Following up E-MO-TION nearly four years later, Dedicated sees Carly Rae Jepsen evolving as a singer and artist. The tracks on Dedicated are meant for dancing, perhaps even more than the singers two previous blockbuster albums, E-MO-TION and Kiss. Maturing into often more sexual lyrics, Jepsen sings about adult topics in a mature way on Dedicated. The album spawn five singles, including today’s song “Too Much,” which Jepsen wrote about a girl at a party whose boyfriend criticized her for getting into dancing “too much.”Jespsen writes “Too Much” as almost an anthem of pride, disclosing before she takes on a new boyfriend that she has an excessive streak and that if he should enter a relationship with her, he should know that.
A FIRE IN RAINY SEASON. With Jepsen’s song about full disclosure, “Too Much” leads the beginning of our Pride Playlist 2022, a playlist of 30 songs celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride month. The songs on this playlist are by advocates, like Jepsen, and queer artists. Of course, there are so many others that I could have included from artists who haven’t made it to my playlist yet from Jennifer Knapp, Macklemore, Donna Summer, or Semler, the first openly LGBTQ+ artist to top the Billboard Christian Charts or advocates from my playlists who have voiced support for the community from Christians who suffered financial loss, such as Jars of Clay‘s Dan Haseltine who defended the community on Twitter to Switchfoot‘s Jon Foreman who said that their music was for everyone to Relient K who invited Semler to open for them on their latest tour. And no Kacey Musgraves? Thirty songs is certainly too short. Anyway, here’s what made the first round of this list. It will probably be updated as the month goes on.
1. “Too Much” by Carly Rae Jepsen. She’s a headliner at Pride festivals and parades. She loves us, and we love her. Even if the “Call Me Maybe” hottie turned out to be a dick, Jepsen has always been a great advocate. Let’s kick this party off! 2. “Sometimes” by MUNA. Yesterday’s song of the day. 3. “Monsters” by All Time Low ft. Demi Lovato & blackbear. 4. “Sine from Above” by Lady Gaga ft. Elton John
5. “Dead Weight” by Pvris 6. “What’s It Gonna Be?” by Shura 7. “Cold Heart” (PNAU Remix) by Elton John ft. Dua Lipa. More Elton on the playlist, even if it’s not a great song. 8. “Visions of Gideon” by Sufjan Stevens. We can find lots of Christian and queer themes in Stevens’ music, but his most overt work has to be the Call Me By Your Name Soundtrack. 9. “Lucky Strike” by Troye Sivan. While I don’t condone smoking, this is a sweet song about queer love.
10. “Blinding Lights” by Kurt Hugo Schneider ft. Sam Tsui. When YouTuber Sam Tsui came out, his friend and Kurt Hugo Schneider offered his support. They keep working together today. 11. “Glory Days” by Betty Who. There’s not too much queer about this song, but Who has become a bit of queer icon, and she identifies as bisexual. 12. “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles. Harry Styles has been known to question his sexuality from time to time. While most of his songs straight, his celebration of sexuality and sexual openness earns this drippy song a spot on my playlist. 
13. “Silver Horizon” by Trey Pearson. Former singer of Christian Rock band Everyday Sunday came out around the same time as Sam Tsui. 14. “Impatience” by Sam Tsui. 15. “Play” by Jax Jones ft. Years & Years. This song uses the double meaning of the word play to create an infectious dance song. 16. “Closer” by Tegan and Sara. The duo has been out for most of their career. They turned to activism, donating all the money they made from merch in 2016 to protest the draconian North Carolina “bathroom bill.”17. “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman
19. “childhood bedroom” by Ben Platt 20. “How Do You Sleep?” by Sam Smith 21. “Summertime Sadness” by Lana Del Rey. A music video that depicts a tragic lesbian romance, “Summertime Sadness” was helping to normalize queer relationships in the early 2010s. It’s not the best representation, but it certainly fits within Del Rey’s ’60s romantic image, harkening back to the works of Tennessee Williams and Elizabeth Taylor.
22. “Careless Whisper” by George Michael. They say that there’s no such thing as a guilty pleasure. George Michael’s masterpiece is both loved and hated. Skip this track unless you love it ironically or just love it. 23. “Me to You” by Tim Be Told. Now the solo project of Timothy Ouyang, Tim Be Told started as a worship band until lead singer Ouyang realized that he was gay. “Me to You” is a cute song about feeling attraction for another person.
24. “Living in Another World” by Neon Trees. The band’s third album was released just as lead singer Tyler Glenn publicly came out as gay. Many of the songs on the record come from conversations with Glenn’s therapist. 25. “So Sick” by Max ft. Sam Tsui (produced by Kurt Hugo Schneider). This is the third song with Sam Tsui featured on vocals. Just as the Ne-Yo version is a song about regret, I think about what if I were younger, making music with a couple of sweet boys in cardigans? Oh well.
26. “Titanium” by David Guetta ft. Sia. Still relatively unknown when “Titanium” became a hit, the bisexual singer rose in popularity on her own right in 2014 with her album 1000 Forms of Fear. 27. “Foundation” by Years & Years 28. “True Faith” by New Order. Synth-rock groups such as New Order were very popular in gay clubs in the ’80s and ’90s. “True Faith,” a song about drug addiction, also resonated with queer listeners, who “when [they] were . . . very small boy[s], very small boys talked to [them], but now that [they’ve] grown up together they’re afraid of what they see.”29. “Way It Goes” by Hippo Campus
30. “Cold Air” by Acceptance
Today’s song’s Music video:
Performance on James Corbin
Mixtapemotions 