The music world’s femininomenon
It’s time to talk about sapphic artists. The tradition dates back to Sappho, a poet from Greece, who wrote about her relationships with other women, centered around love. Often criticised for her work, Sappho’s writing was destroyed by the Catholic Church because of the imagery she created about lesbian love. The term “sapphic” originates from the poet, honoring her legacy and her authenticity in a time when women were often seen as property and subjects to men. Throughout history, sapphic women have faced oppression and been forced to adapt through lavender marriages, a convenience for a man and women to hide their sexual orientation from the public, among other expressions of hidden sexuality, according to History.com. Even in modern times, lesbians and sapphic people face marginalization, often being reduced to a fetish by society and facing less representation in media and daily life than other LGBTQ+ factions. Recently, that’s been changing.
Going back to the early 2000s, sapphic themes rarely appeared in pop music. However, Lady Gaga was often considered an early icon encouraging the queer community to embrace their identities. After her hit “Born this Way,” Gaga paved the way for sapphic pop artists to form the genre into what it is today. Further back, another one of the greats, Tracy Chapman, became legendary for her work as a queer folk musician who produced songs that incorporated political and social commentary, setting her aside from the rest of the musicians in her generation. Chapman’s songs not only were a reflection of her life story, but also left a large impact on the sapphic music crowd, setting an early precedent for future bisexual and lesbian singers to follow.
Nowadays, queer artists are increasingly becoming open onstage and online about their sexualities. Chappell Roan, who regularly incorporates elements of drag performance, shook the community at Lollapalooza in 2024 with the largest audiences ever to stand at the festival. Similarly, artist Billie Ellish has embedded her recent discography with tracks like “Lunch” embracing her love for women and normalizing same-sex desire. Additionally, with roots in the theater world, lesbian actress and singer Renee Rap has been gaining positive recognition due to her lyrics exploring love and self-discovery. Other musicians, such as Towa Bird, Janelle Monae and the members of Boygenius, have also opened up about their sexualities publically, causing a stir and a new wave of sapphic acceptance in online communities.
Due to the jump in the virality of WLW identities, listeners on the internet are expressing their concerns that some musicians may be taking advantage of the recent sapphic music revolution for their personal gain, according to Cosmopolitan. Online, fans of these artists are breaking down many theories in hopes of separating authentic sapphic music from performative clout-chasing. This is an ongoing issue: the limited attention spans of internet culture may lead to the potential for sapphicism to be reduced to something performative, used in order to gain popularity. Influencers and artists online may take this to their advantage as they fake their own sexuality to lure in the queer community in pursuit of exploitation. Still, the benefits outweigh these potential drawbacks: ultimately, gay recognition in art causes more people within the community to feel validation of being in their own skin. From musical artists such as Mitski to Phoebe Bridgers, Ma Rainey to Kehlani, the evolution of sapphic music has created a safe space for those who have endured discomfort within their sexualities.