'90s Star Sophie B. Hawkins on Coming Out as Omnisexual: 'I Was Ahead of My Time' (Exclusive)

Hawkins opens up to PEOPLE about coming out as omnisexual in 1992, and the backlash she faced after the fact, in this week's issue

Sophie B. Hawkins is getting candid about the reality of life in the spotlight after she came out in the '90s.

In this week's issue, Hawkins, 58, tells PEOPLE that she "coined the phrase" omnisexual in 1992 when she came out.

"I took omni and I took sexual and I put them together, and I said, 'This represents me,'" Hawkins says of the label she assumed for her sexuality.

She recalls explaining to a male journalist, "My sexuality is not based on my gender, and it's not defined by your gender.'"

At the time, it was "a very new concept," she says — to be attracted to someone outside of their gender.

"People did not pick up on it, and they just said, 'Ah, you're gay. You're gay. You're gay.'"

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Now, though, "omnisexual is actually a thing," Hawkins says, adding that she takes a little credit for the term's use.

"The words that I put together and coined are now actually one of the definitions," she says. "I was a little ahead of my time on that one."

In 1992, coming out was a risky move for the singer, who was nominated for a best new artist Grammy in 1993, just one year after she released her debut album, Tongues and Tails.

"Sony got mad," she says of her record label at the time. "I was talking about it on pop radio, on the morning shows, and people were very angry at me, but there were some people who were very grateful to me."

Despite the pushback from her label, Hawkins "continued to be vocal," and adds that she had several "gay women in my band" at the time, too.

"[Sony] didn't see that coming, and they pulled a lot of support. And they got very angry at me," she says, continuing, "I had a lot of women in my band, and they happened to be gay. I didn't know when I heard them. But it was four gay women on stage, and then some guys."

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The "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" singer adds that she was also speaking out in support of "transgender artists" and "intersex artists" at the same time.

"In my mind, it was time to start talking about, 'Gender shouldn't oppress us. Gender should free us. It's a creative discussion.' But in 1992, no one else was talking about it."

As she reflects on the progress that's been made in the years since she came out, Hawkins says that, in a way, "it's old hat" for her.

"I'm excited and happy that the world is... that you can be who you are now, and you can expect support, and you should get it," she says, though she notes that there's still a skeptical side of her that doesn't trust the growing wave of acceptance.

"Then there's a part of me that also says, 'If the industry can profit off of it, that's what they're going to do. And that's going to be why they support anything.'"

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In March, Hawkins released her first studio album in over 10 years, Free Myself.

She says there was a sense of freedom — no pun intended — to the process of making and recording the 10-track album, her first since 2012's The Crossing, which she began after leaving Los Angeles to move back to New York.

She says it was a "hero's journey" of sorts, to return to her hometown and be back with her family after so many years in LA, and the emotional rollercoaster of the move inspired the music.

"It was freeing," she says of being back on the East Coast. "And it was also a stripping away. I had come back through the necessary journey, the hero's journey. We all have it. We all go through it. We all have to go through the belly of the beast, and we have to fight our way out. And that's basically from the point that I made this album."

For more from Sophie B. Hawkins, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.

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