It’s June and that means pride season is upon us! So it’s a good time to bring attention to some of the best current LGBT artists, whether you didn’t know of them before, or if you didn’t know they were gay.
1. Hayley Kiyoko
Hayley Kiyoko started getting fame due to her roles in various movies and TV shows such as “Lemonade Mouth,” “Wizards of Waverly Place," and “Scooby Doo,” just to name a couple. In 2015, she began making hit singles such as “Girls like Girls” and “Cliffs Edge,” both of which had heavy LGBT themes and focused on lesbian relationships within the music videos. Kiyoko has identified herself as a gay woman and continues to produce music for others within the LGBT community.
2. MIKA
MIKA is a French-English singer who first became famous back in 2007 for some of his hit songs such as “Elle Me Dit”. Since there he has released four albums, all frequently colorful. When questioned about some of the gay themes in his lyrics, MIKA stated that he dates anybody, and people could call him bisexual if they wanted to. In 2012, however, he referred to himself as a gay man, and his latest album, released in 2015, is specifically on the men he has loved and the solidarity within the LGBT community.
3. Kesha
Kesha became famous back when she was Ke$ha, making hit party music. In an interview in 2010, she stated that she’s dated men and women, despite not wanting to refer to herself as “gay” or “straight.” Her latest album is entitled “Rainbow,” and she wrote a song for the Universal Love Album entitled “I Need a Woman.”
4. Mary Lambert
Mary Lambert first began getting attention when she was featured in Macklemore’s 2012 song “Same Love,” a song written about gay rights. A year later, she turned her brief part of the song into a whole new song sung by her, called “She Keeps Me Warm,” and features a lesbian relationship in the music video. Mary is open about her sexuality and of her love for women.
5. Sam Smith
Sam Smith is an English singer who reached worldwide fame back in 2014 with hit songs such as “Latch” and “Stay With Me.” He came out the same year as a openly gay man, with most of the love themes in his songs being written about other men that he’s loved in his past. “Stay With Me” was specifically cited as a song about a man who broke his heart.
6. Sia
Sia is worldwide known for her beautiful songs and the amazing dancing within her music videos and during her live performances. He album “1000 Forms of Fear” was her breakthrough album, and the follow up “This is Acting” got almost as much acclaim. While she has chosen not to label herself, she has said in prior interviews that she has dated both men and women in the past.
7. Brendon Urie
This lead singer of the band “Panic! At The Disco” has been famous since the band achieved fame back in 2005, and has released 5 albums, and plans to release a 6th. The lead singer has been open about his sexual fluidity, and while not fully labeling himself within the LGBT community, has said that he is very attracted to men, and has ‘dabbled’ with homosexuality in the past. One of the band’s songs, “Girls/Girls/Boys” is specifically about his experience with dating people in the past who were bisexual.
8. Halsey
Halsey became famous during the release of her “Badlands” album back in 2015. She’s released one more album since then, entitled “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom”. Her songs are about all sorts of topics, but behind the scenes Halsey is incredibly open about her life and her sexuality, as she has identified herself as bisexual.
