The category is… Pride!

For this year’s Pride month, Bandwagon has assembled a spectrum of songs, from queer anthems (read: “songs that make gay people scream”) to songs by queer artists. After all, “the history of pop music is queer history,” Pitchfork’s Jes Skolnik boldly proclaimed. “LGBTQ+ people have always been at pop’s vanguard, as performers and audiences.”

Above all, this playlist is in honour of the fierce and transformative Stonewall uprising that happened 50 years ago in New York City – and the battle that wages on until today, all over the world.

Pride isn’t just a celebration. It is still a protest with more shades than that bright rainbow flag. It is a continuing uprising against inequality, indignity, and injustice experienced by LGBTQ+ people: from hate crimes, state-sponsored discrimination, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and more.

The songs in this playlist pulse and breathe with joy, love, and life of LGBTQ+ people – as well as their history and struggles. Each euphoric chorus in a bop or each tender ballad is an affirmation of their humanity and their continuing struggle for true liberation.

Listen and add your anthems here – and let that rainbow flag fly: