It’s Pride Month in the US right now, which means the internet is slowly being flooded with a steady stream of LGBTQIA+ adjacent content. (More than usual, I mean.) So what better time to release a Very Queer music video? The Internet, Troye Sivan and Rita Ora have all dropped music videos today, and they are all, in some way, shape or form, what one may call “quite gay”. And “quite good”, too!
The Internet’s video for their new Hive Mind single “Come Over”, directed by frontwoman Syd, is an incredibly cute, pastel-toned teen fantasy featuring the various members of The Internet flirting with their (maybe) crushes in their respective bedrooms. There are also incredibly cute scenes of Syd serenading a crush from outside her bedroom window, and of Steve Lacy playing guitar solos for a very bored-looking white boy in his bedroom. It is very cute. Watch below:
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Sivan’s video for “Bloom”, his “bop ‘bout bottoming”, is also extremely gay. The video, directed by Bardia Zeinali, features the Australian singer dancing around in a bunch of very femme, very fashionable looks. The gauzy, baroque aesthetic really recalls Perfume Genius’ iconic “Slip Away” video from last year. Watch “Bloom”:
Rita Ora’s video for her highly controversial new single “Girls” is probably the messiest of the bunch, but it’s still pretty fun and pretty cool if you can forgive its weaknesses––namely, the bit where giant holograms of Rita and Cardi B kiss while human Rita watches from a sun-bed below. “Girls” copped a lot of flack from artists like Kehlani and Hayley Kiyoko, the latter of whom suggested that the song “fuels the male gaze”.
Realistically, that was a bit of a weird thing for Hayley say, because Rita used the song as a coming out statement of sorts and Hayley is essentially trying to tell her that she’s using bisexuality as a way to attract men (which, y’know, isn’t that “invalidat[ing] the very pure feelings of an entire community”?), but that’s the nature of the internet and callout culture, I guess! The song created a fair bit of discourse––in all, I think Charli handled her response best––but I’m glad Rita’s not backing down from it and just letting the song die. It’s not an incredible song (I’d put it on at a party, sure, but sometimes I put “Low” by Flo Rida on at parties) but hey, it’s not awful either. Watch the video:
Shaad D’Souza is Noisey’s Australian editor. Follow him on Twitter.
