It’s been a huge year for queer music and musicians. Between the long list of queer collaborators on Charli XCX’s Brat remixes, Chappell Roan’s meteoric rise (um, actually, we liked her before her Coachella set) and more, queer artists spent some significant time in the spotlight this year. I don’t know about you, but in a moment when anti-LGBTQ2S+ sentiment is on the rise in Canada, the U.S. and around the world, I personally think it’s more important than ever that we throw ass, whether it’s in the club or in our bedrooms. And this year, queer artists helped us do just that. I hope we can take that same energy into 2025. I think we’ll need it.
From the chart-toppers to the underdogs, here are Xtra contributors’ and editors’ favourite queer songs of 2024:
“Talk talk featuring troye sivan”—Charli XCX
This was the summer—nay, the year—of Brat, and the chartreuse-green rush hit its peak at the Sweat Tour. Longtime musical besties Charli XCX and Troye Sivan teamed up to take over the U.S. and Canada, debuting a new song to perform together just days before they hit the road. That song is a remix of “Talk talk”—one of the poppiest tracks on Charli’s Grammy-nominated album—that elevates it from a song about the nervous beginnings of a flirtation to a confident declaration of sexual desire. That it’s a queer person’s desire, as Troye tempts his would-be paramour with a flight to Amsterdam and “a good hotel to fuck you in,” is notable. Charli invites Troye in to set the tone, not just add to her own story. It’s a rollicking remix, and to paraphrase Dua Lipa’s Spanish-language intro, it is muy divertido indeed.
—Kevin O’Keeffe, contributor
“Crazy Again”—Gossip
I am nothing if not a creature of habit, and I have been listening to Gossip (though, at the time it was The Gossip) since their first full studio album came out in 2001. I followed frontwoman Beth Ditto’s solo career in both music and fashion, read her memoir, waited and was ecstatic when I heard there’d be new music from the band. Real Power came out in March, though technically this single came out at the end of 2023. And while I appreciated the message of the title track, I was stuck on “Crazy Again” as I love a crazy-girl theme, a drawn-out situationship, intense emotions and self-awareness. “Obligation is such that it ruins the crush, it happens all the time,” Ditto sings, and every queer who’s ever experienced this, which is every queer, nods along.
—Tara-Michelle Ziniuk, managing editor
“Love Me Tonight” (feat. Betty Who)—VINCINT
I am always a sucker for VINCINT’s soaring vocals over synth beats, singing songs of heartbreak and unrequited love, and Betty Who’s smoky, Australian-tinged vocals have always crafted perfect pop songs. Both queer artists have been friends since college, and while they have each appeared in the others’ videos, they have never joined forces on a song until now. The track is a slice of queer joy in a year where it’s felt harder to grasp, as each singer takes a verse about a new love interest that is sweeping them away, then builds to a chorus where their voices harmonize in the most perfect way. It’s the pairing that I have been waiting for—it’s addictive, and sends me soaring when I hear it.
—Dale Smith, contributor
“As Good As It Gets” (feat. Mitski)—Katie Gavin
Is there anything more “Sapphic yearning” than Mitski joining MUNA singer Katie Gavin on her solo record for a melodic, melancholy love song? Not if you believe the YouTube comments section. Gavin’s first solo release is outstanding in general, but this song stopped me in my tracks and made me swoon (not only because of Mitski’s haircut).
It’s actually more about trying to find an end to yearning, an ode to a long-term relationship that asserts (maybe slyly, maybe sincerely), that “this is as good as it gets.” The sparse but evocative lyrics and Gavin’s nuanced vocalizations leave the listener on the fence as to whether it’s true. The song is half paean to and half indictment of love in the long-term. “I want you to disappoint me/ on and on until we’re old,” Mitski sings over the muted rhythm of folk-twang inflected strings. The freedom to imagine longevity in a queer relationship is hard-won, and I’m ready to add this meditative, honest entry to the canon.
—Joelle Kidd, contributor
“Snake Plant (The Past Is Still Alive)”—Hurray for the Riff Raff
If Hurray for the Riff Raff’s 2024 album The Past Is Still Alive were a road trip, the song “Snake Plant (The Past Is Still Alive)” would be one of those moments when you’re driving with the windows down, on some random road in the middle of nowhere at golden hour—late afternoon sun spilling through the windows, passing by a hawk on a fence post, your best friend sitting shotgun. In a past life, singer-songwriter Alynda Segarra hopped trains across the country. On “Snake Plant,” they delve into memories of this time—from playing their songs around a campfire on a superfund site, to stick-and-poke tattoos and overdoses (“Most of our old friends are dead/ So test your drugs, remember Narcan,” they remind us).
As they traverse these memories, they also traverse gender. “I only wanted ever to be a good daughter,” they sing in the song’s first verse—only to sing “I was born with a baby boy soul” in the third. Surviving queer childhood is tricky business, but on “Snake Plant” I hear a queer adult’s compassion for their young self—the understanding that you do what you have to do to survive, and that there comes a time when you don’t have to do that anymore. When Segarra sings, “I’m so happy that we escaped from where we came,” it feels like they’re my friend driving the car, and I’m the one riding shotgun.
—Oliver Haug, contributing editor
“TRUST!”—Rebecca Black
Though I am not a “go out to the club” sort of queer, I’ve cultivated a deep appreciation for what I affectionately call “gay noise” through my daily gym playlists. All I want in this world are thundering dance-pop beats and nonsensical lyrics about being horny to blast while I bench-press! And while 2024 gave us a true gift in that regard with Brat and its related remixes, Rebecca Black’s “TRUST!” seemed to come and go this autumn without the fanfare it deserved.
Yes, I am talking about the “Friday” girl, who’s since spun her virality into an actually interesting dance music and DJing career (and came out as queer in 2020). Since her “partyin’, partyin’, yeah!” anthem, Black has low-key evolved into a self-aware, and super queer artist and DJ. Her Boiler Room set this October went viral to mixed reviews, with her loudest critics calling out her cheesy mixes and apparent cluelessness, but I, and Black’s biggest fans, know it’s all part of the act. She’s dumb, fun and full of energy—exactly what queer dance pop should be. And when it comes to the actual music, “TRUST!” shows that Black knows exactly what she’s doing. It’s horny, silly and high-energy. “TRUST!” is an underappreciated gem, dwarfed in the popular mindset by the inescapability of Brat summer. But everytime it comes on my shuffle, “TRUST!” has me looking forward to the weekend (weekend).
—Mel Woods, senior editor, audience engagement
“Good Luck, Babe!”—Chappell Roan
It’s hard to think about queer music from 2024—or pop music more generally—without thinking of Chappell Roan’s meteoric rise. As someone who’s been listening to Roan for a few years, it was exciting to see people start to listen to and appreciate The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess at the start of the year. But if there’s one particular moment where it became clear that Chappell Roan would be a star, it’s her now-viral performance of “Good Luck, Babe!” at Coachella.
The single, which recently received a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year, is catchy, heartfelt and specific to a uniquely queer experience: that of watching an ex fall back into compulsory heterosexuality. The specific moment people loved from her Coachella performance is also the most tender and heartbreaking one: the bridge, where Chappell Roan belts out: “When you wake up next to him/ in the middle of the night/ with your head in your hands/ you’re nothing more than his wife.” It’s a feeling that many queer people recognize—and to have a lesbian rise the charts with them was one of the most incredible moments in pop music so far this decade.
—Gabrielle Drolet, contributor
“For Frank Forever”—Piglet
As Piglet, Irish musician Charlie Loane melds the earnest singalongs of Frightened Rabbit and Manchester Orchestra with raucous production and uncompromising narratives about transmasculine life. His latest EP’s title track, “For Frank Forever,” is emblematic of this intensity. At the heart of the song is a fury directed at anyone who thinks these issues are individual and not intricately connected under capitalism. “Every trans suicide is a murder when you think about it,” he growls at the song’s explosive climax; the project itself is dedicated to Frank (known also as Trib), a friend whotook his own life just as Loane completed writing the EP. Despite the grim subject matter, the bright, major-key melodies provide the resolve the lyrics cannot on their own. Late capitalism may feel unstoppable, but the protagonists of Loane’s music are immovable.
—Hannah Jocelyn, contributor
“4eva” (feat. Empress Of and Kingdom) — Shygirl
I spent a lot of nights in 2024 in dark, cramped rooms bobbing to techno. As much as I love the rave, those rooms can occasionally feel a bit joyless—low on jubilation, low on pleasure, low on sex. Shygirl’s Club Shy EP, which came out in February, didn’t have that problem: where some other electronic fare is deliberately dissociative, Club Shy is an electronic dance album full of sensuality and fun. “4eva,” the artist’s collaboration with pop musician Empress Of, is a particular standout, feeling both nostalgic and fresh. Pulsating synths call back to mid-aughts dance music, while Shygirl’s abrupt, rhythmic delivery seamlessly blends in ballroom influences.
The song is an anthem of mutual obsession—for those rare and thrilling relationships in which you know for certain that the person you can’t stop thinking about also can’t stop thinking about you. “I stay playing on your mind, you think of me forever,” the chorus repeats again and again. The result is an addictive club banger that I couldn’t stop playing on repeat.
—Ziya Jones, senior editor, health
“You Need Me Now?” (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)—girl in red
Aside from the fact that this song is catchy as hell, “You Need Me Now?”” does one of my favorite things: it has a bona fide pop girlie collaborating with an explicitly queer artist. It feels weird to call girl in red “niche” after she opened for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour last year (continuing Swift’s trend of featuring Sapphic openers and guest performers on her tours—see also: Phoebe Bridgers, MUNA, Hayley Kioko, Tegan and Sara), but the Norwegian singer/songwriter hasn’t had the boost that a lot of other Sapphic pop acts have seen this year. Having one of this year’s It Girls (and the subject of lots of speculation herself) pop up as a feature on this song is a fun treat, and a great reminder that everyone’s favourite artists love lesbian music.
—Frankie de la Cretaz, contributor
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