Christine and the Queens is ‘conflicted’ about Taylor Swift using the ‘queer aesthetic’ to sell things
The French singer came out as pansexual back in 2014
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Christine and the Queens has said she is ‘conflicted’ about Taylor Swift using LGBTQ stars in order to sell things.
Taylor faced backlash after releasing ‘You Need to Calm Down’ during Pride month this year and the video featured a number of LGBTQ icons including Queer Eye’s Fab Five and Ellen DeGeneres.
Many claimed that the singer – who has previously been quiet about her political stance and her thoughts on gay rights – and accused her of cashing in the ‘pink pound’.
And now, the French singer – who identifies as pansexual – told Cosmopolitan UK: “I’m conflicted.
“I guess somewhere, young gay men might watch that Taylor Swift video and feel a sense of relief. Five yours on [since she entered the music industry] and you can tell that being queer has been glossed out as this super-fancy accessory.
“You can tell that the queer aesthetic is being used to sell things. The mainstream needs that life because it’s so vibrant. But I think the core of the queer aesthetic cannot be sold.”
During the interview, the singer – whose real name is Héloïse Adelaïde Letissier – also faced backlash after she changed her name to Chris for the second album.
She continued: “When I changed my name from Christine to Chris on the second album, some people said, ‘That’s a cool marketing thing you did.’ It was so painful.
“I’ve been singing ‘iT’ for the past five years. It’s never been marketing for me. It’s about jumping into the unknown and saying things loudly.”
The singer also touched upon coming out as pansexual back in 2014 and said she was made to feel dirty.
“It was like a detonation,’ she says. “When your sexuality is not the norm, you have to find words to express it.
“Sometimes I was made to feel dirty, or like it was obscene. It’s just a sexual orientation – there’s nothing perverse about that.
“Just being young, sexually active and proud of your sexuality is a problem for women.
You’re a ‘slut’, so you’re shamed… ‘Christine’ was born out of feeling frustrated that people would say no to me because I was a woman.
“She was this anger. Christine was a fantasy of escaping that.
“I have love stories with women and love stories with men. I’ve never been a lesbian, I’m pansexual… It puzzles people the way that I don’t choose.”
Real the full interview in the November issue of Cosmopolitan, which is on sale from 2nd October.