Artist Spotlights: 4 Queer Femme Indie Artists to Support for Black History Month
In honor of Black History Month, we compiled a list of Black queer artists to support now and always.
Artist Spotlights introduces you to artists that may not be on your radar yet, but should be. There’s no time like the present to find new (and old) talent to support.
Written by C.S. Harper
Photos courtesy of Jorian Charlton, Chachi Revah, and Siena Liggins
Black History Month is a time to commemorate many legends across history, but it’s also a time to uplift the voices of the present. However, many Black minds, particularly underground artists, go under people’s radars in favor of more popular musicians. Afterglow compiled a list of 4 underrated femme artists to listen to for Black History Month and beyond.
Siena Liggins
Photo courtesy of Jibri Victorian
Recommended If You Like: Billie Eilish, Kilo Kish, Genesis Owusu
Siena Liggins is alt-pop’s next starlet. With a SXSW performance and a collaboration with Baby Tate already under her belt, Liggins is quickly becoming a name to keep on your radar. The sirenic songstress is no stranger to puns, naming her debut album Ms. Out Tonight and including the lyric “Yabba daba / Do you want to go out with me?” on her breakout single, “Girlfriend.” Her aforementioned earworm is bound to make her TikTok famous, with its cheeky nods to Cindy Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and the children’s show “Blue’s Clues.” But despite her playful nature, Liggins doesn’t shy away from candor, delivering genuinely heartfelt lyrics in “Lazy”: “Natural woman, second to nothing / I wanna love all of the things we got in common.” With her steady climb to sapphic superstardom, Liggins will no doubt be the next lesbian Jesus.
myst milano.
Image courtesy of Jorian Charlton/Bandcamp
Recommended If You Like: The “Paris is Burning” soundtrack, Beyonce’s RENAISSANCE, Crystal Waters
Ever wanted to live the “Pose” fantasy? Look no further than myst milano.’s Shapeshyfter. In the span of just 28 minutes, the ballroom darling calls themself the “Black punk Madonna” and stuns with slick bars and groovy production. With its buttery flow and catchy beat, opener “No Shade” will have listeners sashaying all around their living rooms. But milano. also knows how to deviate from the house formula, incorporating bounce percussion and kooky synths in “MYNT.” They go the stream-of-consciousness route in “Oh Boy,” delivering a rapid-fire verse revealing all of their worries beneath their boastful vogueing persona. In closer “Wax Poetic,” they fully strip away the person who takes the ballroom floor, leaving behind the mantra “Every time I try to wax poetic / It all comes out sounding so pathetic / When I'm myself I regret it.” By creating both a candid and danceable record, myst milano. showcases their versatility, making for a complex portrait of a queer femme on the dance floor.
Photo courtesy of Skorpihoe
Recommended If You Like: ABRA, Kari Faux, BROCKHAMPTON
Based in Minneapolis, Dizzy Fae is a singer-rapper who defies categorization. Though the singer-dancer was classically trained, her music flirts with R&B, pop, disco, electronic, and rap. One moment in her 2021 EP Antenna, she sings the titular line “360 Baby” into a vocoder amid eerie synths; the next, she’s rapping over a funky bassline in “Body Move.” In “Bend n Snap,” she taps into her dominatrix side as she sultrily whisper-demands her partner to “bend over and break your back.” She continues exploring this persona in her latest Halloween song “Spooky Link,” where she declares she’s a “ghost in the streets, monster in the sheets” but wants her boo’d up lover to “lay [her] down.” The epitome of queer versatility (both sonically and sexually), Dizzy Fae makes the perfect theme songs for switches to get turnt.
Photo courtesy of Bianca Lecompte
Recommended If You Like: Lingua Ignota, Uboa, Danny Brown
Ashanti Mutinta, better known as Backxwash, takes Afropunk to the next level with her doom-rap inclinations and religious incantations. After opening with an eerie voicemail from a pastor, latest album HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING hits the listener with the whiplash-inducing “VIBANDA.” Accompanied by sludgy guitars and booming drums, she stupefies the listener with a series of existential questions: “What is stress? / What is peace? / What is death? / What is love?” Despite her affinity for dark soundscapes, Mutinta wraps up the record with melodic violins and a cheery children’s choir in “MUKAZI.” “I wanna tell you that you made it alive,” she raps triumphantly, as if to congratulate the listener for sticking with her through the darkness of the record. Though Backxwash’s music isn’t for everyone, she’ll surely find a place in the hearts of metal and experimental rap fans everywhere.
Listen to Backxwash on Spotify and Bandcamp. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter @backxwash.
Although this list is far from comprehensive, we hope to give you a glimpse of the talent and innovative art that Black queer artists have to offer. Be sure to check out the playlist below and support these and other artists during Black History Month and beyond.