New Victoria Monét, Omar Apollo, and More on This Week’s Queer Music Mixtape

Welcome back to INTO’s Queer Music Mixtape, your #1 hub for all things new LGBTQ+ music. Here, we’re covering the hottest releases of the week in one handy guide.

This week’s selection runs the genre gamut, and our listening habits are all the better for it. Artists like Victoria Monét and Jaboukie have landed with debut albums killing rap and R&B, while Becca Mancari’s new LP is perfect singer-songwriter goodness.

We’ve included Instagram links in each byline, streaming links below for your convenience, and a full Queer Music Mixtape playlist from our Spotify page to keep you rocking out for hours to come!

Tune in to this week’s Queer Music Mixtape:

JAGUAR II by Victoria Monét

R&B sensation Victoria Monét has finally landed with her official debut album (sometimes a debut can be a sequel, don’t think about it too hard), and the vibes are immaculate. From fan fave singles like “On My Mama” down to album cuts like “Stop (Askin’ Me 4Shyt)”, Monét blends her dexterous, lighthearted songwriting with classic sensibilities of the genre to make for a project befitting the fine feline fatale in question.

Stream Victoria Monét on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

Related:

Victoria Monét Thanks Motherhood for Her New Voice in R&B

“On My Mama,” Victoria Monét makes motherhood look and sound good.

“Ice Slippin” by Omar Apollo

While he might not be beating the Frank Ocean inspo allegations any time soon, Omar Apollo’s take on that same synthy minimalism and layered neo-soul vocal is a great fit for this chilly track. The origin of the song couldn’t be more personal, centering on the singer dealing with the cold-shoulder fallout he experienced after coming out to his family. “Ice Slippin” is a promising first listen from Apollo’s upcoming Look At Me EP due out on October 6.

Stream Omar Apollo on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

All who can’t hear must feel by jaboukie

Multi-hyphenate Jaboukie Young-White has taken the same succinct, efficient writing that made him a verifiable/unverifiable Twitter menace and turned it into poetry. On All who can’t hear must feel, Jaboukie threads his experience as a queer person (both in the states and his family’s native Jamaica) through a variety of rap subgenres with mixtape-style interludes switching up the mood before anyone could possibly get a chance to get tired.

Stream jaboukie on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

Related:

Don’t Call Jaboukie ‘Brave’

Throughout the EP, Jaboukie is unapologetic about his sexuality and feverous in his displays of queerness.

WEEDKILLER by Ashnikko

Ashnikko’s debut album WEEDKILLER weaves its way through shredding guitar lines, booming bass, and messages swinging from the bold and boastful to the deeply introspective to deliver a one-of-a-kind sonic experience. By the time the album lands on “Dying Star”, a moving duet with Preacher’s Daughter phenom Ethel Cain, the listener has been on a full extraplanar adventure.

Stream Ashnikko on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

“Cowboy Tumbleweed” by FIGHTMASTER

FIGHTMASTER, the project from the eponymous nonbinary Grey’s Anatomy star, is adding a little country flair to their alt-rock flavor on new sophomore single “Cowboy Tumbleweed”. “While writing the song I was feeling all the lightness of being that new love provides and the heavy loneliness of depression,” the singer explains of the track. They add, “’Cowboy Tumbleweed’” is a queer tip of the hat to Don Quixote, a figure who wanted so badly to be the hero but always ended up the fool.”

Stream FIGHTMASTER on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

“lied to your therapist” by Miki Ratsula

“lied to your therapist” follows up on the less-than-amicable romantic falling out touched on in Ratsula’s previous single, “if i blame myself”. While their reliable melancholic mood flows between the two, this new song brings a rebellious fire and a video that finds the singer and collaborator OSTON ransacking said ex’s office building. Why be sad about your toxic ex when you could take a baseball bat to his workplace?

Stream Miki Ratsula on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

“Next Chapter” by Liam Benayon

With “Next Chapter”, indie pop producer Liam Benayon trades the dark club beat he established on “Don’t Call Me At A Party” for bright, pop punk-esque raging. He’s not just ready to shut the book on the song’s target, he’s tearing out every last page.

Stream Liam Benayon on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

Related:

Timbaland, Nelly Furtado, and Justin Timberlake are Releasing a New Single and the Internet is Ready

Get ready

“overgrown” by Mars Aspen

Up-and-coming songwriter Mars Aspen’s latest is a perfect, heart-holding ode to change. On “overgrown”, the singer shares the common queer experience of outgrowing the space you were raised in and contending with the feelings that come with it.

Stream Mars Aspen on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

Left Hand by Becca Mancari

While Left Hand pulls in collaborations from notable band favorites like Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes), Julien Baker (boygenius), and Zac Farro (Paramore), it stands possibly as Becca Mancari’s most personal, singular project to date. Even with the success of their 2020 album The Greatest Part, the singer found themselves picking up the pieces of their life after the rush was over. “When I wrote Left Hand I did not realize that I had been dissociating for so long, and getting back into your body is truly what this record is about,” they explain. “It’s about not turning away from your scars, but seeing them as sacred reminders that you are still here: you made it and you are loved.”

Stream Becca Mancari on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

Explore your next chapter and join us back here next weekend for another Queer Music Mixtape!

Keep the tunes going with our official Queer Music Mixtape playlist: