Pride Playlist

It's Pride Month, and it's been a while since I made a playlist article, so I figured that this was well overdue.

Disclaimer: none of the songs listed here were actually intended to be Gay Anthems, but no-body who listened to them came away thinking "Oh, yes, totally about best friends/a straight couple/fitting in..."

I'm not going to speculate on what the lyricists were thinking, but I still burst into giggles whenever I envision the writers room nodding sagely and agreeing that these songs had nothing to do with The Gays.

Oh, my poor innocent darlings...

Despite Disney's best efforts to the contrary, the vast majority of fanworks, fan opinions, and overall public consensus is to headcanon the entire main cast as some form of LGBTQ+.

The first film of the Descendants Trilogy hadn't been out a month before fan pages exploded with "so, we all know they're not Straight, right?" and similar LGBTQ+ takes. In the fan's defense, those headcanons had a LOT of supporting evidence, and the chemistry between the main cast didn't help matters.

I was one of the few fanfiction sources that followed the (Straight, heterosexual) canon pairings when I wrote for the fandom, but even then, I didn't picture the characters as all the way Straight. Sue me, I like friend characters being friends, instead of being constantly shoved into relationships, as if that's the only valid connection between characters.

"The Space Between" only confirmed that take, and flipped me from "Let Friends Be Friends, Damnit!" straight onto the "Yeah, There's No Way To Interpret This Other Than Sapphic..." train.

This song, while supposedly about two best friends reaffirming their BFF status, spikes most of the notes used as benchmarks for "love songs" in every other genre. Likewise with the body language. Mal and Evie are in near-constant physical contact as they sing, angling toward each other, and there is way too much Meaningful Eye Contact and Soulful Gazing for two completely straight characters to be singing this unironically.

The Fans agreed.

Overwhelmingly.

While technically about the courtship of King Arthur and Guinevere, this vulnerable, hopeful love song is sung between Gwen and her bestie, Morgana, who Has Concerns About This, and the two-woman musical it's from, "The Queens of Avalon" has some definite lesbian undertones, though it's up to the viewer whether or not it's requited.

I'm a long time fan of Indie Singer/Songwriter Heather Dale, but this was the first song of hers that I fell head over heels in love with. It certainly wasn't the last, and it's far from the only song in the Arthurian Musical that listeners could easily mistake for a serenade between lesbian lovers. Unusually for love songs, there's a distinct lack of gendered terms, and listened to in or out of context, it's a very sweet moment.

While "The Greatest Showman" is a somewhat forgettable movie overall, the songs are worth buying the soundtrack, and "This Is Me" was an overnight hit.

My ultimate favorite song remains "Re-write The Stars", but "This Is Me" is a very close second.

While technically applying to those whose physical appearance relegates them to the outskirts of society, Pride and Disability activists latched onto this song as an anthem in a matter of days. With good reason. The defiant themes of 'I am here and I refuse to hide!' echoes "We're here, we're Queer, we will not disappear!" to an extent that it's hard to believe that the similarities weren't deliberate.

It's right up there with "Let It Go" for songs that make the listener pause and delicately question if there's something the singer is trying to tell us.

Speaking of which....

Much like "Let It Go" in the first Frozen movie, Elsa's solo song in Frozen II, "Show Yourself" is another LGBTQ+ parallel song.

While "Let It Go" was more a song that broke down the closet door as the singer emerges in a flurry of confetti/snow and a fabulous new outfit, "Show Yourself" strikes notes of self-acceptance and self-discovery.

Yes, I know that it's a Disney song and probably not all that deep, but if you ignore the visuals, the song scans a LOT like a Baby Gay interacting with their first non-Straight crush.

Aurora's haunting vocals luring Elsa toward the discovery of her true self don't hurt the comparison, either.

Recorded by Elvis Prestley in 1961, using the melody from an 18th century French Ballad, "Can't Help Falling In Love With You" was an overnight classic, and probably one of Elvis's best-known and most-covered songs.

My favorite version is the one by Scandanvian pop band A*Teens, so that's the one I've used here. Temura Morrison also does an excellent cover on guitar and vocals.

Famously performed at Elvis's Las Vegas engagement and the last song he sang live, there is nothing in the lyrics to gender the subject of the singer's devotion, and indeed, even hints at conflict, as if the singer has been told their love is wrong, feeling ashamed in some way, but refuses to give up on the message their heart is sending.

Sounds pretty LGBTQ+ to me...

You can blame the folks at the Vocal Creator's Chronicle for me writing this. We were discussing a Pride Playlist in the lead-up to this month's Pride 2022 issue, and I decided to do my own.

If you enjoyed the playlist, then please leave a heart, a tip or a comment, and go check out my other works on Medium and here on Vocal.