Gabriel Teodros

“I'm not a woman, I'm not a man/ I am something that you’ll never understand” Prince spent his career celebrating gender fluidity and defying categories of straight and gay. bit.ly

"He made a commentary on gender by playing with his own, and just being a role model in that sort of way." kcrw.co

d’bi.young anitafrika is an African-Jamaican-Tkarontonian, London-based dubpoet, theatre interventionist, decolonial scholar & Black-queer-feminist playwright who is committed to embodying liberatory art practice that ritualises acts-of-emancipation from oppressions inflicted upon the people & the planet. Their pan-Africanist trans-disciplinary explorations of identity, gender, sexuality, class, and human experience make an indelible mark on the Canadian and global cultural landscape. dbi333.bandcamp.com Watch the video, filmed in South Africa: vimeo.com dbiyounganitafrika.com

Sua talks about their role as a nonbinary teen on the Netflix series 'Sex Education': ". . . there are a lot of nonbinary people who are still grappling with that understanding of what nonbinary means to them, and what gender means to them. And that doesn’t necessarily always equate to transness, especially amongst people who are searching for an indigenous understanding of their gender, people who are gender anarchists, who don’t necessarily want to engage with the concept of gender as a Western binary, or as something that tells you what to do, or who you are. There are many different ways that nonbinary identity unfolds. And I think the fact that there's the breathing room for Cal to just be a teenager who’s trying to figure it out, or that it’s still nebulous to them — I think that’s really beautiful." www.them.us 'Nūr' is the 2019 debut EP from the Sudan-born, Minneapolis-based singer, poet, and activist Dua Saleh. Born in Sudan and raised in the Midwest, Dua is queer, gender nonconforming, and is addressed with they/them pronouns. Dua invites listeners into an undefined space through full-sensory lyricism and the singularity of their distinct voice. duasaleh.bandcamp.com

Check in on a 2021 conversation with Gabriel and a Live at Home set from from Ivy Sole - on the KEXP YouTube channel: youtu.be

“Building community is incredibly important to me. I truly believe that if the youth can all just come to one solid ground, we can make the world a better place. Because the world is literally in our hands. Like, we didn’t make global warming, but we’re stuck with it. And now we’ve got to figure out what to do about it. I want to build a militia of youth to help better the world, and right now, I guess music is my start. Long story short, I just want to make the world a better place. And music is the site.” - Non-binary Nigerian-American artist Dreamer Isioma talked with NME about their work. dreamerisioma.com

Rell Be Free (real name: Jerrell Davis) is a self-described "musician, underground educator, and multifaceted entrepreneur" from the South End of Seattle. This song features KO Nikkita (Nikkita Oliver) - a Seattle-based creative, community organizer, abolitionist, educator, and attorney. Working at the intersections of arts, law, education, and community organizing Nikkita strives to create experiences which draw us closer to our humanity and invites us to imagine what we hope to see in the future. Nikkita identifies as Black, multi-racial, queer, and non-binary. www.nikkitaoliver.com www.creativejusticenw.org

Seattle-based nonbinary artist Rogue Pinay/Katrina Pestaño is 'a force to be reckoned with, causing all types of ruckus as an emcee, cultural worker and community organizer. with a deep love of hiphop discovered as an immigrant youth, rogue pinay wrote verses as a way to reconnect with their roots and claim space as a queer filipina with a lot on their mind. since 2006, rogue pinay has been inciting love and rage with incisive rhymes and raw delivery.' www.facebook.com They are also co-executive director of API Chaya - an agency created by survivors and for survivors from marginalized communities. www.apichaya.org

Kimmortal is a queer Filipinx musician, songwriter and visual artist based in Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories. kimmortal.bandcamp.com Last year, Gabriel and Kimmortal talked together about Black and Asian solidarity: www.kexp.org

Queens-raised, L.A.-based emcee/songwriter and activist, "a singing, rapping, Korean American tomboy" plays guitar, sings, produces, spits, and facilitates workshops like no other. www.colorlines.com

"I wrote 'Symbol' as the child of an immigrant, under the global specter of violence against black and brown bodies, and in light of the international refugee crisis. Now, with the Trump Administration, black and brown bodies are again held up as political symbols to attack DACA and feed white nationalism. It saddens me that these lyrics feel like they will be relevant for many more generations. 'Symbol' is about still finding joy in the knowledge that despite a dark history, we still became the future, and that my body is the literal wildest dream of my ancestors." Olaniran told NPR in 2017. The gender non-conforming artist Olaniran co-wrote "Symbol" with Adrienne Maree Brown, whose book 'Emergent Strategy' is largely inspired by her friend, Grace Lee Boggs. www.npr.org

Anjimile Chithambo, who performs under their first name, Anjimile, says the circumstances leading up to writing their latest album, 'Giver Taker' was a “cluster fudge.” Throughout the writing of the album, Anjimile was discovering their own identity as a trans and non-binary person. They were also in rehab for almost a year, trying to get sober. “Right before I wrote this record, I was not healthy in any sense of the word emotionally, physically, psychologically, spiritually,” says Anjimile. In this KEXP Sound & Vision interview, Anjimile talks about the album and their pilgrimage: bit.ly In early 2021, Anjimile shared a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and spoke with Gabriel Teodros about the new album, and this song. Watch the full session and interview here: youtu.be

Yves Tumor is an experimental electronic producer now based in Turin, Italy. Originally from Knoxville, TN, they started making music out of a need to escape "dull, conservative surroundings." The enigmatic artist told Pitchfork in a 2017 interview: "I really like to drop hints in the way I express myself, instead of making my gender or my sexuality or my feelings about equality my personal brand. That’s not why I do what I do." bit.ly yves-tumor.bandcamp.com yves-tumor.com Watch them performing this song live in March, just before the pandemic: youtu.be

"The biggest lesson I've learned in this industry is that there is no such thing as a "once in a lifetime chance," especially when it comes to chances that could potentially compromise your integrity." Watch the video for Invincible's "Sledgehammer!" here: youtu.be

"I've always been this way. It's just that I didn't have the vocabulary to do anything except drop hints. I didn't know there was a word that I could identify with. So when I came across the word nonbinary, it was a bit of a "Eureka" moment. It was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, like, "Oh!" I've been an outsider in so many different ways — culturally, or being a different age from the kids in my class. I just thought my gender identity was also one of those things that I just don't fit in with." Japanese pop singer Hikaru Utada talked to NPR earlier this year: n.pr www.utadahikaru.jp

Non-binary artist Kehlani talked to 'Byrdie' about raising their daughter: "There's always emphasis on the gender of those we love versus who that person is. I just want to worry about if my kid loves a good person. Worry about the heart of the person you're with. If my daughter doesn't have to go through a journey to discover she's straight, then she doesn't have to go through a journey to discover if she's gay." They continue, "We raised her [to believe] there's no difference. She sees her mommy with her girlfriend. She's going to see her father with whoever he's with. She's going to see all her gay aunties and uncles and her trans aunties and uncles. Everything is normal. They're going to have their own world. Don't make them hateful little shits. Teach them to love and not judge and it's really that simple. I don't know how it gets so overcomplicated." www.byrdie.com www.kehlani.com

A queer love song for folks redefining love, gender and partnership. Washington DC artist Be Steadwell calls her music QUEER POP. Be's original music features earnest lyricism, and Affirming LGBTQ content.​ The amazingly beautiful video can be found here: youtu.be besteadwell.bandcamp.com www.besteadwell.com