On his beautifully sprawling and intimately vulnerable, nine-minute-plus opus, “Like Me (feat. Daisy),” the second track of his 2019 solo debut, Apollo XXI, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and bisexual icon Steve Lacy is reaching out.
Everybody’s got questions. But it’s not the questions Steve is worried about. What he really wants to know is: “How many out there just like me? (How many out there?) How many others not gon' tell their family? How many scared to lose their friends like me? I wonder, I wonder…” Bursting onto the scene as the guitarist and co-producer of The Internet’s critically acclaimed and grammy-nominated album, “Ego Death,” Lacy has since been one of the hottest and in-demand names in the industry, writing songs for and producing alongside the likes of superstars such as J. Cole, Vampire Weekend, and Kendrick Lamar. But on “Like Me,” it was time for Lacy to share his own story - on his own terms. That’s what makes the track so profoundly striking, beautiful and intimate. As he weaves together the three section song, Lacy speaks candidly about and celebrates his bisexuality, but at the same time let’s everyone know it’s actually none of their business. Enough with all the questions. Just let me be me. “I only feel energy, I see no gender When I talk 'bout fish, I wanna catch you, I'm a fisher Now they debate on who I like, they wanna see a list of Girls and boys out here so they can see if I'm official I tell 'em, "Ooh, come down, this ain't your life found If you want to smile, if you're happy for me now I hope you can relate, if you can't right now You might be a little late or you might never get it down" But who like…” With “Like Me,” Lacy has gifted the queer community (as well as all who are allies and learning to stand in solidarity alongside queer friends and family), with a nine-minute, stunningly-vivid look into the chaotic mental swirl and oftentimes traumatizing experience that is coming to terms with one’s own queer sexual identity. Questions. Fears. Loneliness. Isolation. Longing. The desire both to be known, accepted and celebrated… and also be left the hell alone. Steve Lacy says, I see you. I feel you. I’m here. We’re in this together. This is me. They either get it or they don’t. But you do you. Because in the end, it’s none of their business. And most importantly: You’re not alone. Pride is celebration. Pride is bright and beautiful and fun and vibrant. But Pride is also about the struggle. About being seen. Feeling safe. About being real. Honest. Brave. Bold. And more than anything? Pride says: You’re not alone. If you’re out, and proud, and living your best and fullest and truest life, we celebrate you this month! Yas, Queen! But just the same, if you’re questioning, uncertain, feeling scared, alone, isolated, unsure, and you’re still trying to find yourself, your beauty and your identity: we celebrate you too. And we’re here for you, Beautiful. For all of it. We believe in you, and we stand with you this month - and all days, weeks, months and years.
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Ziggy Stardust, the glittery, intergalactic rock-star is the messenger. And the message from beyond? Love. Inclusion. Hope. Celebration. In a time of war, great unrest and conflict in the world, Bowie descended onto the rock n’ roll scene as Ziggy, offering humankind in fabulous fashion a vision of hope, and a future in which all are welcome to shine and boogie, just as they are. The Starman from beyond is kind and sensitive, understanding we may not be ready for the full glory - he doesn’t want to blow our minds. But the message is critical - the fate of the world may depend on it: “Let the children lose it, Let the children use it, And all the children boogie.”
It’s an age-old conundrum. The Starman could see it 50 years ago. Ziggy tried to tell us.
Some of us heard, and are still going to battle. Our weapon of choice? 🏳️🌈 Pride. 🏳️🌈 Pride is the message Ziggy brought to us from the Starman. You are beautiful as you are. You are beloved, as you are. And in the new world, the one we strive for, and march for, and dance for, you’ll be able to boogie, baby. Bowie’s “Starman” is as shimmery and vibrant (and needed) today as ever. Ziggy changed rock n’ roll. Ziggy changed the world. And may we all continue to dance with abandon into the glittery and glorious future the “Starman” gave us a glimpse into all those years ago. Happy Pride, all.
With frenetic urgency, our Pride Song of the Day, “History Repeats,” the lead single from the brilliant Brittany Howard’s 2019 solo debut album, Jamie, captures the heart-pounding, anxiety-inducing energy that pulses through our veins when we stand face to face with that which has held us down, time and time again, and calls us to rise above.
Howard, the 5x Grammy Award winner erupted onto the rock n’ roll scene in 2012 with the release of Alabama Shakes’ swampy and sweaty legendary debut, Boys & Girls. Over the past decade, her gritty, soaring, and soulful vocal prowess - which sits somewhere between Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, and Prince - has delivered some of the most soul-stirring vocal performances put to record. And after the smash success of her two records with Alabama Shakes, Howard’s genre-bending, gravity defying and award winning solo debut - Jamie, named after the beloved sister she lost to retinoblastoma at just 13 years of age - was widely praised by critics across the board, and stands as one of the most unique and beautifully diverse albums recorded in recent years. Publicly out as a lesbian since age 25, Howard married Jesse Lafser, her partner and bandmate in the Bermuda Triangle - a side project they share in together - in 2018. Daughter of a junk-yard owner, growing up poor, queer and biracial (her mother being of English and Irish ancestry and her father is African-American) in Athens, Alabama brought with it tremendous challenges. But music was always there. And it was free. Howard would play with her sister and other family, pulling together whatever they could round up, playing and singing with unabashed passion and vigor - even if Brittany’s drumming with was a spoon on pots and pans. Howard’s music is pure passion. It drips heavily from every phrase and word. It soars with every howl and scream. And it is this unbridled passion that has so deeply moved fans from the stage and on the record that has won Howard such universal acclaim. It is as if every drop of blood, sweat, and tears that dropped to the soil in Athens, as she honed her craft and pushed to overcome the most overwhelming of odds and heartbreaking challenges, infuses every bar and chord of her music. Like so many of her tracks, this passion is the driving force behind, “History Repeats,” which manages to tap into both the most personal and universal human predicaments all at once. Here we are again. We don’t want to be here again. We’ve seen this movie before. All too often… So what now? Do we have what it takes? Can we stop making the same mistakes? History marches on, and there’s nothing new under the sun. But maybe… just maybe… we have what it takes to break the cycle. If Brittany’s story is any indicator, it seems there is hope. History doesn’t quit, but with each time around, we get a little wiser. We get a little stronger. We see it coming from a little further away. And so we keep on. And it is that spirit, the spirit, the courage, the strength, to keep on that shines so brightly in the beautiful Queen that is Brittany Howard. She gives us hope, in the midst of the chaotic world that just don’t quit that We can do this. It may be hard. It may be messy. But we’ve got this. You’ve got this. This Pride Month, we hope that these songs of resilience and steadfastness, from Brittany and so many other gorgeous queer artists, icons and allies just like her, that you will find the strength and hope to go at it again. Another moment. Day. Week. Year. Because we got this. Pride says we got this. Make sure to catch all of Brittany’s incredible discography on your preferred music streaming provider, and snag a copy of the Grammy-winning Jamie from your favorite local, independent record store! Much love, all.
Kiyoko, affectionately dubbed, “Lesbian Jesus” by her dedicated fanbase, went viral in 2015 when her jam, “Girls Like Girls,” was released on YouTube, to the tune of 110 million views. The biracial, AAPI pop star and actress got her start in the music scene as a founding member of The Stunners, scoring a dance hit with “We Got This,” in 2010, just a year after she’d graduated high school. In her youth, Kiyoko struggled with her feelings about coming out, fearing judgment and rejection from those around her. Wanting to help inspire confidence in young people dealing with the same struggles, Kiyoko’s music focuses on her story, her emotions and experiences as a Queer individual coming to terms with her own identity. The 2018 MTV Push Award winner, Kiyoko is a fierce activist, working to normalize lesbian relationships within the music industry and in society as a whole. In her words, “"If you see two girls falling in love and normalizing that, then [people] can go 'I can fell in love, too. I can be that person. I can look like that. I can get a girl that looks like that.' If they see that, then they can believe it. It's just how we are." In “Found My Friends,” Kiyoko takes us on a beautiful journey of the self, moving from the disconnected, out of body sensation of running alongside herself, and the fear of being alone with herself, to the sweet harmony of dancing and knowing that at the heart of it all, the thing each and every one of us needs is to know that we are enough, that we are lovely, and that there is deep beauty and healing in showing up for ourselves. Check out Kiyoko’s self-directed music video for “Found My Friends” for the full experience of the song, as she moves from wrestling with her fears laying on the floor, to dancing on her own! And make sure to check out the rest of Hayley’s discography on your favorite streaming service, follow her work on socials, and to pick up her latest record, Panorama, which includes “Found My Friends,” at your local, independent record store!
When Little Richard hit the airwaves in 1955 with the infamous, “Tutti Frutti,” he did more than just create the most important Queer anthem of all time. He created a revolution that would change the course of music, and shape the course of history itself. He created Rock & Roll. As a youth, Richard dubbed himself “The Magnificent One,” using curtains as a cape, and sporting eyelashes and makeup. But at just 13 years old, Richard was kicked out of his conservative home, and in turn, took his beautiful self to the stage and began performing for money. Imitating his heroes, Sister Rosetta Tharp and Mahalia Jackson, Richard became known for his raucous, wild, one-of-a-kind style, cultivating an image and sound that was a mash-up of his diverse sounds an interests, and creating a hybrid fusion of boogie, blues, gospel, and R&B. “Tutti Frutti” went viral upon release in 1955. Number one on the R&B charts. Seventeen on the Pop charts. But it was not without some editing. Significant editing. The original lyrics Richard howled were (something like), “Tutti frutti, good booty, If it’s tight, it’s alright, If it’s greasy, it makes it easy…” The song that set the world on fire was an homage to anal sex. Though the lyrics were edited to, “Tootie frutti, aw rooty…” (with “aw rooty” as slang for, “it’s alright,”) …(and references to Daisy and Sue were added to further mask the outright gay abandon, energy and freedom that pulses and reverberates throughout), set the world on fire the song did. The backlash against Richard and “Tutti Frutti” was ferocious.
Sexually liberated. Black. Successful. His records and his rock & roll were seen as a toxic poison upon American youth.
(And you thought the Elvis backlash for his pelvic thrusts was bad.) Even worse, the record companies, as it was with almost all influential Black performers of Richard’s era who found success, tried to capitalize on Richard’s success by encouraging the likes of white early rock n’ rollers like Pat Boone and Elvis to cover Richard’s tune. Pat Boone’s version went to #12 on the charts, surpassing Richard’s placement. Boone’s was more palatable for the white folks. Over the next several years, rock n’ roll (Richard’s sound) was co-opted in the music industry and put into the hands of white performers. And by the mid 60s, the sound that was invented by Richard and the likes of other Black pioneers such as Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Fats Domino and Bo Diddley (not to mention being built upon the influences of the legendary Queer Black women who preceded them, such as Big Mama Thorton, Sister Rosetta Tharp, Lucille Bogan, and Ma Rainey), had been almost entirely white-washed. However. Despite the racism. Despite the bigotry. Despite the homophobia. Despite the hatred. Despite the backlash… Little Richard changed the world. Little Richard is a hero. In 2010, “Tutti Frutti” was entered into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry for its influence on culture. In 1986, Little Richard was one of the first 10 artists inducted into the inaugural class of the Rock Hall of Fame. “Tutti Frutti” was voted #1 in Mojo’s “Top 100 Records That Changed The World.” And Richard is widely regarded now, rightfully, as the architect of Rock n’ Roll. Gay. Black. Flamboyant. Loud. Proud. Little Richard changed the world. The impact of “Tutti Frutti” and Little Richard simply cannot be overstated! As the greatest Queer anthem of all time, and the song that sparked the rock n’ roll revolution, it is the literal definition of our Pride Song-of-the-Day jams. Long live King Richard! |
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AuthorJonathan Bristow - Ascent Founder & Director. 
Jonathan is a queer, former pastor, creator, mystic and amplifier, dedicated to decolonization and recovering sovereignty. Stepping into a lifelong dream in 2021, he created Ascent Radio to offer music enthusiasts a handcrafted radio platform at the intersection of great music and collective liberation. Jonathan lives and breathes music, and believes fiercely in the power of music to draw us together and inspire us toward a better world.
Alongside his work as the Founder and Director of Ascent, he is a freelance writer, and author of the Substack blog, Finding Jonathan, reflecting on the journey of simultaneously losing and finding himself all at once, recovering from childhood trauma, faith deconstuction, and learning to love and embrace all of who he is. An inspiring wordsmith, Jonathan writes content for conscious brands, artists and industry professionals. To connect with him about writing on a project that needs beautiful words, connect with him over on his LinkedIn profile, or email at: [email protected]! Archives
May 2026
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