Queued Up is bad apple on music—a collection from several contributors on what they’ve got queued up on their playlist recently. If you’d like to contribute, please send your short write-up on a recent musical release to editorial@badapple.gay.
Xavier Farrow-Francis (any/all)
I’ve come to expect the unexpected from Norwegian duo Smerz by now, but when they dropped their new-agey ballad ‘A thousand lies’ in mid-February, I was floored by its restrained sadness. Not dissimilar to their prior songs, ‘‘A thousand lies’ is minimal and hypnotic and plays with classical music. What separates it, however, is its folkloric atmosphere and an otherworldly feeling that reminds me somewhat of the charming and emotional adventures found in the video game Undertale.
Smerz’s latest offering is delicate with its narrative, and is structured like a lullaby. Led by a plucky and repeating harpsichord, Catharina and Henriette recount of misplaced feelings, lovelorn grief, and resignation; shining through the stripped-down instrumental, the simple words throughout the track cut so deeply. “And now the light is on your face / Do you still wonder if the days will come and wait?”
The duo has always had a knack for tapping uniquely into emotions and the human experience—Smerz’s 2021 album Believer proved so in spades—but there’s something particularly heartbreaking about this new track. Perhaps it’s the musicality being so barebones, or perhaps it’s the relatable stories depicted throughout. What I do know is that ‘A thousand lies’ brings some bittersweet memories to the forefront of my brain, and allows me to feel all the complexities of them while still being at peace. It’s an emotional track, but it’s one that makes you feel held and less alone in those heavier moments.
Zianna Ruiha (Ngāti Toa | she/her)
Chappell Roan further proves herself as the people’s Midwest princess by delving into the country genre with her latest single, ‘The Giver’!
Listening to ‘The Giver’ is a treat; it’s still poppy, but instrumentally and lyrically, it embraces the country genre with the use of fiddles and rural imagery in the vocal storytelling. It’s still uniquely Chappell and she challenges the genre’s heteronormativity by writing a song explicitly about lesbian sex. It’s not subtle in the lyrics or even the marketing (please see dentist Chappell and the tagline “dental dams aren’t just for dentists”!) ‘The Giver’ is an anthem for service tops and one to give any pillow princess butterflies, it’s loudly queer and intimate with Chappell’s promises to deliver.
It’s an interesting move when thinking about country music’s history of black roots and being intertwined with workers rights movements but since becoming a whiter and conservative genre that’s unwelcoming to black or queer artists. In her recent acceptance speech at the Grammys she spoke about protections and rights for struggling artists and then donated to Backline. Chappell spoke about growing up in a Christian and conservative environment and the impact it’s had on her. It’s powerful and iconic to have a sapphic artist who grew up in an environment like that release a bop about sapphic sex in a genre that is closely associated with homophobia.
‘The Giver’ and Chappell’s dive into the pool of country is a powerful act of reclaiming and challenging spaces that have been harmful without compromising herself or her queer identity. The song shows that not only that a lesbian pop star can exist but can in usually unwelcoming spaces too. I never thought a song like this would debut on a stage like SNL and then be received so well. She’s a giver, proving that lesbian identities and intimacy don’t need to be hidden and can exist in the mainstream. She gets the job done!
