The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything, and that includes how we’re all celebrating Pride in 2020.
With huge public gatherings out of the question, we’re asking a range of LGBTQ celebrities and allies for their personal Pride anthems, to help us all get into the Pride spirit from lockdown.
Next up in our My Pride Anthems playlist is North East-born singer-songwriter L Devine.
As she reflects on some of her favourite Pride classics, she reveals how she found solace in Sam Smith’s music as a teenager, and how Charli XCX put on “the craziest, most mental party”…
070 Shake – Guilty Conscience
“I’ve picked mostly queer artists, and I’ve been a fan of 070 Shake for a while. She produced a song a few years ago called Honey and I’ve been listening to her ever since, she’s just a brilliant songwriter.
“This song is kind of like a super-80s synth ballad, but with a hip-hop feel to it as well, so you can feel emotional to it, and cry to it, but also feel cool at the same time.”
Christine And The Queens – Girlfriend
“I could have picked so many songs by Christine And The Queens. She inspires me so much, everything from the live shows to the visuals, her style, the way she moves, she’s just amazing. I feel like she sets the bar for everyone for creativity. Everything she does, every part of her artistry, you can’t fault it. So she’s a huge inspiration of mine.
“And her live shows are crazy, it’s the perfect combination of theatre and pop. It’s kind of like going to see a musical or something.”
Sam Smith – Not In That Way
“I picked this song because that [In The Lonely Hour] album meant a lot to me when I was a teenager. It was kind of one of the first times I felt like there was someone queer that I could listen to in the mainstream and in pop music.
“At the time, I was probably about 15 or 16, and the majority of that album is all about unrequited love, and I feel like it’s kind of a rite of passage for queer people. To love someone that didn’t love you back, or to love someone straight, that’s kind of what I was going through at school at the time, with one of my best mates, so I related to a lot of the songs on that album. So that’s an important one to me.”
Arca – Piel
“Arca is someone who has inspired me so much production-wise. She’s just amazing, I can’t wait for her new album. But I think also with this album [the self-titled Arca], it’s very dark, you can sense a lot of pain in all of the songs, and that’s something that every queer person has experienced, this certain type of pain. And a lot of us have had mental health journeys, and I really feel that through this album. And that’s why… I don’t know if any of it is linked to sexuality, but in my head it is. And a lot of my music, there’s pain that comes from that as well.
“So I feel like I can really relate to this album, even though I don’t know what even the lyrics are half of the time! I just love it, and the soundscape to it is absolutely amazing.”
Charli XCX, feat. Brooke Candy, CupcakKe & Pabllo Vittar – I Got It
“I’ve included this because it reminds me of going out clubbing, and I miss going out clubbing, out at the gay clubs. I saw Charli live in New York a few years ago, when Pop 2 had just come out, and I remember when she did this song, it just went off. It was the craziest, most mental party.
“She’s so good at creating a party atmosphere and just getting the crowd going wild. This one is just a party anthem, and the features are amazing as well.”
L Devine recently released her new single Don’t Say It. Take a listen below:
