Queer The Music: Jake Shears On The Songs That Changed Lives

In this episode of Queer The Music we’re shining a light on an incredible artist as we celebrate ‘Explode’ by the rapper and ‘Queen of Bounce’ Big Freedia. Big Freedia, “The Queen Diva,” not only brought bounce music to the mainstream but has become a cultural icon, an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and an ambassador for New Orleans. Big Freedia joined Jake at his house in New Orleans to talk about how the song was conceived, her influences, her faith, the impact of Hurricane Katrina & her love of New Orleans. Explode isn't just a song - it's a powerful declaration of self-expression and resilience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Queer The Music we welcome the great singer songwriter John Grant to talk about his epic song Glacier.  Glacier is the standout track from John's 2013 album 'Pale Green Ghosts' and is about the pain of growing up gay in a hostile environment, which for John was his conservative Methodist upbringing. It’s an emotional tour de force with hauntingly beautiful orchestration and powerful lyrics. We hear about how this song came to exist, his songwriting process and how music helped John find confidence and acceptance.  Watch the full episode here Come and have a kiki with us! We're doing our first live episode recording on the 5th of November at the Phoenix Arts Club followed by a party to celebrate season 2 - tickets and more info here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Queer The Music we celebrate the phenomenal artist Little Richard and his groundbreaking song 'Tutti Frutti'. We can’t underplay the impact that this one song had on popular music at the time, Little Richard is an artist that sent shockwaves through popular music in the 1950s and his influence is still apparent to this day.  To find out more about this extraordinary artist Jake is joined by Charles Glenn, bass player with Little Richard for over 30 years and scholar Jason King, Dean of the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California] You can watch the full episode on Mercury Studios YouTube channel here Come and have a kiki with us! The first live episode of Queer The Music is happening on the 5th of November at The Phoenix Arts Club - Nick Grimshaw and Jake Shears will be cohosting and joined by some special surprise guests - more info and tickets here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're back with Season 2 of 'Queer The Music' and what better way to kick off this series with the brilliant Beth Ditto to talk about the anthem that is Gossip’s ‘Standing In The Way of Control’.  The powerful and absolute banger of a track is known for being a response to George W Bush’s 2004 Federal Marriage Amendment which attempted to outlaw same sex marriage in the US.  In this episode Beth goes into detail about where the idea and emotion came from when writing and recording the song.  When Beth joined Jake at his apartment to record this episode they also had a brilliant time reminiscing about the grungy gay clubs from way back when that gave them their first tastes of queer freedom. Come and have a kiki with us! The first live episode of Queer The Music is happening on the 5th of November at The Phoenix Arts Club - Nick Grimshaw and Jake Shears will be cohosting and joined by some special surprise guests - more info and tickets here You can watch the full episode on Mercury Studios YouTube channel here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices