Across The Spectrum

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard that pop music’s gone queer. And Leo Kalyan, the British singer-songwriter of South Asian origin, is here for it

- Nidhi Gupta

On the first day of 2018, pop musician Hayley Kiyoko put forth a tweet: “It’s our year, it’s our time. To thrive and let our souls feel alive. #20GAYTEEN #EXPECTATIONS.” While the Disney star-turned-singer’s March 2018 release, Expectations, peaked at No 12 on the Billboard charts, it was that hashtag that got her anointed “lesbian Jesus”, and became a global mission statement.

There’s a lot you can blame on the internet, but 2018’s queer pop revolution is among a handful of those things that can actually be called wonderful. Suddenly, a lot of people were talking and making art about their identities, pushing for more openness, greater inclusivity and acceptance, wearing their pronouns and pride flags on their sleeves. Films like The Miseducation Of Cameron Post and Boy Erased carried forth the torch lit by Call Me By Your Name; the world writhed with Troye Sivan’s Bloom; and applauded when Kehlani, Janelle Monae and Sam Smith came out as queer, pansexual and nonbinary, respectively.

Among this galaxy of rising stars is musician Leo Kalyan, who has been talking and singing and making art about his intersectional life (he’s gay and Muslim) for over six years now. What began as “imitations” of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle songs (like the melifluous “Yeh Kya Jagah Hai Doston” from Umrao Jaan) when his voice hadn’t yet broken has grown into a medium for Kalyan’s rare blend of art and activism.