Anthony Roth Costanzo, Doechii & Tokischa Photos

Dove Cameron, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Doechii, MUNA, Joy Oladokun and Tokischa are forging exciting new paths for LGBTQ+ musicians now. Whether they’re spitting bars, singing an aria or rocking out with a guitar, these fearless creators are proving that when it comes to both identity and art, there are no boundaries. Read the full story here and check out a preview below.

Anthony Roth Costanzo Is Pushing Opera Outside The Box

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Costanzo has built a singular career with his distinctive vocal range (countertenors possess the highest adult male singing voice) on gorgeous display in what has become a signature role: the titular young pharaoh in Philip Glass’ Akhnaten, currently playing at the Metropolitan Opera; its recording won Costanzo a 2022 Grammy. But he is also a formidable presence outside opera’s hallowed halls, where he has sought out like-minded artists — from painter George Condo to filmmaker James Ivory — for diverse interdisciplinary projects.

Doechii Is Bringing Femme-Forward Rhymes To TDE

A landmark deal as Top Dawg Entertainment’s first female rapper, and her subsequent signing with Capitol Records, set her well on her way toward achieving that goal. “When I would talk to other labels, I could tell they admired my talent, but they were already [set] on a formula that they felt works and didn’t want to budge on,” Doechii explains. When her breakthrough single, “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake,” dropped in 2020, major labels like Warner and Universal came knocking; still, she stayed independent. Then TDE arrived: “I was sold. They flew me out in January, I got signed by February.”

Tokischa Is Taking Filter-Free Dembow Far And Wide

With her racy rhymes dripping with local lingo, dembow drums and rhythmic moans, Tokischa has amassed enough fans (plus plenty of can’t-look-away haters) to sell out shows from Queens to Rome. Those crowds may come in part to witness her onstage antics (licking milk out of a cat’s bowl; locking lips with Rosalía at the Billboard Latin Music Awards), but they’re also responding to the DGAF energy Tokischa radiates — creating a radically liberal space that feels like a Dominican teteo (street party) where her heavily female audiences can drink, smoke, throw the occasional punch and always move their hips.

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