The artist behind TikTok sensation Sailor Song, Gigi Perez, has become a recent backbone for the LGBTQ+ community. Sailor Song has amassed more than 300 million hits on Spotify.
Sailor Song grabbed the queer community, and others, quickly and unrelentingly. The track has been used in various ways over social media platforms. One of which was its use in TikTok poetry videos about queer love.
Fable, Perez’s latest release, is heading the same way – partly due to its timely lyrics. “Capital loss, love was the law, and religion was taught” continues to evoke raw emotions from the queer community, especially with Donald Trump’s recent presidential victory.
Perez’s Spotify bio reads “sims 2 emo lesbian love story but in the medium of music”. As funny as it is, this sentence does sum up her music rather well. She is currently touring with Girl in Red as a support act, another win for queer fans.
Her music stands out against other queer artists, simply because of her religious undertones and themes she incorporates.
It’s well-known that many queer religious people struggle with their identity (but it’s important to note here that not every place of worship or religious community is hateful towards LGBTQ+ people), fighting between who they love and who they worship.
Many are told that they are sinful, that they can’t love the same sex, they have their identities dismissed.
So, having an openly queer artist sing about religion and love is hard to come by. This is why so many fans have grabbed on to Perez and boosted her to quick stardom – one well deserved as her music has a unique style, a breath of life for the music industry right now.
Gigi Perez on her newfound fame
This fame rocked Perez, however, and she posted on Instagram last year explaining her feelings of being in the spotlight.
“I felt there was a target on my back, a pressure and expectation of what had to happen next for my music, following the height of Sometimes.
“I knew that I would be playing catch up for a long time.”
She goes on to talk about how she wasn’t ready to talk about grief, addiction, and the reality of the music business, explaining that this held herself back for the last few years.
“God has humbled me in ways unforeseen this year”, she continues, finishing by thanking fans for connecting with her music.
After Sometimes released in 2021, Perez took a break before releasing her EP How To Catch A Falling Knife in 2023. Now, in 2024, she is back again with hits including Sailor Song, Fable, Please Be Rude, and Normalcy.
It will be interesting to see where she goes next, but the break she took was a wise move and if she takes another with her boost in fame then hopefully fans will respect that. We have seen time and time again, lately with Chappell Roan, what ‘overnight’ fame can do to an artist.
Gigi Perez’s music can be streamed now on Spotify, for those who want to check her out!
Featured Image Credit: Gigi Perez / Instagram
Fourth year student journalist studying Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Journalism Studies.
Words at Brig, The Daily Evergreen, Alloa Advertiser, Discovery Music Scotland, and The Mourning Paper.
