Christine and The Queens is ‘conflicted’ over Taylor Swift and using queerness as an ‘accessory’
Christine and the Queens objects to stars like Taylor Swift using queer aesthetic “to sell things” (Matthew Eades/Getty)
French singer Christine and The Queens has revealed she is “conflicted” about stars like Taylor Swift using queer aesthetic as “this super-fancy accessory” in their music videos.
Christine, whose real name is Héloïse Adelaïde Letissier, commented on Taylor Swift’s latest anti-gay anthem “You Need To Calm Down,” which features dozens of cameos from LGBT+ celebrities.
“I’m conflicted,” she said in an interview with Cosmopolitan. “I guess somewhere, young gay men might watch that Taylor Swift video and feel a sense of relief.
“Five years on [since she entered the industry] and you can tell that being queer has been glossed out as this super-fancy accessory. You can tell that the queer aesthetic is being used to sell things.
“The mainstream needs that life because it’s so vibrant. But I think the core of the queer aesthetic cannot be sold.”
In response to the song’s backlash, Swift has previously said that she no longer cares about the “baseless criticism” she receives for “for trying to do good things.”
The “Tilted” singer identifies as pansexual (Cosmopolitan UK/Matthew Eades)
Christine identifies as a genderqueer pansexual who has “love stories with women and love stories with men”.
When she publicly came out in 2014 it was “like a detonation” in the French media, as many struggled to grasp what her sexuality actually meant.
“I have love stories with women and love stories with men. I’ve never been a lesbian, I’m pansexual… It puzzles people the way that I don’t choose,” she said.
“When your sexuality is not the norm, you have to find words to express it. Sometimes I was made to feel dirty, or like it was obscene. It’s just a sexual orientation – there’s nothing perverse about that.
“Just being young, sexually active and proud of your sexuality is a problem for women. You’re a ‘slut’, so you’re shamed.
“[The song] “Christine” was born out of feeling frustrated that people would say no to me because I was a woman. She was this anger. Christine was a fantasy of escaping that.”
Christine features on the cover of the November issue of Cosmopolitan, which is on sale from October 2.
(Cosmopolitan UK/Matthew Eades)
