The majority queer band talks to DIVA about their new album, Songs About You Specifically
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGE BY RAPHAEL GAULTIER
“Is this the weirdest place you’ve done an interview?” asks Julian Kaufman as he and the five other members of MICHELLE settle into a karaoke booth in the basement of the place they’re staying. It truly is an odd place to be. The walls are striped like Beetlejuice, which clashes with the leopard print benches, which clashes with the cartoon lips that pattern the carpet. Minutes before, Julian was playing with the microphones and now that he’s sat, Sofia D’Angelo and Charlie Kilgore are chatting away about rehearsals while Jamee Lockard pours everyone a glass of water. Yes, the basement booth is beautifully eclectic, but that suits MICHELLE down to a T.
The New York based indie-pop band formed back in 2018, either organically or accidentally depending on which member you ask. Julian and Charlie had tried to be in several bands together, all of which “sucked” in their opinion. Eventually, they found the other members, Sofia, Jamee, Layla Ku and Emma Lee, dotted around New York and asked them to make an album. For that first record, the vocalists came in individually. It wasn’t until after recording that the whole band could be found in a room together. As MICHELLE put it, they made an album and then they decided to start acting like a band. Six years later, they’re still making music and released their most recent album, Songs About You Specifically, at the end of September.
They didn’t set out to make a queer album, but it does feel as though that’s what Songs About You Specifically is. Take the first single, Oontz – the way everyone’s vocals interweave with each other makes it impossible to figure out whose story influenced a song about the “deceptive girl” breaking their heart. As a majority queer band, that makes sense. It could be anyone’s story. Charlie jokes that it makes it easier from a logistics point of view: “You never have to change the pronouns in a song, regardless of who’s singing it.”
In a more serious tone, the band members talk about how being a majority queer band means they have shared experiences that makes writing music together a little easier. They still butt heads – “You can’t do it without butting heads!” laughs Sofia – but knowing that if a girl breaks Julian’s heart, Jamee will understand that because another girl has broken hers helps the group in a way that is deeper than simply shifting a pronoun here and there.
“I feel like being queer, there’s a lot of possibilities in songwriting,” adds Jamee. “Pop culture and music has just been so cis-het forever, so it’s nice to be able to provide queer representation.”
There’s no doubt that queer music has had a boom this past year. From Reneé Rapp to Chappell Roan, queer artists have dominated the pop charts. Some have even called it a queer renaissance. While this is absolutely amazing, it can be a lot of pressure on those who are touted as representatives of the community.
Julian points out that he thinks the band have been “unfairly pigeonholed” by those that see them as a majority people of colour and queer band, rather than a band that just so happens to include people of colour and LGBTQIA musicians. While the band puts out music in a range of genres, these songs don’t break because they don’t fit the mould people expect from them. He mentions that the only song of MICHELLE’s to do well outside of the R&B genre is The Bottom. “I think the way people view us pigeonholes us into what song they’ll accept and what they won’t.”
The rest of the band start to nod their heads. Sofia says the music industry has been very supportive and encouraged the group to write about their lived experiences the way they want to, but she thinks “the internet sometimes gets confused” about what that experience is.
Layla adds that growing up in predominantly white and straight spaces, it’s hard not to think about your identity. “But I think, as I’ve gotten older, it’s been nice to just be an artist and portray myself as an individual.”
There’s a desire within the band to be heard outside of their identity. They don’t want to be spokespeople. “People can see and understand that we’re ethnically diverse and gay,” explains Layla. “But there’s a lot more to offer than just that, because no two gay experiences are alike, no biracial experience is alike.” But it’s not always easy to divorce yourself from how others see you. As Layla says: “It’s going to speak for itself in everything I do.”
So what do you do? How do you navigate the world and fame when so many people already have their own ideas about who you’re going to be? Jamee reflects, “We just need to be ourselves and if that confuses people, that’s okay. It’s not for them. Or maybe they can expand their mind.”
DIVA magazine celebrates 30 years in print in 2024. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.
