Latest news with #Loud
Buzz Feed
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Iconic LGBTQ+ Pop Culture That Shaped A Generation
Let's be real—most of us didn't learn about queerness from school. We learnt it from pop stars in glitter, movies that snuck in a gay subplot, and YouTube interviews that made people feel seen. Here's a list of the moments that actually taught the world what it means to be queer, confident, and unapologetic. 1. When Schitt's Creek gave us a queer relationship without any trauma plotline David and Patrick's love story healed something in us. It was soft, cheesy, and finally happy. No tragic ending, no secret affairs, just two men falling in love over homemade knishes and awkward serenades. And let's not forget the wine scene—where David explained his sexuality using wine labels, not labels-labels. Subtle. Brilliant. Unforgettable. 2. When Rihanna said 'who's going to stop me?' in that Loud album era, and we believed her Every queer person has a Rihanna lyric that got them through a bad day. Rude Boy. S&M. Diamonds. It wasn't just music. It was survival. She taught people confidence before they even knew they needed it. 3. When Lady Gaga said 'born this way' and we played it on loop in our Nokia XpressMusic The LGBTQ+ anthem that wasn't just a bop, it was a cultural reset. Gaga gave us church, glitter, and identity. Schools didn't give us any of that. 4. Sushant Divgikar taking over Indian reality TV (and our hearts) Whether it was Bigg Boss or Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Sushant—and later, Rani KoHEnur—gave India one of its first openly queer entertainers in the mainstream. They didn't just bring vocals, they brought visibility, sass, and sequins. I didn't even know genderfluidity could be that powerful until Rani walked in heels and sang in three octaves. 5. Fashion reality TV teaching us about 'chosen family' before we knew what that meant Project Runway. ANTM. RuPaul's Drag Race. They gave us fashion, drama, and a peek into queer friendships that looked nothing like the friend circles from school. No one taught me confidence like Miss Tyra yelling, "WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU." 6. That Gauri Khan-produced scene in Kal Ho Naa Ho that was queerer than expected When Kanta Ben kept fainting at the idea of Shah Rukh and Saif's 'relationship,' desi queers everywhere were like 'wait… this is kinda validating?' Sure it was played for laughs, but this was the first time many of us even saw queerness referenced at all in a Bollywood blockbuster. 7. Karan Johar's autobiography admitting what Bollywood wouldn't While he never named it outright, An Unsuitable Boy was the first time a big Bollywood director pulled back the curtain on his private life, in his own words. Karan talked about being bullied in school, growing up feeling 'different,' and how people constantly speculated about his sexuality. He stopped short of using labels, but the subtext was clear. He also called out how homophobia runs deep in the industry and how Bollywood isn't a safe space for queer folks. Queer coding? No babe, this was queer decoding. 8. The Dostana closet scene that caused gay panic among us for the first time When John and Abhishek pretended to be a couple, we laughed. But that closet scene? That was the gay panic we hadn't even processed yet. 9. When Troye Sivan dropped Bloom and the queer internet exploded He was soft. He was openly gay. He was singing about it. And suddenly, Tumblr was full of flower gifs and metaphors. 10. Ayushmann Khurrana playing a gay man in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan Say what you will about it being commercial, but for many families, this was the first time they even acknowledged the idea of gay love, without changing the channel. It wasn't perfect, but it opened living room conversations. 11. When Sex Education gave us queer teens with real emotions, not just tragedy tropes From Eric strutting in bold prints to Cal navigating identity on their own terms, Sex Education gave us queer characters who felt real, not written in just for drama. But it was Adam's arc that really stood out: a bully figuring himself out, fumbling through feelings, and learning to choose honesty over shame. It wasn't perfect. And that's exactly why it worked. Finally, queer teens with feelings, not just plot devices. 12. Four More Shots Please! and Umang's coming out scene Say what you will about the show's dialogue, but when Umang came out to her conservative Punjabi family, it struck a nerve, because that living room tension felt way too real. Desi bisexual panic? Finally televised. 13. The time Manvendra Singh Gohil came out as gay royalty on Oprah India's first openly gay prince spoke his truth on Oprah. The level of global impact? Unmatched. The message? Queerness exists everywhere—even in palaces. 14. Kalki Koechlin in Margarita with a Straw—queer, disabled, brown and real A bisexual woman with cerebral palsy figuring out her identity? This film dared to exist outside the binary, and for once, gave a story that felt new, nuanced, and needed. This movie taught us that queerness doesn't look one way, and that's the point. 15. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga saying the word 'lesbian' out loud in a Bollywood movie It didn't go viral, but it mattered. Sonam Kapoor played a quiet, closeted queer character with actual dignity, and that's a rarity. Sometimes soft, awkward representation is still representation. 16. Kapoor & Sons gave us a gay character who wasn't the punchline Fawad Khan playing a closeted gay man in a mainstream Bollywood family drama? That was bold. No rainbow flags, no grand speeches, just quiet heartbreak, buried identity, and the weight of trying to 'keep it together.' 17. Aligarh made us sit with the silence Based on the real-life story of Professor Siras, Aligarh wasn't loud or flashy; it was quiet, heartbreaking, and brutally honest. Manoj Bajpayee's performance showed us what it meant to be outed, shamed, and erased, just for existing. 18. When Made in Heaven gave us Karan's storyline and didn't hold back Arjun Mathur's character being unapologetically gay in an Indian OTT show? Huge. The second season going deeper into queer pain, protest, and healing? Even bigger. It wasn't just a subplot—it was a full, raw, queer arc. Still waiting on a school syllabus that mentions Section 377, drag history, or chosen families? Same. Until then, we'll be right here, replaying our queer pop culture curriculum and rewriting the rules.
Miami Herald
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Powerhouse singer-songwriters Pascuala Ilabaca, La Muchacha, pair traditions with modern sensibilities
Singer-songwriters Pascuala Ilabaca, from Chile, and La Muchacha (aka Isabel Ramírez Ocampo), from Colombia, bring to the stage traditional styles and rhythms updated with elements drawn from a broad range of sources, from rap and rhythm and blues to music from India. Their lyrics, at times poetic, at times blunt like hammers, celebrate love, community, and women's history but also touch on issues such as police brutality, immigration, and sexual harassment. Both join a long tradition of women storytellers in Latin America that includes forebears such as Violeta Parra, Mercedes Sosa, Susana Baca and the great cantadoras of Colombia, voices such as Totó La Momposina, Petrona Martínez, ad Etelvina Maldonado, all keepers of the people's memory. Ilabaca and La Muchacha headline a double bill as part of FUNDarte Out (Loud) in the Tropics annual event at the Miami Beach Bandshell Saturday. The show is a co-presentation of FUNDarte, the Rhythm Foundation, and Live Arts with the Miami Dade County Auditorium Away from home series. 'I like the music I make to enter through the body,' says Ilabaca, in a recent conversation from her home in Valparaiso, Chile. 'This music comes with a journey, it's the sound of the carnivals of the Andes, so it cannot be without sweat. That's also why the EP that I bring on this tour is called 'Poética Bailable (Danceable Poetics).' The idea is to find the irresistible rhythms we have in Latin America, such as bullerengue, cumbia, or timba, and then put philosophy and poetry into it. Sweaty poetry enters better,' she says, breaking into a laugh. Ilabaca was born in Girona, Spain, where her family had taken refuge from Pinochet's dictatorship. On their return to Chile, her father, a visual artist, won a scholarship, and his art project involved touring all the traditional festivals in Chile in a car. 'That was my entrance to Chile,' recalls Ilabaca. 'It was dazzling because . . .I discovered Chile.' From then on, she says, she has always contrasted that country 'with the story of Chile … pretending to be the England of Latin America.' That said, Ilabaca's passion for Chilean culture and her roots is accompanied by a curiosity and openness to other cultures borne of her personal experience. 'Having this nomadic upbringing, having a craftswoman mother and an artist father, I lived in India when I was a child, and then also in Guatemala, in Mexico. The experience of growing up in a constantly changing reality and context, spending the night in the house of an Indian family or a Roma family in the desert of Rajasthan, transformed my worldview. There was no turning back. I want to contribute something so we can open up our perspectives. That's what excites me, communicating with the world.' She returned several times to India to study. She has incorporated Hindi singing and concepts from Indian traditional music into her work. In keeping with her many interests, she has also written for a string quartet (for her album 'Amatoria'), collaborated with (among others) the Fela Kuti-inspired Chilean group Newen Afrobeat, and is currently working on a Big Band project. At the Miami Beach Bandshell, Ilabaca will be performing on vocals, piano, and accordion, accompanied by a sextet version of her band, Fauna, featuring congas, brass, guitar, bass, and drums. Meanwhile, Ramírez, La Muchacha, has seen several of her songs become anthems in Colombia, including titles such as 'No me toques mal (Don't Touch Me Wrong)', a feminist anthem that since has been embraced by children's advocates, or 'No Azara' (which translates roughly as 'No Fear'), and 'El Blues De Los Tombos, (Cops' Blues)' denouncing police brutality. Her earlier work, unvarnished, passionate, and direct, delivers blunt messages. She titled two of her albums 'Raw Songs': 'Canciones Crudas '(2020) and 'Más Canciones Crudas' ( 2021). 'It has been crazy to see how these songs accompany people, make visible, and amplify things. But it is painful, to be honest,' she says in an interview from Colombia. But then, sometimes, the audience and the context reframe the hard messages and give songs a new life, she says. ''No Me Toques Mal' has become a song people dance to, and I enjoy singing it because it now has a different fire, which comes not only from the wound but from us saying, 'I am here, and I'm saying 'No Más.' (No More).' ' Many of her songs touch a nerve, and while necessary, sometimes it can get too painful. 'I've had people telling me, 'Right now I can't listen to your music because I'm in so much pain. I can't stand it,' ' she says. 'We have to be very careful not to fall into a vicious circle of pain as we stick our finger into the wound. I feel it is also important to talk about hope about things that are weighing us down.' 'La Muchacha' is a term often used in Latin America when referring to domestic help. She says she was not making a statement when she chose the name of her alter ego. In fact, originally, it was going to be Muchacha Pájaro (Bird girl). 'It was later, when I checked the etymology, that I realized how strong (the choice) was. Then I saw the reflection between the girl who washes the dishes and the one who breaks them. I was not the girl who followed orders, but the girl who spoke up, who says what needs to be said — even if she liked doing the dishes too.' Accompanied by El Propio Junte, a trio featuring Miguel Velásquez Matijasevic on bass and Camilo Bartelsman on drums, and percussion, Ramírez will be playing some of her best-known material but also presenting music from her most recent release 'Los Ombligos, (The Navels)', in which she brings together a social long view and personal stories. 'I have songs that mobilize spaces of anger, of pain. I've had people telling me, 'Right now I can't listen to your music because I'm in so much pain. I can't stand it.' ' She earnestly says that she 'needs to make 'ointment songs,´ 'mattress songs,' and 'little cloud songs.' They don't have to be all in pink and romantic, but we need to realize that we can talk about other things.' Ilabaca and Ramírez are marquee names in a generation of women singers and songwriters in Latin America leading the way with their new folk fusion and their messages. But if we are surprised, we probably haven't been paying attention, suggests Ramírez. 'We have always been here. What has happened is that we have had so many centuries of being invisible, of repression, . . . biases that, obviously, there is a historical gap in which many of these things never came to light,' she says. 'But women have always been doing things. Always.' If you go: WHAT: Out (Loud) in the Tropics 2025 WHERE: Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday TICKETS: $40.69 includes fee, Miami Beach Residents $35.36. $236.90 club level reserved, which includes up to 6 tickets. At Dice INFORMATION: 786-453-2897 or is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don't miss a story at
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Yahoo
Red Lake man with multiple felonies charged with illegal possession of firearm
Mar. 31—RED LAKE — A Red Lake man with multiple prior felonies has been indicted for illegally possessing a firearm after he was found in possession of a shotgun. According to court documents, on Sept. 12, 2024, 42-year-old Darrell Emery Loud was found in possession of a Remington Model 870 Express 20-gauge shotgun. Because Loud has multiple prior felony convictions in Beltrami County for DWI, domestic assault and fleeing from a peace officer, he is prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition at any time. The indictment charges Loud with one count of illegal possession of a firearm as a felon. His arraignment hearing is scheduled for April 2, 2025, in U.S. District Court, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice. "The safety and security of Red Lake Nation is of the upmost importance to my office," Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick said in the release. "We deeply value our partnership with the Red Lake Police Department. Together, along with our federal partners, we will continue to hold accountable those who would bring violence to (Red Lake Nation)." This case is the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Red Lake Police Department. "An indictment is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law," the release noted.
Korea Herald
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
TNX returns with 'For Real?'
TNX returns as self-producing team TNX returned with its 4th mini album 'For Real?,' marking its first release in a year after the digital single 'Fuego.' TNX, a five-member boy group that debuted in May 2022, was formed through the SBS audition program 'Loud.' Originally a sextet, the group reorganized as a quintet after Kyungjun left in October 2024. The title track, 'For Real?,' features an intense sound highlighted by refreshing drum and guitar elements. The energetic song blends hip-hop, hyperpop and rock, capturing the excitement and confusion of encountering love for the first time. This youthful theme is complemented by the choreography. The album includes five tracks, such as 'Perfect Danger' and 'What If,' showcasing TNX's charms. ''For real?' is a phrase people use all the time in daily life. The title itself is something many can relate to, and the lyrics straightforwardly express the honest emotions of being overwhelmed with feelings for someone. The choreography, which aligns with the lyrics, is also a key point,' said Junhyeok. Leader Taehun highlighted that this album is special because it is self-produced. 'All of us were involved from the very beginning. Since we spent a long time preparing for it, we tried to convey our emotions deeply. That makes it all the more meaningful.' Hwi, who took charge of writing the title track's lyrics and the overall production of the album, expressed pride in the group's first self-produced work. 'Since this is our first self-produced album, our agency's founder, Psy, paid a lot of attention to it. After countless revisions, I eventually sent him a long message asking him to trust me. When he replied that he did, it gave me so much strength,' said Hwi. The members shared that the past year was a crucial turning point for them. 'Since we are making a comeback after a long hiatus, our goal is to repay our fans for waiting with great music and performances. We also want to show the public that we are a group with many different charms by taking on a new concept,' said Sungjun. 'Before, we mostly followed our company's direction and production. But during this break, we reflected on what kind of K-pop idols we truly wanted to be. Our founder supported our desire to become a team that produces and creates our own music,' said Hwi. 'With this album as a starting point, I believe TNX will become a group that truly fits the title of 'artists,'' Hwi added. The members had to adapt to changes after the group's reorganization but stayed positive during the process. 'Switching to a five-member lineup meant adjusting our stage formations and other aspects. But since it was a decision made with respect for each person's life and choices, we weren't too shaken emotionally. Right now, we are full of confidence,' said Taehun. Junhyeok expressed his love for fans and reaffirmed the group's commitment. 'With this album, our biggest goal is to show the fans who have been waiting for us that we have grown.'
