music industry

Written: by Flick and Nikita George Michael’s documentary, Freedom Uncut (2017), offers an intimate look into the life of one of the most iconic musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries. This documentary…

Imagine how it must feel like not to even own your own image. It must be, I guess, a little like playing a never ending role, one you do for years for hours at a time until you end up either feeling like your true self is a thing to hide or confusing what is real for what is not.

Freddie Mercury, the legendary frontman of the rock band Queen, was one of the most influential performers in the history of pop culture. Despite his outsized personality and undeniable talent, however, Mercury struggled with his sexual orientation throughout his life.

Over the last decade, the Spanish music industry has been involved in many scandals which die shortly and always are effectively covered. Management companies, working hand in hand with the media, have become experts of “not making it a big deal,” and so stories die off quickly and are never given the right importance.

Elton’s journey to coming out was a long one. Despite being publicly bisexual as early as 1976, it took twenty more years for him to proclaim that he truly identified as gay. After his one year stay in rehab, Elton ended up meeting David Furnish in 1993, and the two men immediately embarked on a romantic relationship.

The entire reason I took on this project was to find connections and “rumours,” and while I knew a few, I still found a surprising amount. Most of the relationships, both public and rumoured, I had prior knowledge of, and yet still found a few. For the sake of remaining as neutral as I possibly can, regardless of my own beliefs, I’ve listed all possible relationships (except for Larry) as rumours, and public as alleged. If anything here peaks your interest you can look more into anything and form your own opinions or feel free to shoot me a dm if you can’t find anything.

Boardman’s sentiment holds the belief that if artists were armed with knowledge of what all their contracts entail, and the power over them it gives to others, the problem could be solved before it ever begins. “In music, it’s great, you can sing but you need to find the right people who can support and guide you. The people who come to you are not always acting in your best interest … You have to know your value and your worth in the music industry. There’s no one to ask for HR in the music industry.”

Ethridge came out as a lesbian at a national queer celebration of a U.S. democratic president’s election victory. Ethridge’s queerness and philanthropy are so intertwined with her political activism that it’s hard to separate them as individual aspects of who she is. She continues to fight for gay rights at the state level as well as the national level.

Feeling she had nowhere to turn, she eventually received the help of Elton John and his team, saying “They were disgusted by how I was being treated. They were utterly disgusted.” However, despite being a big name in the industry, Elton and his team were met with threats if they attempted to assist her in leaving. So even backed by those who one would assume have power, they too were left powerless and his hands were tied to do anything beyond providing emotional support. She stressed through all of the videos that were posted “This is what we are up against.”

Everyone has heard the phrase “coming out of the closet” and, initially, this was in reference to someone declaring their sexual orientation as gay or lesbian. However, as time has…