It’s official! Pride Month is (basically) here, folks! To celebrate the occassion, why not add some new music from you favorite queer artists to your summer playlists? Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of Queer Jams of the Week, our roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ+ artists.
From Miley Cyrus’ experimental new album to Girl in Red’s heartbreaking new single, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:
Miley Cyrus, Something Beautiful
Miley Cyrus has been through it since becoming part of the public discourse in her Hannah Montana days. But instead of simply trying to move past the tribulations she’s faced, the singer is ready to make art all about it. Something Beautiful, Cyrus’ oscillating, fluid new visual album, sees the star embracing her own story — warts and all — through scintillating pop-rock (“Easy Lover”), disco (“Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved”) and dance (“Reborn”). The throughline, as it has been on each of her albums, is Cyrus’ unwavering commitment to telling a captivating story through her own artistic medium.
Girl in Red, “Hemingway”
During her Doing It Again tour in 2024, Girl in Red was in a dark place. Now, on her latest single “Hemingway,” the singer-songwriter is ready to give fans a glimpse of what she was going through. Over an entrancing melody, Marie Ulven sings about her struggle with addiction and depression with shocking honesty, before giving voice to the people in her life that helped pull her out of it. “You better give up this act you don’t know how to play/ And come back down before it’s too late,” she sings on the tearful chorus, once again showing fans what a stunning songwriter she really is.
Wet Leg, “CPR”
Sometimes there’s just that one voice in your head telling you that what you’re doing is maybe not the best idea. On Wet Leg’s slinky new track “CPR,” they tune that voice out and dive in head first to a relationship. Sure, Rhian Teasdale might be wondering aloud “is this love or suicide” over a bone-shaking bassline, but she makes her choice clear within the first line of the bombastic, excellent chorus: “Put your mouth to mine and give me CPR.”
Royal & the Serpent, “Euphoria”
Most people associate the phrase “euphoria” with the rush of sudden joy and pleasure — but Royal & the Serpent wants to access more than just that. With her new track of the same name, Ryan Santiago aims to “feel it all,” and proves as much with the track’s wide-ranging production. From tender, synth-assisted lows to explosive, beat-heavy highs, “Euphoria” feels, aptly, like an emotional rollercoaster. And much like those rides, you’ll be lining up to go on it again as soon as it’s over.
Kate Nash, “GERM”
The terf “TERF” has an elegant simplicity to it — it describes what it means literally (“trans-exclusionary radical feminist”), while also sounding like the simple put-down it is. Kate Nash would like to tweak the phrase just a little bit, though. On “GERM,” her experimental, spoken-word protest track, Nash looks to all the TERFs celebrating a UK court’s recent decision excluding trans women from the definition of “woman” and gives them a new name — “girl exclusionary regressive misogynists.” No, they are “not radical” or “rad at all,” Nash argues. They’re GERMs, trying to infect our public discourse with transphobic vitriol.
King Isis, “LATELY”
With their latest alt-pop anthem, rising singer-songwriter King Isis has had enough of the same routines. “Lately” sees the Oakland artist leaning into her own malleability, favoring change over stability on this angsty new single. Throw in some grungy guitars, a killer vocal performance and some smartly written lyrics, and you’ve got an excellent new track courtesy of King Isis.
Betty Who, “Sweat”
With Pride Month basically here, there’s no better time to find some songs to get you dancing this June. Naturally, Betty Who is here to deliver the goods on “Sweat,” her synthy pop anthem that’s practically built for your forthcoming Pride Month festivities. The driving beat keeps the pressure up, as Who’s voice reaches a new stratosphere, commanding you to get to the nearest dancefloor ASAP.
Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist below:
