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

Queer The Music this week celebrates the multi-award winning actor, singer and activist Billy Porter. Billy is the first gay Black man to win an Emmy Award in any lead acting category and in 2020 Time magazine included him in their list of 100 most influential people in the worldHe wowed Broadway with his lead performance as drag queen Lola in Kinky Boots, scooping a Tony Award and a Grammy for Best Musical Theater album. He joins Jake in this episode to talk about finding his voice, how he shaped the role in Kinky Boots, his love of musical theatre and of course that show-stealing ballad from the show, Not My Father's Son. You can watch the full episode on Mercury Studios' YouTube Channel - hereWe'd love to hear from you - please send any questions to us via Instagram @queerthemusicpodcast - hereSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kae Tempest joins Jake Shears to talk about his song 'Statue In The Square'. With two Mercury nominations and the Ted Hughes Poetry Prize under his belt, Kae Tempest is a celebrated and prolific artist. His new album, Self Titled is his most personal work yet telling his story of finding love, community and comfort. In this episode he opens up to Jake about his identity struggles, journey of self-acceptance and we learn how creativity and community has been a powerful catalyst for embracing his self-hood.You can watch the whole episode at Mercury Studios YouTube channel hereWe'd love to hear from you! Please send any comments or questions to us on Instagram @queerthemusicpodcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is the second part of Jake's interview with The Metal God himself, Rob Halford - frontman of legendary rock band Judas Priest ….Last time we learnt about the pressures on Rob to keep his sexuality secret, the risk he took writing a song about Fire Island and how Tom of Finland influenced Judas Priest’s look. And now we’re about to get down and dirty… starting with asking Rob about his extremely honest autobiography…Get in touch with any questions or comments via Instagram, we'd also love to hear who you'd like us to feature on Queer The Music @queerthemusicpodcast.com And you can watch the full video of the episode on YouTube hereSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to Series 3 of Queer The Music! We're kicking off with an absolute icon from the world of rock - Rob Halford. Rob has spent half a century fronting one of heavy metal's biggest and most influential bands, Judas Priest.The first openly gay metal singer, it’s hard to underestimate the impact Rob Halford’s coming out must have had for other queer rock fans.In this episode Rob talks about how he created the look for Heavy Metal, the pressure to keep his sexuality secret, his unplanned coming out, the art and dangers of cruising, his secret to a successful relationship and the risk he took writing a song about Fire Island.You can watch the full episode on Mercury Studio's YouTube Channel ⁠here⁠We'd love to hear from you! Get in touch with any questions and comments @queerthemusicpodcast on Instagram.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this festive edition of Queer the Music Jake sits down with the iconic Holly Johnson, the front man of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, to discuss the 1984 UK number one single and enduring Christmas song, ‘The Power of Love’.The Power of Love came out during a time of social and political turmoil in the UK. Between Thatcherism, the miner strike and an encroaching AIDS epidemic the world was becoming a scary place for the LGBTQ+ community. Despite this, gay bars, clubs and saunas were thriving in the UK and amongst it all Frankie Goes to Hollywood were skyrocketing to success with their debut album ‘Welcome to the Pleasuredome’.Tune in to hear about how ‘The Power of Love’ was written and how it unwittingly became synonymous with Christmas.Thank you for listening to this second series of Queer The Music, we'd love to hear from you - let us know which song you'd like us to feature - leave us a review or message us on Instagram @queerthemusicpodcast - see you for series 3 in 2025!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's the Season Finale of Queer The Music and we have a big one for you! It's none other than Neil Tennant to talk about Pet Shop Boys' 1987 smash hit 'It's A Sin'. Neil joined Jake on his sofa to talk about making the song, the meaning behind the lyrics & his brilliant music career. We cover a lot of ground in this episode and learn so much about many of Pet Shop Boys songs, their collaborations and creative process. Thank you to everyone who has listened to this series - we'll be back with Season 3 next year, let us know who you would like us to feature on Queer The Music, but in the meantime keep an eye out for a very special festive bonus.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Have you heard the news?? Scissors Sisters are reforming and going on tour next May so for this special edition of Queer The Music, recorded in front of an audience at The Phoenix Arts club in London, we celebrate one of the songs that started it all, a song that is instantly recognizable from the first chord and one that the LGBTQ+ community have taken to their hearts, it's 2004's 'Take Your Mama'Longtime friend and associate of Scissor Sisters, Ms. Aimee Phillips turns the tables on Jake Shears and his fellow band mates, Babydaddy and Del Marquis and asks them to spill the tea on this iconic song.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode celebrates the song 'Midnight Radio', by Stephen Trask, the epic finale song from the ground-breaking film and stage musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.Jake is joined at his home in New Orleans by the creator, director and star of this cult classic, John Cameron Mitchell, to talk about where the ideas for the musical came from, it's reception, the making of the film and its enduring significance.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Queer The Music not only shines a light on songs by queer artists but also those that have been adopted by the LGBTQ+ community and in this episode we’re celebrating an absolute banger and one that has well and truly been claimed by the queer community - it’s the unbelievably uplifting call to arms ‘Free Yourself’ by Jessie Ware. Tune in to hear Jake and Jessie chat about how the song came about, her influences, creative process, working with Stuart Price, channelling Erica Jane and how incredibly important her queer fans are to her.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We have a bonus episode for you! Join us as we are celebrating the brilliant ‘Fast Slow Disco’ the up-tempo reworking of ‘Slow Disco’ by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Annie Clark, who goes by the stage name St Vincent.Annie began her music career as a member of the Polyphonic Spree, and has since released 7 critically acclaimed albums, picked up 3 Grammy awards, collaborated with the likes of Taylor Swift and David Byrne and is frequently listed among the best guitarists of the 21st century.As well as finding out about how the creation of the song and why she released this different version, we discuss the filming of that video, her musical influences, her performance fantasies, her love of David Bowie, what it's like collaborating with David Byrne and of course her wonderful new album 'All Born Screaming' which is out at the end of April.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For our last episode of this current series we celebrate the brilliant 'Going To A Town' by singer, songwriter Rufus Wainwright. The song, which was the first single from Rufus’s 2007 album 'Release the Stars', has garnered huge critical acclaim and has been covered by artists from George Michael to Lily Allen however its critique of the United States and the war in Iraq provoked strong negative reactions in audiences and when he performed it he says “I would sing it often and get booed”.Listen to Jake and Rufus' insightful conversation where they cover the meaning and making of the song, it's reception, what it means to be a gay artist, his influences and his encounter with George Michael.Rufus' first musical of John Cassavetes’ 'Opening Night' opens on the 26th of March at the Gielgud Theatre in London - it is directed by Ivo van Hove and stars Sheridan Smith.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.