Pride Month is only 5 days away — before the festivities begin, update some of your playlists with new tracks from some of your favorite queer artists. Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of First Out, our weekly roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists.
From MUNA’s latest electro-pop jam to Isaac Dunbar’s inventive new EP, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below.
MUNA, “Home By Now”
We’ve all heard the lovesick breakup song, as well as the kiss-off breakup song. But with their latest release, indie-pop trio MUNA are embracing a new kind of heartbreak anthem — the “what if” breakup song. “Home By Now,” the latest single off of their upcoming self-titled album, sees lead vocalist Katie Gavin embracing their ended relationship while simultaneously wondering what could have been. “I don’t know if I’d been okay with/ Holding out hope for your stack of rainchecks,” she says over glittering synths and a droning bass. “If I had been able to grin and bear it/ Would we be home by now?”
Isaac Dunbar, Banish the Banshee
Welcome to Isaac Dunbar’s dance era. On Banish the Banshee, the fourth EP from the fast-rising alt-pop star, the 19-year-old producer takes the EDM sounds that helped him start his career and infuses them into his pop vernacular. Songs like “Sunburn” and “Gummy” pulsate and ripple with a dance fervor thus far unseen in the star’s previous work, while on singles like “Bleach” and “Tainted Love,” the singer throws it back to past eras of pop to update them for the modern era. Whichever mode you prefer, Dunbar has a little something for everyone on this stellar new project.
Jordy, “Dry Spell”
We all know what it’s like to experience the titular “Dry Spell” of Jordy’s new single; now, it’s just been put to a club-ready beat so you can at least get some pleasure out of it. The track follows Jordy as he searches for someone — really, anyone — to relieve his tension, and he does so over one of his best-produced tracks to date. Reverberating vocals, paired with his signature falsetto, makes this “Dry Spell” a fun adventure for everyone.
Boyish, My Friend Mica
Anyone who has ever lived in New York will understand the immediate vibe of indie duo Boyish’s new EP, My Friend Mica. Dedicated to their roommates in Brooklyn (of which they have six in a duplex), My Friend Mica embraces the chaotic, intimate relationships that can quickly form when put into a living situation where everyone is always in everyone else’s business. The dreamy pop landscape sees the duo not only learning to accept their situation, but also embracing their friends as their family — if that’s not what this Pride Month is all about, then frankly, we’re not sure what is.
Kelechi feat. Vincint, “Just Another Song”
You would be hard-pressed to find a duo better suited to sing with one another than queer artists Kelechi and Vincint. A pair of voices that perfectly compliment each other, the two find themselves together on “Just Another Song,” the latest soulful dance-pop single from Kelechi. Taking on the task of living your life in the moment, the pair playfully bounce off of one another, making for a euphoric anthem that will have you leaping around your home in joy.
