Why 2024 was the year sapphic stars dominated pop culture

When Chappell Roan accepted her best new artist award at the MTV Video Music Awards in September, she had a message for “all the queer kids in the Midwest watching right now.” “I see you, I understand you because I’m one of you, and don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t be exactly who you want to be,” she said, channeling Joan of Arc in a chainmail ensemble.

Less than two months later, on Saturday Night Live, Roan, who has had a meteoric year, debuted her lesbian country song “The Giver,” about how only women truly know how to pleasure other women.

Not long ago, such proclamations from one of the biggest pop stars of the moment would have been culturally impactful. But this year, even with LGBTQ+ issues playing a driving role in the US election, Roan’s rise has only accelerated.

The 26-year-old is just one of a string of lesbian and sapphic-inclined stars who have dominated pop culture this year, making their attraction to women central to their work and personas. They do not prioritize or cater to the male audience, and often ignore them completely, finding great success anyway.

WHAT CHANGED

The widespread acceptance of a star like Roan is a seismic shift from the culture of just a generation or two ago. At that time, even the most prominent lesbians—Melissa Etheridge, KD Lang, Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O’Donnell, Wanda Sykes, and Indigo Girls—were still, despite their mainstream fame, generally relegated to adult contemporary-type spheres of comedy and music. , her image somehow tinged with asexuality despite her frankness.

The depiction of sexuality between women in mainstream pop culture was almost always manufactured to titillate men: when Madonna kissed Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, or the problematic stunts in the once-ubiquitous “Girls Gone Wild” franchise. Even Katy Perry’s 2008 debut song about bi-curiosity, “I Kissed a Girl,” was largely aimed at men.

For some lesbians at the time who were famous, there were concerns that their openness would label them and limit their career options, fears that often led to silence or secrets known to everyone.

Jodie Foster spoke publicly about her mentorship for the first time in an unplanned statement during her speech at the 2013 Golden Globes, when she accepted a lifetime achievement award.

“I just have this sudden urge to say something that I’ve never really been able to say in public,” said Foster, then 50. “I came out of the closet about a thousand years ago, back in the Stone Age, in those very picturesque days when a fragile young woman opened up to trusted friends and family, co-workers, and then, gradually, proudly, to everyone she met. knew her,” she continued. “But now, apparently, I’m told, every celebrity must honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a prime-time reality show.”

Queen Latifah has also refused to address similar speculation for years. “You don’t have that part of me,” she told the New York Times in 2008. “I don’t feel like I need to share my personal life, and I don’t care if people think I’m gay or not.”

But at the 2021 BET Awards, during her lifetime achievement award speech, she publicly called her partner, Eboni Nichols, “my love” and ended the speech with “Happy Pride!”

Marriage equality becoming law in the US in 2015 also changed the public mindset, as did the contributions of artists like DeGeneres, whose daytime talk show won more than 60 Emmys during its run from 2003 to 2022. And Lady Gaga, in her success “Born This Way” proclaimed on national stages, including at the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show: “It doesn’t matter if gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgender, we are On the right path, baby, we were born to survive.”

LOUD AND CLEAR

Now, a new class of popular artists — including Roan, Billie Eilish, Kristen Stewart, Reneé Rapp, Janelle Monáe, Kehlani, Jojo Siwa, King Princess, Hayley Kiyoko, and the members of Boygenius and Muna — are driving this phenomenon. They speak frankly, directly, even explicitly about their attraction to women in their lyrics and in interviews. And they offer visuals to inspire, whether in films, music videos or online.

One of the most sought-after concert tickets this fall was the All Things Go festival, which many called “Lesbian Coachella” or “Lesbopalooza.” Participants held up homemade posters with messages such as “Lesbian Paradise” and “Everything Gay.”

And while many of those moving the needle identify as bisexual, pansexual or simply queer (as well as non-binary, transgender or genderfluid), there has also been an explosion of stars identifying as lesbian, a term that has had a tumultuous journey. , including falling into disuse in recent years.

In a June interview with online magazine Them, Rapp, who performed on All Things Go alongside his girlfriend, Towa Bird, said, “‘Lesbian’ wasn’t a good word for me to hear as a kid, and now it is something I have such a close emotional connection to.”

Stewart — the “Twilight” star turned Oscar nominee who starred in this year’s lesbian neo-noir “Love Lies Bleeding” — appeared on the March cover of Rolling Stone wearing suspenders. For the photo shoot that accompanied her profile, she wore t-shirts that said “Pride”, “Eat Me” and “Animal”. “I want to do the gayest thing you’ve ever seen in your life,” she said in the interview.

And when Seth Meyers called Stewart, 34, a “lesbian icon” during a March segment on his late-night show, she responded, “That’s right.”

Eilish, who this year at age 22 became the youngest person to win two Oscars, did an equally candid interview with Rolling Stone a few months after Stewart. “I’ve been in love with girls my whole life,” Eilish said, adding that her desire to be physically intimate with women was a recent realization.

Though she hasn’t claimed any specific sexual orientation, Eilish expresses that desire in “Lunch” — the lead single from her latest hit album — whose playful lyrics are full of same-sex longing.

Likewise, Monáe’s lyrics and music videos, such as for “Pynk” and “Water Slide”, are joyful depictions of sapphic sexual pleasure and connection.

OTHER ECOSYSTEM FLOURISHING

Entertainment and online communities focused on lesbian culture used to be considered niche, but they are now booming, especially in the realms of reality TV, social media, stand-up comedy and podcasting.

Netflix’s reality show Ultimatum: Queer Love was extremely popular, with some of its stars amassing significant followings online. It’s set to return for a second season in 2025. And, in a fun twist, some former contestants from ABC’s long-running Bachelor franchise, including former Bachelorette Gabby Windey and contestant Becca Tilley, are now out of the closet and open about their experiences and their love lives online and on podcasts.

Windey is dating comedian Robby Hoffman, while Tilley is in a relationship with pop singer and actress Kiyoko, shining a light on another phenomenon: sapphic celebrity relationships that are shared online and celebrated.

These couples pop up in every corner of music, theater, television, reality TV, comedy and sports — replacing a time when DeGeneres and her wife, actress Portia de Rossi, were perhaps the only famous couple most people could name. .

Today, there are Niecy Nash-Betts and Jessica Betts; Lily-Rose Depp and 070 Shake; Ariana DeBose and Sue Makkoo; Chrishell Stause and G Flip; Ashlyn Harris and Sophia Bush; Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach. The list doesn’t stop there.

And the trio of Mae Martin, Tig Notaro and Fortune Feimster, all stand-up comedians and actresses, have a successful podcast, “Handsome,” which recently reached 25 million downloads and was acquired by podcast network Headgum. It’s just one of several beloved podcasts anchored by lesbian and queer hosts.

This month, Feimster, 44, released her third Netflix stand-up special, “Crushing It,” in which she discusses the trials, tribulations and joys of marriage and life as a lesbian. In a recent interview with Them, she talked about the importance of being out of the closet and the arc of change.

“I want to be there to be that representation that I didn’t have when I was growing up,” Feimster said. “I didn’t know a single gay person who was out of the closet when I was growing up in the South.”

“I go back now and there are gay people with their partners, and it’s a much more prevalent thing,” she continued. “What a long way we’ve come in that time.”