Gay-Themed Songs are this Summer’s Big Hits

Two recent popular songs with gay themes have gained quite a following, showing a change in American culture and what artists are willing to stand up for.

All-American Boy – Steve Grand

Just in time for Independence Day, artist Steve Grand posted his video “All-American Boy”  on his YouTube channel. In just a week he gained over 700,000 views and quite the media following, including an interview with Good Morning America.

The song is a country/rock-ballad that centers on a love story many can relate to: loving someone who doesn’t love you back. Grand’s song is unique because it’s between two young men, about a boy who has a campfire crush and reads all of the signs wrong. Grand comments that it’s a true story from his youth, but that, “It really is a human story. It’s a universal story of longing.”

Grand, 23, financed the video himself by maxing out his credit cards and hoped for the best. He doesn’t have a recording label and works odd jobs for his income, including modeling and playing music for events for Catholic churches. He’s been surprised by all of the positive feedback and overwhelming response, including a tweet from out N*Sync band member Lance Bass shortly after the video’s posting. His family, who for many years were ashamed of his sexuality and sent him to straight conversion therapy, has come around to support him: “I’m so moved by my mom. She said, ‘You’re touching so many people, and you’re doing a really beautiful thing and I love you so much and am proud of you.”

Keep on the lookout for more to come from this aspiring artist, and watch and share the “All-American Boy” video below:

Same Love – Macklemore, Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert

A single out for a while but getting a lot of attention with the recent developments in lgbt legal rights is Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s single “Same Love” featuring Mary Lambert.

With the official video garnering over 55 million views, reaching number 1 on the Australian and New Zealand charts, currently rising on the U.S. Billboard 100 Chart at number 16 for now, “Same Love” is both a personal story for all of the artists, as well as a comment on hip-hop’s treatment of lgbt people and issues. Macklemore said about the song, “What I do know, and where I wrote from, is my own perspective growing up in a culture where ‘that’s gay’ was commonplace, with a huge stigma on those who identified and were perceived as gay.”

Macklemore is straight (as he sings about in his single), but Mary Lambert, who sings the chorus, is a lesbian, and has won major Poetry Slam competitions. She said that her chorus comes from her experiences as a queer woman with chaotic upbringing, a history of sexual abuse, and ongoing problems with her family’s Christian background. The Huffington Post reported that on helping write the song, “‘When I came out,’ [she] said, ‘I’m going to be a proud gay artist.’”

Same Love - Macklemore

Same Love – Macklemore

The song is Macklemore and Ryan Lweis’ third big hit, including his two number one songs “Can’t Hold Us” with Ray Dalton, and “Thrift Shop” featuring Wanz.

Watch the Same Love Video below: