by riese & mey

Music videos have long been a bastion of lesbosexy representation, going back to the olden days when many women of my generation were swooning over those Aerosmith videos starring Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler. You know the ones. So obviously as the world gets gayer, music videos get gayer, which says a lot, because they were already very gay to begin with. Let’s look at this year’s crop of suggestive imagery, shall we?

1. Hayley Kiyoko – Gravel To Tempo

Mey: I have such a big freaking crush on Hayley Kiyoko you guys. And in this video when she’s dancing around trying to impress other girls I can’t look away. I wish Hayley Kiyoko would dance on a table in front of me and steal the gum out of my hand.

2. The Veronicas – On Your Side (Written & Directed by Ruby Rose)

Riese: Just your average everyday girl-meets-girl, girl defends girl from homophobic assholes, girl gets punched in the face, girl gets addicted to painkillers love story!

3. Zolita – Holy

Riese: The description of this music video is “A young girl explores a lesbian relationship in a patriarchal schoolhouse and starts a secret feminist girl cult.” Like… WHERE’S THE SITCOM SPIN-OFF OF THIS CONCEPT, LADIES?

4. Julia Nunes – Make Out

Riese: Autostraddle Co-Founder Alex Vega engages in heavy petting with her fiancée in this music video, a devotional to that giddy feeling you get at the start of a thing where all you ever wanna do, like ALL YOU EVER WANNA DO, is make out. You can’t do anything else, not one thing! It’s so fucking cute.

5. Britney Spears – Slumber Party ft. Tinashe

Riese: This quaint music video sends me on a trip down memory lane, recalling the teenage slumber parties of my wayward youth in all their splendor: gothic mansions, models in cat-ears, Britney Spears writhing on a vinyl sectional in an extravagant tulle skirt-fountain and an aggressively turquoise bra situation, men in fitted suits with tattoos on their eyes, Britney Spears shoving her vagina in Tinashe’s face, girls in fishnets and heels dipping it low in a high-ceilinged room, etc. etc. I mean, throw in some Crystal Clear Pepsi, Dirty Dancing on VHS, and a few bags of Cool Ranch Doritos and you’ve got 7th grade in a nutshell.

6. The Internet – “Special Affair/Curse”

Riese: Why yes that Patron DOES make me feel nice and comfortable! I would love to come over there and sit on that throne, thank you so much for asking. This night has really taken a turn for the better.

7. Nina Sky – Champion Lover

Mey: Nina Sky are so freaking cute and so is this song and this video!!! Look at all the cute couples including a lot of super cute queer couples!

8. Nanok – Lay You Down ft. Ray Dee

Riese: This video starts Monica Dogra and Anushka Manchada, who GQ India says are “the sort of artists always pushing the envelope” by doing things like “starring in feminist films about wrathful goddesses.” SIGN ME UP.

9. Kehlani – CRZY

Riese: This particular video was suggested to me via A+ priority inbox with the following message, “she is bi and has new v gay haircut, may be of interest to the readership :)”

10. Courtney Act – Kaleidoscope

Riese: This song feels like it was designed to get blasted from scratchy speakers on a gay cruise ship as we leave the Chelsea Piers headed towards the Caribbean and everybody’s had three mimosas too many and really can only hear the beat and is sort of trying to work with that. Regardless, I’m not surprised it was chosen as the official theme song of Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. Also this music video is just a cute bleached summer surfer’s paradise situation sweet as sherbet.

11. Tegan & Sara – Faint of Heart

Mey: The video for “Faint of Heart” was filmed right after the Orlando massacre and it is a terrific healing salve. We get to watch a bunch of trans and gender non-comforming youth dress up as their icons and lipsync their hearts out all while we listen to Tegan and Sarah sing about how strong love is. If that doesn’t warm your queer heart, I don’t know what will.

 12. Mary Lambert – Hang Out With You

Audrey: “Hang Out With You” is a music video about how sometimes all we can possibly do is hang out with our perfect dog and our hot, awkward girlfriend, and how it’s ok to lean into that desire.

13. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Boy Problems”

Mey: This year queer girl aesthetics really crossed over and that was never more clear than in True Gay Icon Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Boy Problems” video. She’s surrounded by millennials and queer and trans people, she has s gay mullet, she looks lovingly into her gal pals eyes and everything is covered in bright colors and glitter. This is the gayest looking video I’ve ever seen. Plus, we all know that the easiest way to cure your boy problems is to just be gay.

14. Tegan & Sara – Stop Desire

Riese: GET IT? THE FRUIT LOOKS LIKE GENITALS!!??!

15. Peaches – Vaginoplasty

Okay Peaches, okay.

16. SEE – Potions

Riese: This is such a time to be alive because See is 20 years old and she’s just now releasing her EP and already her girlfriend is not a secret and also her first music video is basically two girls making out in a red-lit room. A.a. your mid-twenties. Or mine, I guess.

17. Holly Miranda – Come On

Riese: If you’ve ever wanted to see Holly Miranda make out with Holly Miranda, I have some VERY good news for you.

18. Ria Mae – Gold

Riese: Butch hottie with hard femme girlfriend make out and fight and make up, and then there’s a story that twists your heart around and then lands like a bird.

19. Kygo – Stay ft. Maty Noyes

Riese: On the beach, in the forest, at a casino, in a hotel room, these facts remain: lesbian relationships are full of ups and downs and also very danceable beats and also colorful leggings.

20. Dodie – Sick of Losing Soulmates

Riese: You know how you fall in love with a girl and everything’s great and you’re flying high and then it all falls apart and you’ve lost your soulmate and you’ve lost your best friend, too? Dodie knows.

21. Princess Nokia – TOMBOY

Mey: Princess Nokia has been killing it this year and her ode to all the tomboys out there is proof of that. This video is so full of terrific tomboys and masc of center cuties just being themselves and celebrating their gender and personality. Whether you’re a tomboy looking for some representation or a fan of tomboys, like me, this video has something for you.

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