Arts

Same love

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis marriage anthem hits top 40

By Brandon Matheson • July 3, 2013 12:12 pm EDT

“Same Love,” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

We gays love our anthems. From dancefloors to Pride parades, many favourites of yesteryear remain fresh today, rediscovered by a new generation.

Seattle pop/rap duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are making Billboard waves with a new anthem about gay marriage.

Known for their number-one hits “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us,” their new hit, “Same Love,” is being hailed in the music industry as the first song promoting same-sex marriage to make the top 40.

On the day the US Supreme Court handed down victories in the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 cases, “Same Love” rose to number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, up from number 65 only three weeks earlier.

Over the weekend, singles sales surged 23 percent, to 788,000 copies, and video views hit close to 53 million.

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On a new career adventure, I perform as a Stage Hypnotist (clubs, fundraisers, private shows, etc; www.BrandonTheHypnotist.com), as well as maintain a private practice in downtown Toronto as a Certified Consulting Hypnotist and Hypnotherapist (in short, I use hypnosis to help people overcome everyday problems.) Between August 1993 and January 2016, I worked with Pink Triangle Press (publisher of this website) as Publisher & Editor-in-chief and Director of Publishing. I joined PTP in August 1993 to establish the Ottawa operation and launch (then called) Capital Xtra, later rebranded to Xtra Ottawa. During my 22.5 year tenure with PTP, I lived and worked in Ottawa, Vancouver, and since 2001, Toronto. At some point, I served as Publisher & Editor-in-chief of every print product PTP published.