“So runs the chorus to one of this year’s hottest tracks, Billie Eilish’s ‘Lunch.’ Her latest hit joins a wave of songs celebrating lesbian love, with lyrics that tantalize and tease with tongues, touches, and tastes.
St. Vincent’s new song ‘Flea’ echoes this sentiment with her hungry metaphor: ‘I’m just like a hungry little flea / Jumping on somebody’s warm body … I look at you and all I see is meat.’ Meanwhile, lesbian trap star Young Miko infuses playful food imagery into ‘Princess Peach’: ‘With a peach like that / who can be mad at you?’ At Coachella, bisexual R&B sensation Victoria Monét delivered a steamy set, playfully positioning her microphone like a strap-on, while Ludmilla’s viral performance concluded with a kiss shared with her wife during the sultry ‘Maldivas.’ Reneé Rapp’s set saw an intro by ‘The L Word’ cast, and Chappell Roan had thousands singing along to ‘Casual’ – ‘knee deep in the passenger seat, and you’re eating me out’ – while wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with ‘Eat Me.’
Australian pop star Peach PRC, aka Shaylee Curnow, revels in this lesbian pop renaissance. ‘Lesbian pop used to be more singer-songwriter oriented,’ she explains, referencing icons like Indigo Girls, kd lang, Joan Armatrading, and Tegan & Sara. ‘I love that music, but I also want to shake my ass in the club to a song about girls.’ Her campy club anthem ‘Like a Girl Does’ sees her aboard a vibrator-shaped spaceship, singing ‘my tongue, it understands your language’ and calling out a certain type of misogynistic man: ‘He thinks he’s gonna change your mind with his dick / They could never fuck like a girl does.’
Curnow reflects on the pervasive fetishization of lesbianism by men: ‘Men would sexualize lesbianism or have this fantasy. It’s like: this is not for you.’
This surge in sapphic tracks follows a decade of increasing visibility for queer women in music, highlighted in 2018 by Janelle Monáe’s overtly yonic ‘Pynk,’ Hayley Kiyoko’s ‘Expectations,’ and King Princess’s ‘Pussy Is God.’
King Princess, born Mikaela Straus, released ‘Pussy Is God’ in 2018, a time when ‘not a lot of chicks were talking about pussy.’ She recalls feeling nervous before its release, fearing backlash for its explicit content. ‘But I felt like it was a beautiful song, talking about somebody you love, and how bomb their pussy is.’ Her track ‘Sex Shop’ delves into the nuances of strap-on selection and gender expression, while her upcoming album explores ‘sapphic pain, in a playful way’ with themes of desire and lust: ‘Love, especially between two women, is catastrophic in an amazing way and also in an insane, explosive way.’
Straus credits TikTok’s open-minded community for this surge in lesbian visibility: ‘You’re not getting hate messages when you talk about being gay.’ She also believes people are recognizing ‘how iconic it is to eat pussy.’
Other artists delving into lesbian eroticism include Australian star Fletcher, who recently sold out two nights at Hammersmith Apollo with songs like ‘Cherry’ and ‘Girls Girls Girls,’ plus Kehlani, Girl in Red, Muna, and many more.
Amber Bain, aka the Japanese House, is thrilled by this shift. Her indie-pop track ‘Touching Yourself’ tackles longing, sexting, and masturbation. Bain believes such explicit songs transcend queer relationships: ‘There’s nothing gay about being erotic; love and sex is universal.’ She’s unbothered by potentially alienating non-LGBTQ+ audiences: ‘I hope I’ve put myself in a queer box!’
Currently touring the US, Bain seeks out gay bars in each city to feel welcomed and safe, fostering that atmosphere at her shows. ‘It’s a community. I don’t need the whole world to listen to my music; the fact that my fanbase is gay or gay accepting is a win-win situation for me.’
This wave of authentic queer tracks marks a stark departure from past party songs that superficially played with sapphic themes, such as Katy Perry’s ‘I Kissed a Girl’ and Rita Ora’s ‘Girls.’ British pop singer Girli remembers ‘I Kissed a Girl’ and moments like Britney, Madonna, and Christina’s iconic 2003 MTV VMA kiss. ‘Those things set me back a few years to feel comfortable to date women without thinking: all these men around me are sexualizing me,’ she says.
Girli, real name Milly Toomey, has been crafting love songs about women since her 2016 debut EP. Despite contemplating toning down the queer content, she ultimately rejected the idea. ‘There’s always this running theme of being told: ‘I’m OK with you being gay, but don’t rub it in my face.’ Well, I feel like heterosexual relationships have been rubbed in my face from birth,’ she asserts.
Her song ‘Matriarchy’ celebrates ‘body hair in places boys don’t like / touch me in the places they can’t find,’ culminating with the powerful line: ‘When we touch we fuck to fuck the patriarchy.’ Despite the backlash, she’s developed a thick skin: ‘Homophobic comments are just water off a duck’s back.’
Outside of TikTok, homophobia persists. Eilish reportedly lost 100,000 Instagram followers last year after revealing her attraction to women. However, she remains unfazed. ‘Who fucking cares?’ she told Rolling Stone after sharing her lifelong love for girls. ‘Lunch’ was inspired by a simple revelation: ‘I realized I wanted my face in a vagina.’
This unapologetic embrace of lesbian love marks a bold new chapter for queer representation in pop music.”
