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And yet, its a difficult song to get excited about.
For all its success in the representation wins category, Unholy is still ultimately about a straight dude.
Mommy dont know daddys getting hot, at the body shop, doing something unholy, booms the chorus.
Its impressively un-tantalizing, the most basic kind of infraction.
Is this truly the best gender transgression we have to offer right now?
As it turns out, no.
They reflected anger, malaise, or withdrawal from typical ideas of gender.
The music wasnt interesting because the artists themselves served as representation, but because of each albums individuality.
Of any record to tackle gender this year, ShamirsHeterosexualityis the most direct.
Take Cisgender, the albums second track.
Its lyrics are almost comically forthright.
I am not cisgender.
I am not binary trans, Shamir sings on the chorus.
I dont wanna be a girl, I dont wanna be a man.
Theres little poetry to these lyrics, and thats by design.
Hes made himself legible for your consumption, so just dont hurt him.
By the end, it is essentially functioning as a rock aria.
Stay back, he moans, in a pained falsetto over fuzzed-out guitars and drums.
The pained plea of Cisgender is immediately contrasted with Abomination.
Im just a faggot who looks like a maggot because Im always with the shits, he spits.
The dichotomy is the point.Heterosexualityis not about heterosexuality its aimed at it.
The album has been accused by some as over-negative and potentially suicidal.
(Burial is their job, not ours, declared Pitchfork upon its release.)
ButHeterosexualityis not about wallowing, its about claiming space.
The songs themselves are titled sometimes in English and sometimes in Japanese.
One (Face My Fears) has both a Japanese and English version.
Im not sure why I felt more feminine in [English].
Maybe because Im just more comfortable with [myself now] and Im more aware of who I am.
This liberation is also reflected in the choice to opt for a completely electronic production.
OnBad Mode, Utada doesnt sing about gender, they sing about love, connection, and loneliness.
Unlike Shamir, the text of their album is not a direct address of identity.
What their self-synthesized, bilingual world does provide them with is the freedom to fully express themselves.
Here, the gender is not the text, but the context.
On it, she assumes a multiplicity of gender expressions and identities.
Leikeli47 is an elusive figure, constantly wearing a ski mask to be completely free of a real identity.
This flexibility lets her fluctuate wildly between personas, without any of them feeling like a character.
Its a remarkable show of confidence to bounce around like she does.
Leikeli47s mask is an intentional withdrawal that allows her to bounce between personas, genre, and gender definitions.
Identity can only go so far.
