Queer Jams of the Week: New Music From Anohni, MORGXN, CHIKA & More

Pride Month may be done, but we’re certainly not! Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of Queer Jams of the Week, our roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists.

From Anohni’s long-awaited new album to MORGXN’s new summer anthem, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:

Anohni and the Johnsons, My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross

Seeing the face of LGBTQ activist and icon Marsha P. Johnson stare back at you on the cover of Anohni’s new album comes as something of a jolt to the system — especially when you read its title just below her smile. My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross, the singer-songwriter’s sixth studio album and first full-length project in seven years, serves as nothing short of an album in protest of the various calamities plaguing our world. Wielding her pen as a weapon in her crusade for change, Anohni fights back against nihilism (“Why Am I Alive Now”), inaction (“It Must Change”), hatred (“Scapegoat”), all through the lens of her gorgeously-composed, experimental soul-meets-rock sound.

MORGXN, “Young & In Love”

There’s something about longer days and warmer weather that makes you look for that shimmering, peppy anthem to blast through your speaker all summer long. Alt-pop singer MORGXN is happy to help you with “Young & In Love,” his latest single. Through big drums, bigger guitars and his biggest vocal to date, MORGXN belts about the simple prospect of finally feeling happy with his relationship, as chanting voices congratulate him on finally arriving at this watershed moment. It’s a fun, warm song that’ll help you soundtrack brighter times ahead.

CHIKA, “Demigod”

If you are somehow still sleeping on CHIKA, she’s here to remind you why that is a catastrophic mistake. The rising rapper’s latest single “Demigod” sees her enter full flex mode, proving herself to anyone who will listen while shaming them for not knowing that she was The One in the first place. Over a glossy, otherworldly beat, CHIKA even makes it clear that she’s not interested in your adoration: “I’m already great, I’m not waiting on flowers, that s–t is a scam,” she spits.

Gia Woods, “Gia Would”

Don’t tell Gia Woods that there’s something she can’t do, because she’ll tell you that she can, and more importantly, she will. With her latest electropop banger “Gia Would,” the singer delves into her darker side as she gives in to every impulse that the little voice in the back of your head tells you to do. Follow someone home? Start a fight? Write a pop banger? These are all things that “Gia Would” do.

AMAARA, Child of Venus

Up-and-coming dream-pop singer-songwriter Amaara is ready to reconcile her past on Child of Venus. Throughout this gloriously nebulous debut LP, Kaelen Ohm (the artist behind the Amaara moniker) examines their own adolescence, their relationships, and the bigger picture of what it’s all supposed to mean in the end. Standout single “Still” perfectly encapsulates the thesis put forward, as she establishes that “when pain speaks the truth, one single cut makes a scar.”

Um, Jennifer?, “Girl Class”

With their official debut single, Brooklyn indie-rock duo Um, Jennifer? would like to talk about being girls, and why there’s so many weird unspoken rules about it. “Girl Class” sees bandmates Fig and Leah trying to figure out what the hell it means to be a girl, especially a trans girl, before ultimately realizing that there is no one way to be a girl. It’s a secretly empowering message about the social “norms” around gender expression — and more importantly, it’s just a really good song.

Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist below: