Adam Lambert’s covergirl moment, the return of Slay Couleé & more: Your weekly bop roundup

Did somebody call for a weekend?

It’s been a highly unpredictable week! Maluma showed more skin than we could’ve asked for, a Virginia mayor was taken to task for calling Pete Buttigieg “Pete Buttplug“, and, most notably of all, Angela Bassett Did The Thing. Just a Mad Libs-style week.

You know what’s always predictable? Gay people putting out fun and interesting music. Adam Lambert made his big reintroduction with a new album (and our latest cover story!) while Queerties nominees Shea Couleé and Tomás Matos came out with some heat.

From a wild, stylin’ beauty to a Fire Island cutie, here’s your weekly bop roundup!

“Getting Older” by Adam Lambert

Adam Lambert has returned to his American Idol roots with an enthralling new cover album featuring his version of hits like “Chandelier” and “Holding Out For a Hero”. His cover and video Billie Eilish’s “Getting Older” are especially interesting, with these two figures bridging their millennial/gen Z divide with nothing but pop-grunge and a fear of the future.

“NEW PHONE WHO DIS?” by Shea Couleé

Category is, indeed, Slay Couleé. While we’ve already become well-familiar with her All Stars-debuted single “Your Name” and its sister track “Let Go”, her new album 8 brings with it a whole new series of sounds from the queen. “NEW PHONE WHO DIS?” is one of the most ballroom-influenced tracks she’s produced to date, and that’s a beat she’s always more than welcome to ride.

“Die 4 Me” by Halsey

Halsey has done a kindness to any of her fans not super keyed into Post Malone’s specific brand of percocet-bark vocals and dropped a solo version of their 2019 collaboration. Hopefully she drops a few more solo retcon tracks before it’s all said and done; she deserves to at least have G-Eazy out of her discography for good.

“Level Up” by Tomás Matos

Our favorite Fire Island breakout is here with a mixtape that is, as they say in their lead single, “Honestly, C*nt”. They’ve got boastful bars and some very ambitious samples, but theis energy is totally infectious.

“on the way down” by Wrabel

Managing to still channel supreme sad-boy spirit in peaceful, sweet, healing songs is a very specific ability and the mark of a singer-songwriter not afraid to embody his emotion. Wrabel’s upcoming EP draws ever closer, and we’re ready to vibe.

“kiss my friends” by Bentley Robles

“Salvatore” singer Bentley Robles is back with a kiss-enthused single that puts the platonic, the romantic, the polyamorous and the über-casual all in a blender and chugs it. Sometimes you want to forget about the popular social rules of gender and dating and blah blah blah and just make out with your besties.

“Wake Up” by Oubbay

This smooth, cool-toned, bi lighting-drenched exploration of lovelorn R&B is a promising track from up-and-comer Oubbay. The repeated “You can be right by yourself” is a “boy, bye” mantra anyone can instantly add to their vocabulary.

Join us here next week for another bop after bop!