Why do so many gay singers avoid singing about men?

Writer and radio plugger George Williams (pictured) ponders why so many out gay singers are open about their sexuality everywhere but in their music…

From 70s glam rock to the accurate depiction of gay couples in videos, the music industry has flirted with homosexuality for decades. Why is it then that, lyrically, mainstream music is yet to offer up the same reflection of gay life? Our out gay popstars sometimes seem like they would rather self-police and not offend anybody. The world isn’t short of gay singers, but is the world ready for boys to sing about boys?

Will Young released his 6th studio album 85% Proof in May, some 13 years after publicly coming out. There is no reference to a male love interest across the album’s lovelorn songs – not a male pronoun to be found.

Sam Smith remained lyrically ambiguous throughout the writing process of his globally recognised debut album In The Lonely Hour. The week the album was released in the US he recorded a cover of Whitney Houston’s How Will I Know for SiriusXM in which ‘There’s a boy I know, he’s the one I dream of’ was changed to ‘Oh it’s you I know, you’re the one I dream of.’

In an interview with Fader he said, “I’ve tried to be clever with this album, because it’s also important to me that my music reaches everybody.”

Despite this, Sam shot a music video for single Lay Me Down featuring a wedding ceremony between he and a man. Will Young and Sam Smith are at the front of a long line of gay singers happy to acknowledge their sexuality through all mediums – except, that is, their music. From Elton John to Ricky Martin, why has the list of gay singers keeping the gay out of their music always been so long?

Frank Ocean broke down a significant barrier in 2012. He wrote an album full of familiar pop and hip-hop themes; unrequited love, class and drugs, but did so without straight-washing his lyrics. Frank won a Brit and a Grammy for the album and many gay men found someone in the realm of mainstream hip-hop who was shining a torch for them.

Progress has been made elsewhere – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s hit Same Love became the first song that celebrated same-sex marriage to crack the US top 40. Though this act-up anger marked another profound moment in hip-hop, maybe what’s needed on the charts is not only a fierce fight against what gay people are enduring, but the normalisation of homosexuality by homosexuals. The razzmatazz of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way was great for looking haters in the face and telling them to fuck themselves sideways, but the smudged lipstick campness of a dance-pop anthem only extends to LGBTs who are immersed in ‘gay culture’.

Years and Years frontman Olly Alexander has been vocal about the lack of male pronouns used by gay singers in their music. One of the band’s gender-specific songs, Real, was their first single to crack the UK Singles Chart. Glee actor Alex Newell featured on Blonde’s top 5 hit All Cried Out and received heavy support from national radio with the chorus; ‘Boy I’m all cried out, over you.’ It seems radio are happy to play these songs as long as they’re good enough.

As a radio plugger by day, it’s my job to get songs on the radio. I know that the majority of people who work in radio, as well as the majority of listeners, gig-goers and indeed the British public, are straight. It’s understandable then that a gay artist would omit gender specific lyrics from their work. We’re kidding no one if we say that a boy singing about boys wouldn’t put off some potential punters.

Perhaps the best way to avoid making people feel uncomfortable is not through avoidance but through exposure. Gender-neutral lyrics appease those who are uncomfortable with the idea of two men being attracted to each other. Most out gay singers release songs to radio that address the lover as ‘you’ instead of ‘he’ or ‘him’. By becoming more exposed to the idea of same-sex love through music, a straight listener will steadily become more able to relate to the themes of love and heartbreak that mirror their own experiences. Nothing connects humans to one another quite like being in the deep mire of heartbreak together.

Although the life experiences of gay and straight men can (and usually do) differ significantly, the world of love and loss is common ground. Great music has the ability to bridge gaps and resonates because of how it unravels the human experience.

Who are the best ones to make every corner of society understand and accept homosexuality? Homosexuals. So sing a song about ‘him’… and make sure you sound amazing.

Words by George WILLIAMS.