one queer thing: "q.u.e.e.n." by janelle monáe ft. erykah badu

afrofuturistic funk that makes heteronormativity sweat

hey beautiful humans -

it's thursday, which means it's time to drop another edition of one queer thing, where we celebrate the queerness of life - in line with bell hooks' definition of 'queer' as "being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and that has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live."

today’s pick is an old one but a good one. in early 2013, i was living in michigan, getting ready to make the jump to vermont. this was in early 2013. it was a really tough time in my life. my parents were in the middle of a rough divorce and our family was split. my brother gus was moving to washington, dc, where he was going to work with the college republican national committee.

i had just dealt with a terrible breakup with my boyfriend at the time, ryan. i had come to care about him a great deal and i wasn’t exactly proud of how i handled the situation on my end. my house had just been robbed only five months before and i lost a laptop and a ton of other valuables.

in that laptop i had my first album, in demo form, crudely recorded. along with my tax returns. pictures. important things. and i lost all of the recording equipment i had bought on credit, which led to me having to pay it for a year without having it anymore. great times.

during that time the song that held me together is today’s pick. this song is an old one, sir, but it checks out…

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past queer things: (7) "carmen" by olivia dean | (6) "the village" by wrabel | (5) eliza's "alone & unafraid" | (4) "for today i am a boy" by antony and the johnsons | (3) "rebel girl" by bikini hill | (2) allison ponthier | (1) "golden brown" by the stranglers

remember - whenever a queer thing is a song, it'll get automatically added to the one queer thing spotify playlist, which you can find here.

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drum roll, por favor… donde esta tito puente?

this week's queer thing: "q.u.e.e.n." by janelle monáe

Source: Genius lyric page for "Q.U.E.E.N.".

alright, mi gente, we're about to take a ride through janelle monáe's "q.u.e.e.n.", featuring none other than the divine erykah badu - a track so funky it makes george clinton look like a sunday school teacher.

monáe dropped this banger in 2013, and it's been making heteronormativity break out in hives ever since. the title itself is an acronym for "queer, untouchables, emigrants, excommunicated, and negroid." it's like monáe looked at society's labels and said, "cute, but i prefer my own alphabet soup, thanks."

from the jump, monáe's serving up layers. she opens with "i can't believe all of the things they say about me, walk in the room they throwin' shade left to right."

if you've ever walked into a family reunion and felt the side-eyes burning hotter than the pernil in the oven, you know exactly what she's talking about.

monáe's not just talking about being queer - she's addressing multiple forms of oppression. it's like she's playing intersectionality bingo and hitting every square. "am i a freak for getting down?" she asks. honey, if being a freak means dancing to this track, then call me cirque du soleil.

now, let's talk about that afrofuturism. monáe's not just singing about the present - she's creating a whole new future. in the music video, we hear "it's hard to stop rebels who time travel." it's like doctor who, but make it Black, queer, and fabulous. monáe's using time travel as a metaphor for reclaiming narratives. it's like she's saying, "we're not just part of history, we're making it."

Janelle Monáe, the artist behind "Q.U.E.E.N." Source: Wondaland Arts Society.

how does "q.u.e.e.n." make you feel? drop your thoughts in the comments. bonus points if you can make me laugh harder than when i tried to explain pansexuality to my abuela. (spoiler: it didn't go well.)

if this song hits you like a chancla to the soul, share this post. let's spread the queer joy like it's the good kind of virus.

but wait, there's more! monáe doesn't just stop at addressing queer issues. she's tackling poverty, immigration, incarceration, and racial discrimination all in one funky package. it's like she looked at the world's problems and said, "challenge accepted."

the song culminates in a rap verse that feels like a queer manifesto crossed with a TED talk and a dance party. "are we a lost generation of our people? add us to equations but they'll never make us equal." it's the kind of line that makes you want to overthrow the patriarchy and then celebrate with a perreo intenso.

so, mi gente, what's the takeaway here?

"q.u.e.e.n." isn't just a song - it's a revolution you can dance to. it's a reminder that our queerness, our otherness, our everything-that-makes-us-us is not just valid, but vital. we're not just breaking the rules, we're rewriting the whole damn playbook.

until next time, keep being beautifully, unapologetically you.

remember, in the words of monáe, "even if it makes others uncomfortable, i will love who i am." and if anyone has a problem with that, well, they can meet me at the time-traveling rebel dance party.

cuidate,

edgard 🧡

p.s. if you see me walking down university avenue in hillcrest, serving face and throwing shade like i'm auditioning for "paris is burning: san diego edition," no you didn't. 💁🏽‍♂️🕶️