Arts & Entertainment
Queer ally Dua Lipa releases new single
LGBTQ ally Dua Lipa has released a new single from her current hit album, “Future Nostalgia.”
The UK songstress has been a queer fan-favorite since the early days of her career, when she released the singles “Be the One” and “Last Dance,” as explained in a recent article from the website, Means Happy.
Speaking to the site, an 18-year old London fan named Tom, who identifies as gay, said, “The gays definitely caught onto her first. Going to her concerts before and after “New Rules” was funny because before it was like 90% gays. After it was like a 50-50 gay-straight mix. I don’t think there’s been a British pop girl like her in a while. It was something that we wanted.
“I also think that because she’s young, she’s very relatable to us, especially on social media,” said Tom, who has seen Dua live six times. “That’s something that definitely appealed to me.”
The singer made headlines last year after she spoke up in support of fans ejected from her concert in Shanghai for holding up banners in support of LGBTQ rights, saying in a tweet, “I will stand by you all for your love and beliefs and I am proud and grateful that you felt safe enough to show your pride at my show. What you did takes a lot of bravery. I always want my music to bring strength, hope and unity. I was horrified by what happened and I send love to all my fans involved.”
She is slated to appear at Sydney’s 2020 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
The new single, which is the title track from “Future Nostalgia,” is the follow up to the runaway success of her last single “Don’t Start Now,” which has has seen over 240m streams to date and sold over 1 million copies as well as getting its live debut on “The Graham Norton Show.” It’s described in the press material as, “A pure slice of 80s influenced brilliance,” that “drops more hints towards her forthcoming album and the next exciting era of her career.”
Of the track, Dua says: “ ‘Future Nostalgia’ is my album title track and is a little something to tide you over till the New Year. I wrote this one with Jeff Bhasker and Coffee one afternoon in LA. It’s all playful and fun and not taking ourselves too seriously but we loved it so much we wanted to share it with you.”
Dua’s debut 2015 album has eclipsed 4 million sales worldwide and spawned over 40 million single sales. It is officially the most streamed album by a female artist in Spotify history. She is also the youngest artist ever to hit 1 billion views on YouTube and has won 3 BRITS – for British Female Artist, British Breakthrough Artist in 2018 and Best British Single for “One Kiss” with Calvin Harris in 2019 – along with Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Dance Recording for “Electricity,” her collaboration with Silk City. She also opened the 2019 MTV EMA Awards with a breathtaking performance of last single “Don’t Start Now” in Saville, Spain.
You can listen to the new track below.
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington performed “The Holiday Show” at Lincoln Theatre on Saturday. Future performances of the show are scheduled for Dec. 14-15. For tickets and showtimes, visit gmcw.org.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Books
Mother wages fight for trans daughter in new book
‘Beautiful Woman’ seethes with resentment, rattles bars of injustice
‘One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman’
By Abi Maxwell
c.2024, Knopf
$28/307 pages
“How many times have I told you that…?”
How many times have you heard that? Probably so often that, well, you stopped listening. From your mother, when you were very small. From your teachers in school. From your supervisor, significant other, or best friend. As in the new memoir “One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman” by Abi Maxwell, it came from a daughter.
When she was pregnant, Abi Maxwell took long walks in the New Hampshire woods near her home, rubbing her belly and talking to her unborn baby. She was sure she was going to have a girl but when the sonogram technician said otherwise, that was OK. Maxwell and her husband would have a son.
But almost from birth, their child was angry, fierce, and unhappy. Just getting dressed each morning was a trial. Going outside was often impossible. Autism was a possible diagnosis but more importantly, Maxwell wasn’t listening, and she admits it with some shame.
Her child had been saying, in so many ways, that she was a girl.
Once Maxwell realized it and acted accordingly, her daughter changed almost overnight, from an angry child to a calm one – though she still, understandably, had outbursts from the bullying behavior of her peers and some adults at school. Nearly every day, Greta (her new name) said she was teased, called by her former name, and told that she was a boy.
Maxwell had fought for special education for Greta, once autism was confirmed. Now she fought for Greta’s rights at school, and sometimes within her own family. The ACLU got involved. State laws were broken. Maxwell reminded anyone who’d listen that the suicide rate for trans kids was frighteningly high. Few in her town seemed to care.
Throughout her life, Maxwell had been in many other states and lived in other cities. New Hampshire used to feel as comforting as a warm blanket but suddenly, she knew they had to get away from it. Her “town that would not protect us.”
When you hold “One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman,” you’ve got more than a memoir in your hands. You’ve also got a white-hot story that seethes with anger and rightful resentment, that wails for a hurt child, and rattles the bars of injustice. And yet, it coos over love of place, but in a confused manner, as if these things don’t belong together.
Author Abi Maxwell is honest with readers, taking full responsibility for not listening to what her preschooler was saying-not-saying, and she lets you see her emotions and her worst points. In the midst of her community-wide fight, she reveals how the discrimination Greta endured affected Maxwell’s marriage and her health – all of which give a reader the sense that they’re not being sold a tall tale. Read this book, and outrage becomes familiar enough that it’s yours, too. Read “One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman,” and share it. This is a book you’ll tell others about.
The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.
Out & About
Come unleash your inner artist at the DC Center
Watercolor painting class held on Thursday
“Watercolor Painting with Center Aging” will be on Thursday, Dec. 12 at 12 p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community.
In this winter-themed painting class for seniors led by local artist Laya Monarez, guests will learn about watercoloring techniques, be given a demonstration, and allowed to create their own watercolor pieces. There will also be a break for lunch and plenty of snacks throughout. For more details, visit the DC Center’s website.
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