By Kat King and Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 6/6/21 – Billed as the first in-person Pride celebration since the start of the COVID pandemic, OUTLOUD promised to serve up up a smashing good time with its diverse slate of headliners, including Daya, LP Giobbi, Shea Diamond, Tygapaw, Ryan Cassata, Foreign Skrilla, Jake Wesley Rogers and Sofi Tukker. On Saturday, Hayley Kiyoko headlined and Sunday it was Adam Lambert kicking off the celebration in true Pride fashion. With DJ Hannah spinning in between sets and Twitch going strong, the party lit up as the sun went down and Sofi Tukker finally took the stage to perform some of her most popular hits to a hoard of teeming Freak Fam fans.
The highlight of the occasion was definitely Shea Diamond, who arrived to the red carpet with a huge smile and donned a trans flag skirt that was simply everything. Her performance included “I Am Her”. “American Pie” and “Presence of a Legend”, all of which serve as stark reminders of the persecution black trans folk still face in today’s society and what it means to overcome such hatred. There was a great discussion with Shea about her music and the struggle to be seen as an equal, to still continue to smile through adversity. Shea’s bold sense of confidence and self-love was truly electrifying to behold.
We had the honor of interviewing several of the artists, including Daya and Madeline the Person, who both shared with us their desire to celebrate and contribute their verse to the Pride community through their music and presence. As it turns out, we learned that Daya actually came out in 2018, which made the event feel so much more authentic in its representation of the entire LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Daya performed her iconic Chainsmokers hit “Don’t Let Me Down” and after absolutely killing it on stage, announced that this was her first real live performance, which no one could believe because she sounded like a seasoned vet. Madeline sang “Haunted”, an emotional track about having a crush on a girl when she was in the 6th grade. She also performed a song she wrote after her father passed away and shared the story of how she broke through in the industry. As most will recall, Madeline blew up TikTok during the pandemic with her amazing renditions of some of music’s most iconic tunes. Some have compared her to Regina Spektor, and it’s a fair comparison. When asked who her favorite LGBTQIA+ artists are, Madeline says for her it’s David Bowie and Freddie Mercury for sure.
