GLAAD has announced the nominees for the 2023 GLAAD Media Awards. Set to take place on March 30 at Los Angeles’ Beverly Hilton as well as May 13 at New York City’s Hilton Midtown, the annual awards presentation aims to shine a spotlight on the creatives who helped push the LGBTQ community forward throughout 2022.
In the awards show’s main music category for outstanding music artist, 10 queer artists received recognition for their 2022 albums, including Demi Lovato, Kim Petras, Anitta, Fletcher, Hayley Kiyoko, MUNA, Betty Who, Honey Dijon, Orville Peck, and Rina Sawayama.
Additionally, in the category for outstanding breakthrough music artist, nominees include Steve Lacy, Dove Cameron, Omar Apollo, Doechii, Reneé Rapp, Brooke Eden, Dreamer Isioma, Ethel Cain, Isaac Dunbar, and Jordy.
In a statement released alongside the nominations, GLAAD’s CEO and president Sarah Kate Ellis condemned the continued attacks against the community, noting the continued importance of LGBTQ stories being told. “With violence, harmful legislation, false rhetoric and other attacks on the LGBTQ community continuing to escalate, it’s more crucial than ever that our community remains visible and included in the stories that the world sees,” she wrote. “This year we have more nominees than ever before to represent immensely impactful projects that entertain, educate, and grow acceptance of LGBTQ people.”
Last month, GLAAD nominee Kim Petras shared an acoustic version of her latest single “If Jesus Was A Rockstar.” The original version of the song arrived in November.
“I need someone who can teach me to get on my knees/But if he looked like Kurt Cobain, I might,” the pop star explains in the song. “If he drank the pain away, I might/And if you think I can be saved, that’s right.”
The track, which follows “Unholy,” Petras’ recent team-up with Sam Smith, details the musician’s own relationship with religion and spirituality. “For me, religion and spirituality is such an intense topic because I grew up trans, not fitting into any religion,” she told Billboard recently.
