Jake Shears launches new podcast, ‘Queer The Music’
Featuring Self Esteem, Olly Alexander, Peaches, King Princess + more
First 2 episodes available now via https://jakeshears.lnk.to/queerthemusic
Jake Shears has today announced details of brand new podcast ‘Queer The Music’, in association with Mercury Studios.
‘Queer The Music’ explores the LGBTQ+ anthems that have dominated dancefloors and helped shift politics, perception, and popular culture. In the first series of this visual podcast, the Scissor Sisters front-man talks to trailblazing queer artists and allies about the stories behind one game-changing record each week. ‘Queer The Music’ celebrates the contribution that a community of creators have made – and continue to make – to the world as we know it (often, at great expense and risk to themselves). And in a series of frank, funny and often moving discussions, Jake Shears and his guests unearth, song by song, stories that speak to who we are today.
Beginning against the backdrop of LBGTQ+ History Month, ‘Queer The Music’ launches today with two new episodes celebrating two very different artists’ songs of self-expression. Episode 1 hosts a conversation on the iconic ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ between Shears and the late Sylvester’s longtime collaborator Jeanie Tracy, plus his biographer Josh Gamson; breaking down barriers in race, sound and gender, the floor-filler paints a deeper picture of the disco heyday as it encounters the terror of AIDS. Episode 2, meanwhile, features Jake and ‘Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club’ cast-mate Self Esteem in discussion on anti-patriarchy modern-classic ‘I Do This All The Time’, also shining a spotlight on the still under-represented experiences of queer women in the mainstream.
Analyzing those classics that cross genre and generation, upcoming guests for ‘Queer the Music’ include some of our most important pioneers alongside the next wave of artists breaking new ground (and occasionally, tackling the same old bullshit). Expect to hear Jake Shears joined by the likes of Olly Alexander, Peaches, King Princess, Rufus Wainwright and Skin, with more exciting names to be revealed soon. Queer expressions of love and lust can be found everywhere in pop music – if you know where to look.
“I am thrilled to be hosting ‘Queer The Music’ which celebrates important LGBTQ+ artists and the anthems that have soundtracked queer lives,” Jake Shears comments. “I have always tried my best to be unashamedly myself and am grateful that myself and Scissor Sisters have often been credited as queer trailblazers. Well, there were a lot of people that did that before me and there will be a lot of people to do it after me. I am eager to shine a light on those artists who have fought countless prejudices, to hear their stories and to learn the finer details about how the songs were made.
I’ll be exploring the idea of queer music. Is it a label meant to box us in? Is it something you can willingly create? Does it even exist in the first place? What I do know is that people in the LGBTQ+ community have been making incredible popular music for decades. I’m excited to find out about how the process and reaction to it has changed: I think it’s important to begin to talk about what this lineage and legacy is, and start to figure out how, as LGBTQ+ artists, we fit into it together.”
CEO of Mercury Studios, Alice Webb, meanwhile adds: “Who better to tell these important stories than the talented and pioneering Jake Shears. We are delighted to be collaborating with him on this genre-hopping podcast series that unearths the incredible songs and artists who pushed the boundaries of music and acceptance.”
About Jake Shears: Singer, songwriter, actor, writer (and now, podcaster) Jake Shears is best known as the lead singer of the multi platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated, Brit award-winning Scissor Sisters. The band’s hits include ‘Comfortably Numb’, ‘Take Your Mama’, ‘Let’s Have A Kiki’ and the UK #1 smash ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancing’. Born in Arizona, Jake grew up in the Seattle area before moving to New York City, where he studied fiction writing at The New School. He wrote the music for ‘Tales of the City’, a 2011 stage musical based on Armistead Maupin’s best-selling book series of the same name. In 2018 he released his debut book, the memoir Boys Keep Swinging, and joined the cast of ‘Kinky Boots’ on Broadway in the lead role as Charlie Price which he reprised in 2022 at the Hollywood Bowl. In August 2018 Jake Shears released his eponymous debut solo album to critical acclaim, followed by tours in the UK and US, and in Australia with collaborator Kylie Minogue. 2023 saw the release of Jake’s second studio album Last Man Dancing, which featured the BBC Radio 2 A-List singles ‘Too Much Music’ and marked his highest-charting solo release to date. Between intensive touring around the album’s release, Shears joined the cast of ‘Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club’ in a leading role with Self Esteem: the shows have proved an immediate hit, with the run extended until March 2024. Shears’ musical alongside Elton John, ‘Tammy Faye’, recently announced its Broadway debut, following a sold-out run at London’s Almeida Theatre and 2 Olivier Awards. Jake divides his time between London and New Orleans, with ‘Queer The Music’ marking a podcast debut from a polymath talent (says Time Out) who “has helped to prise open the door for today’s LGBTQ+ pop stars.”
About Mercury Studios: Mercury Studios is a full-service production studio. Current and recent projects include Telluride Film Festival selections American Symphony, a feature documentary by award-winning filmmaker Matthew Heineman that follows Jon Batiste for the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions and Netflix and If These Walls Could Sing, the untold story of the world-famous Abbey Road Studios directed by celebrated British photographer and filmmaker Mary McCartney for Disney+; “My Life as a Rolling Stone,” a four-part docuseries of intimate portraits of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts for the BBC and MGM+; Shania Twain: Not Just a Girl, a career documentary about the superstar currently available on Netflix; Mixtape, the critically acclaimed feature documentary from Omar Acosta focused on the DJs and artists who shaped the sound and culture of Hip-Hop through mixtapes for Paramount+; and the forthcoming “This Town,” a six-part series for the BBC from writer, creator, and executive producer Steven Knight. Mercury Studios also produced “Sam Sm dith Live at the Royal Albert Hall” (BBC/Tik Tok) and Billie Eilish’s livestream event, “Overheated,” at The 02 London and the upcoming “Lang Lang Plays Disney” for Disney+. Editorially independent, Mercury Studios is powered by Universal Music Group and represents the world’s leading catalogue of music-related content, consisting of thousands of hours of premium music-driven film and television programming.
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