1. Raveena Aurora

Raveena Aurora, who goes by Raveena, is a queer South Asian woman that utilizes her Indian roots to blend with Western-style music, creating a whimsically serene sound in her music. Her songs can be described as experimental pop music, drawing inspiration from soul, jazz, indie, psych-rock, funk, hip-hop, and R&B. Her music dives into topics of identity, sexuality, heartbreaks, hardships, and mental struggles with a soft sound and a blend of traditional Indian instruments that tell a unique story. In her album Asha’s Awakening, she tells the story of Asha, a space princess from ancient Punjab who travels through space and time learning lessons along the way that are told in the lyrics of Raveena’s songs. One such song Mystery tells the story of a queer relationship with a music video that has enchanting visuals.

2. Omar Apollo

Omar Apollo grew up a son of Mexican immigrant parents in Indiana and now makes R&B music singing mostly of unrequited love and relationships in both English and Spanish. While he doesn’t label his sexuality, he is not afraid to openly express his queerness in his music. His unserious attitude and quirky personality shine through his Twitter account with tweets such as this response to someone asking if he was another queerbaiting artist. Apollo won Best New Artist at the 65th annual Grammy Awards for his album, Ivory, and his song Evergreen gained popularity due to its calming and catchy melody and mesmerizing bridge.

3. Lava La Rue

La Va La Rue, who goes by they/them pronouns, is a British Jamaican music director and musician. They experiment with various genres but are mostly considered indie pop. They, alongside other musicians, formed NiNE8 Collective, with the priority of collaboration and equal profits between them. They recently came out with their debut album, Starface, which is a concept album with a character Lava La Rue describes as “Lesbian Ziggy Stardust.” A beautiful blend of traditional instruments electronic sounds, and vocals reminiscent of FKA Twigs, STARFACE’S Decent is the perfect introduction to their album as well as their music in general.

4. Michaela Jaé

You may recognize Michaela Jaé for her acting career in things such as American Horror Story or Pose, the latter of which made her the first transgender actress to win a Golden Globe. She began her career in theatre in an off-broadway adaptation of Rent, but she took a hiatus after its conclusion in 2012 to transition before returning to become an actress. Her debut as a musical artist came in 2021 with her single Something To Say and she recently released a music video for her song, Green Lights. Her music is upbeat and perfect to dance to.

5. Rina Sayawama

Rina Sawayama was born in Japan and moved to London at the age of five. During her school years, Sayawama was groomed by a teacher and goes on to cover this topic in her song Your Age. In 2018, she came out as bisexual and pansexual, going on to say that her songs about love and relationships have all been about girls. “I've always written songs about girls. I don't think I've ever mentioned a guy in my songs, and that's why I wanted to talk about it." Her music can be described generally as a mix of rock, R&B, and pop as well as alternative indie and electronic dance music.

6. Moses Sumney

Moses Sumney was born in California but later moved to Ghana at 10 years old. He loved writing songs from a young age and sang softly, as he wanted to keep that part of him a secret, and now he continues to sing softly in his music. He attributes that to him getting used to singing quietly and mostly in falsetto. When he finally expressed his interest in becoming a musician his parents disagreed,as they wanted him to be a doctor. Once he moved back to California for college, he started to perform. His music can be described as alternative R&B, but more perfectly described as the perfect thing to accompany a rainy evening, with tracks such as Doomed.

7. Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens music brings solace to those in the LGBT community who also hold religious beliefs, as he explores themes of religion spirituality, and relationships in many of his songs. While Stevens has never officially labeled his sexuality, he put years of speculation to rest on his queerness when he dedicated his album JAVELIN to his partner who passed away in April of 2023. His voice in songs is soft and delicate, accompanied by instruments with a similar feel and poetic lyrics. A good introduction to his music is his remix/cover of Moses Sumney’s track, Make Out in My Car.

8. Deb Never

Deb Never grew up with severe social anxiety, spending most of her childhood avoiding speaking as much as she could. She felt she needed a way to express her feelings, so she taught herself guitar and felt it was the only way she could truly speak. She got her start in grunge bands in Washington, later moving to Los Angeles to further pursue her career. She now makes moody, dreamy alternative/indie music and continues to collaborate with many other artists, one collaboration being with artist Lava La Rue, with the track Angel.