On March 26, Lil Nas X released the music video for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” and the internet has not known peace since. “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” accepts and subverts the religious themes that resign queer people to hell. With this video, Lil Nas X accepts the fate prescribed to him, goes to hell and gives a beautifully executed lapdance to the devil while he’s there. Like many queer people, Lil Nas X experienced self-hatred in his teen years due to Christian...

Veteran journalist Brooke Baldwin has been kicking ass in the male-dominated TV news industry for over 20 years, most famously at CNN, where she hosts CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin. During her 13 year tenure at CNN which is about to end in mid-April, Baldwin has unflinchingly held power to account while covering the most consequential issues of our day, from politics to protests to pressing social issues like gun violence. On April 6, she will be releasing her first book, HUDDLE: How Women Unlock...

We all love a good comeback story, don’t we? It’s a tale as old as time, and there’s a certain level of inspiration and hope that audiences can draw from the story of a person who, against all odds, manages to rise above their seemingly insurmountable circumstances. In Tina Turner’s case, however, the public’s obsession with her triumph over domestic violence has both catapulted her into mainstream success, and haunted her for a great number of years.  In what will serve as her final farewell to...

If you are unaware of the now-dominating platform Twitch, you may be missing out on some worthy content. From rap battles, gaming, cook-offs, and even advice panels, Twitch has everything that you could ask for and more. Luckily for me, I had the chance to speak to a fellow Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and cosplayer, Krysta a.k.a. KrystalogyTV, about everything content creation, and gained some insight on what it means to have an identity online.  You originally had a channel that went by the name "Kissabunni." Looking back...

KIDS—the second album from acclaimed Israeli rapper Noga Erez—radiates ferocious energy as it explores both political and personal reckonings. In contrast to her debut record, Off the Radar, KIDS delivers a hefty dose of plastic pop. “End of the Road” and “Bark Loud” are candy-coated explorations of mortality and self-worth, while “Story” feels like a danceable, stream-of-consciousness poem. Each track offers something unexpected; a swath of brass or the tender sound of a page turning. For those moments when you’re walking alone through the neon,...

These days, there are so many shows on streaming services that, with a click of a button, we have access to an endless supply of entertainment, making it quite easy to get lost in the sea of TV. But even in this day and age, female main characters are still sometimes portrayed as one-dimensional, or they are overshadowed by their male counterparts. Below are eight shows of all genres led by female characters who are nuanced, dynamic, and emotionally complicated — and, above all else, real. 1....

Representation and its significance take center stage in Dawnie Walton’s debut. Inspired by the author’s own deep desire for an Afro-punk role model during her teenage years, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a fictionalized account of Opal Jewel, a Black singer ahead of her time navigating the world of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1970s. Decades later, journalist Sunny Curtis sets out to create an oral history of her idol—and is confronted with an allegation about the controversial event that catapulted Opal to stardom. The...

Vibrant, haunting, and absolutely unforgettable, Girlhood by Melissa Febos is a modern masterpiece full of brutally honest self-reflection. “I’ve not found the research on how often we are touched by men without our consent, from childhood: belly and cheek pinches, shoulder squeezes, hands on thighs, unwelcome hugs,” Febos writes. “It is one thing to yell at a man whispering obscenities outside your window at midnight and another to reject a form of touch you’ve tolerated since infancy.” These essays will prompt readers to look critically at their own...

Josiah Wise, AKA serpentwithfeet, forged his creative identity in the fires of deliberate introspection and holistic growth, emerging triumphantly with DEACON, a grounded, neo-R&B album uniting his vocal training, gospel upbringing, and newfound warmth. Previous albums have traversed the melancholy and yearning he has known, and with DEACON, we are baptized into an era of unapologetic Black queer contentment. “Hyacinth” displays Wise’s vocal range, embracing melodies and piano accompaniments that are diaphanous, vulnerable, and self-possessed. The radiance of this album resists fleeting happiness, instead summoning the quiet magic...

“I’m rotting and I’m never coming back the way you knew me then,” Kalmia Traver (Rubblebucket) sings languidly on opener “Red Marker,” setting the radiant, springtime-trippy tone for Max Heart. What began as Traver’s solo side project, Kalbells has bloomed into a band featuring Angelica Bess (Body Language), Zoë Brecher (Hushpuppy, Sad13), and Sarah Pedinotti (Lip Talk), and their collective groove is definitely in the Heart. These 10 tracks are psychedelic in the most mind freeing, soothing, yellow-smiley-face sense of the word—elastic funk and fluid...