Friday is finally here, which means it’s time to sit back, relax and play some new tunes from some of your favorite queer artists. Billboard Pride is here to help with First Out, our weekly roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists.
From Rebecca Black’s journey into the world of hyperpop, to Greyson Chance’s latest hellishly good new track, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:
Rebecca Black, “Personal”
Rebecca Black is ready to enter her hyperpop era. The singer’s newest track, “Personal,” is a glitchy, vocoder-coated ballad about the pitfalls of bringing a relationship to its natural conclusion, as her synthesized voice asks her lover to understand that there are no hard feelings. The accompanying video only further adds to the story, with Black lounging around a posh mansion, as she goes about her chores and writes repeated reminders to herself that “I’m allergic to basic.”
“‘Personal’ represents this reckoning with a consequence of heartbreak I hadn’t really ever understood – which was the guilt and heaviness that comes with being the one to put an end to a relationship when thats not what the other person wants,” Black said of the new song in a statement. “I’ve learned you can’t really stop two people on roads heading in opposite directions, and it can feel so difficult to consciously make a decision that you know will hurt someone you love, while at the same time knowing its the necessary choice for yourself at the end of the day.”
Greyson Chance, “Hellboy”
Greyson Chance is wearing his devil-may-care attitude on his sleeve in his cheeky new single. “Hellboy,” the latest song off of Chance’s forthcoming EP, is a synth-filled electropop escape, where the rising star lets his partner know that he’s interested in being a lot more than friends. The song’s morphing, funk-inspired sound blends just right with Chance’s out-of-this-world falsetto, just before he begins chanting aloud “Dark magic, red boot kick/ I’m a hell boy, I’m a hell boy.”
K.Flay, “Four Letter Words”
“I’m usually nice,” K.Flay declares on the chorus of her new track. “But just for tonight, I wanna be mean. I wanna fight.” That’s the kind of spirit the alt-pop singer-songwriter brings to her latest single “Four Letter Words.” The scathing, rip-roaring track sees K.Flay tapping into a deep, fiery rage, as she throws up both middle fingers to anyone who would tell her to be quiet. The thundering beat will keep your foot tapping throughout, the distorted guitar riffs will have you banging your head, and K.Flay’s intimately relatable lyrics will have you singing along in no time.
Deb Never, “Sorry”
While the name of her new single may very well be “Sorry,” Deb Never is tired of apologizing. Throughout the entrancing song, Never paints a picture of someone who has been constantly put down and hurt by those around her, yet continues to find herself compensating for something that simply isn’t her fault. So, she calmly, firmly makes clear on the new song exactly how she feels, and what she will refuse to do from now on: “Fucked up, blacked out drunk at another party/ Big shit rockstar, but I think you’re boring,” she sings. “Now I’m gone, moved on, yeah, I’m never sorry.”
Ben Platt, “Imagine”
Get ready, because Ben Platt is ready to complete his transition from Broadway to pop. On “Imagine,” produced by superstar hitmakers Jon Bellion and The Monsterz & Strangerz, Platt creates a new, stadium-filling sound for himself, crooning to his crush about how bleak life would be without them. As usual, Platt’s vocals remain the star of the track, while the lush, simple production makes for a perfect backdrop to the singer’s arrival in the pop scene. “I can’t imagine my life without you/ I can’t imagine one night without you/ If something happened, don’t know what I’d do,” he sings.
ElyOtto, “SugarCrash! (feat. Kim Petras and Curtis Waters)”
Unless you’ve never opened TikTok in your life, chances are you’ve heard ElyOtto’s hyperpop earworm, “SugarCrash” — but you’ve certainly never heard it like this. The new version of the track, featuring some new production and an added verse courtesy of Curtis Waters, features none other than pop princess Kim Petras, adding a brand new verse of her own to the viral single. It’s a perfect match — Otto’s cutting-edge, glitch-pop sound fits perfectly with Petras’ bubblegum aesthetic, as she sings “Feel my heart racing/ Everything’s changing/ Feel f—ing crazy/ I just wanna feel good.”
“I heard SugarCrash and, like anyone who’s ever been on TikTok, had it on repeat for a while,” Petras said of the new single in a statement. “When ElyOtto reached out I immediately said yes, wrote the verse, and sent it in. And ElyOtto loved it. I love ElyOtto as an artist and feel really proud to be a part of this.”
