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

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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

Watch the full episode here

Come and have a kiki with us! We're doing our first live episode recording on the 5th of November at the Phoenix Arts Club followed by a party to celebrate season 2 - tickets and more info here

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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]

You can watch the full episode on Mercury Studios YouTube channel here

Come and have a kiki with us! The first live episode of Queer The Music is happening on the 5th of November at The Phoenix Arts Club - Nick Grimshaw and Jake Shears will be cohosting and joined by some special surprise guests - more info and tickets here

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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.

Come and have a kiki with us! The first live episode of Queer The Music is happening on the 5th of November at The Phoenix Arts Club - Nick Grimshaw and Jake Shears will be cohosting and joined by some special surprise guests - more info and tickets here

You can watch the full episode on Mercury Studios YouTube channel here

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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.

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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.

Thank you to our sponsors...

Factor’s delicious, ready-to-eat meals make eating better every day easy. Head to factormeals.com/queerthemusic50 and use code queerthemusic50 to get 50% off.

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The hit '1950' is the focus of this week's episode - Jake speaks to American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mikaela Straus, better known by her stage name King Princess, about the making of the song, queer representation, her influences and how her gender identity impacts her music.

1950 was King Princess' platinum certified debut single, it has had over 21 million views on YouTube and has been streamed over 550 million times on Spotify!

Thank you to our sponsors...

Factor’s delicious, ready-to-eat meals make eating better every day easy. Head to factormeals.com/queerthemusic50 and use code queerthemusic50 to get 50% off.

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This episode celebrates a hit from 2015 that went straight to the top of the UK Charts and was named song of the year by Time magazine. It’s the compulsively danceable ‘King’ by electro-pop then-trio Years and Years. Jake is joined by Musician and Actor Olly Alexander, the then frontman of Years & Years. Olly is a huge champion of LGBTQ+ issues, proudly celebrating his queerness by writing inclusive songs, displaying queer love in his music videos and portraying lead character Ritchie in the hit TV show ‘It’s A Sin’.

They discuss the making of 'King', Olly’s career, his influences and the struggles he’s faced as a Queer artist. 

Good luck representing the United Kingdom at Eurovision Olly! (This interview was recorded last summer, so before the news was announced). 

Thank you to our sponsors...

Factor’s delicious, ready-to-eat meals make eating better every day easy. Head to factormeals.com/queerthemusic50 and use code queerthemusic50 to get 50% off.

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