ByShannon Keating,
a freelance writer who covers cultureShannon Keating is a writer and editor who’s spent the past decade covering film, television, queer culture, and digital media. She is a two-time winner of awards from the National Association for LGBTQ+ Journalists (NLGJA).
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
The first week of Coachella 2024 confirmed what lesbian stan armies on X and TikTok already know: Many of mainstream music’s most exciting stars are here, and they are very queer. (Somebody tell JoJo Siwa.) Gay guys had their Coachella moments — indie R&B artist Omar Apollo announced his debut set with a billboard reading “HETEROSEXUALITY CAN BE CURED, JUST WATCH OMAR APOLLO ON FRIDAY” — but it was queer women who truly stole the show. Here are some of the best bi and lesbian moments ranked, from gay to absolute gayest.
8.
Headliner Tyler, the Creator invited the Colombian American bicon Kali Uchis onstage for part of his set (along with Childish Gambino and A$AP Rocky)
Tyler and Uchis have been friends and collaborators for years now. Together they’re kinda giving gay son or thot daughter. During his performance Tyler also addressed the horribly cringey recent revelations about his rejection of his friend Jerrod Carmichael: “Probably seen my homie tried to fuck me on camera. That was terrible.” Yikes.
The current soloist and former lead singer of the Alabama Shakes brought sexy chill vibes to the valley with her Grammy-winning “Stay High.” The caftan paired with a round pair of dark glasses is going straight on my summer-lesbian fashion mood board.
Named after a fictional, fanciful night that ends in debauchery and hedonism, the rising stars are following in fellow queer rock groups MUNA and Boygenius’s footsteps. Their spooky-but-sexy Victorian vibe puts me in mind of Emma Stone in Yorgos Lanthimos’s fabulous dark lesbian drama The Favourite.
5.
Billie Eilish teases new raunchy single, fraternizes with YouTuber
Gay girls everywhere rejoiced when Lana Del Rey brought Eilish onstage with her during her headlining performance to duet Lana’s “Video Games.” Hours later, at a DJ set, Eilish teased some tracks from her new album releasing next month, including “Lunch,” whose lyrics include: “I could eat that girl for lunch, yeah she dances on my tongue.” In case there were any reasons to doubt what, exactly, Billie is referring to, the song continues: “So now she’s coming up the stairs, so I’m pulling up a chair, and I’m putting up my hair.” Femmes and long-haired butches know what’s up. And then Billie was spotted kissing YouTuber Quenlin Blackwell. Talk about a queer-ass evening.
4.
Brazilian superstar Ludmilla dances with her wife onstage
A household name back home, the first Black Latin American artist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify and the first Afro Latina to perform at Coachella made clear to her U.S. audience who she is when her Sunday set began with an audio note from none other than Beyoncé: “From Rio, Brazil, all the way down to Coachella … Ludmilla.” A voice message from Brazilian trans activist and politician Erika Hilton followed; Hilton condemned homophobia, transphobia, racism, and misogyny, saying hatred had no place at this show. Ludmilla is openly bisexual, having dated one of her backup dancers, Brunna Gonçalves, before they married five years ago, and audiences this past weekend were treated to the two beauties kissing and dancing together onstage.
3.
Chappell Roan dedicating “My Kink Is Karma” to her ex
Chappell Roan’s debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, is chock-full of incredible queer bops and ballads: truly, no skips. Her Coachella set was equally mesmerizing. “Bitch, I know you’re watching,” Chappell said at one point onstage, wearing an (empty) harness and an “Eat Me” tank top; she was speaking straight to her ex, who inspired the song she launched into next: “My Kink Is Karma.” If Chappell isn’t the next big thing in music, I’ll eat my worn-backward-in-a-gay-way hat.
2.
Victoria Monét grinds with her dancers, uses her microphone to mimic a strap-on
As the writer Taylor Crumpton posted on X: “victoria did it for the girls who take strap.” And: “A lot of baby bisexuals just had their queer awakening because of this moment. Thank you victoria for your service. A mother to many.” Amen.
I don’t know if you could get much gayer than enlisting actors from TheL Word, the loved/hated Showtime drama that remains one of the biggest, if not the biggest, lesbian shows of all time, to introduce your debut Coachella set. Not only did Rapp get to fangirl with the actors who play Shane, Bette, and Tina (while straight people in the audience watched with some confusion), she did it all in front of a gigantic sculpture of two scissors, well, scissoring. Rapp also hard-launched her relationship with fellow musician Towa Bird by bringing her onstage and giving her a kiss; we’ve seen them on red carpets together before, but Coachella made it official-official. You’ve got to respect the Big Dyke Energy.
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