay men in pop. “It’s not like we’ve always had hundreds of queer men in pop music hitting the top of the charts,and suddenly now we’re facing a drought,” he states.
Echoes of the Past and the AIDS Epidemic
Looking back to the 1980s, a period often remembered as a “golden age” for gay pop, reveals a complex history. While artists like Freddie Mercury, Elton John, George Michael, and the Pet Shop Boys achieved significant success, few were openly out at the time. the straight public’s limited understanding of gay culture was evident when BBC Radio 1 pulled frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax” off the air after realizing its suggestive content. The AIDS epidemic brought this progress to a halt,with the Pet Shop Boys’ US career reportedly stalling due to the perceived “gayness” of their video for “Domino Dancing.” Mercury’s death in 1991 and the later outing of Elton John and George Michael further underscore the past challenges faced by openly gay artists.
the double Standard: Queer Women vs. Queer men
