We have queer pop stars and musicians such as Doechi, Sabrina Carpenter, and Chappell Roan constantly topping the charts these days—but there are some lesser-known musicians also deserve your attention.
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Candi Carpenter (they/them)—no relation to Sabrina—is a nonbinary indie-pop musician. Initially a country singer who got their start in Nashville, Tennessee around 2017, they have since moved on to the pop and alt-rock genre. Their alt-pop debut came in 2024 with the release of their album Demonology.
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The album centers around highly personal stories about Carpenter’s childhood and the religious trauma they suffered growing up. The beginning songs “Exorcist” and “Cult” dive into the repressive nature of growing up in a religious household, especially for those who are queer.
Candi Carpenter is also autistic, and has been public and open about their diagnosis. This also explains the overly personal themes and lyrics of this album, which could be best described as akin to that meme of Toad from Super Mario smiling while hitting the Matt Sharp Blue Album pose with the caption “I love telling someone traumatizing lore about myself, then looking at them exactly like this.”
The next song in the album, “Antisocial Butterfly,” perfectly captures what it’s like to have religious trauma as an autistic person. Given the whole rigidity of Christianity’s God-fearing philosophy toward that which deviates from the norm, it can be overwhelming for those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In Carpenter’s own words, it can feel like: “God is a little kid killing bugs for fun.
Carpenter’s album also includes a high amount of nostalgic references, from AOL Instant Messenger to Dragon Ball Z. One of the lighter songs in this album, “Strawberry Starburst,” is about Carpenter’s early childhood crush on the Pink Power Ranger. It’s an extremely cute song that pales in comparison to the less innocent subjects in this album, and is honestly queer asf.
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