Sound Check: 7 LGBTQ+ Asian Artists to Put on Your Heavy Rotation
Sound Check is EnViโs curated artist catalog highlighting must-know talent across the Asian diaspora. From breakout stars to hidden gems, this series is your gateway to discovering artists who will redefine your playlists.
Pride Month is about celebrating self-discovery, building community, and commemorating queer pioneers who left the world before us. This year, despite heightened sociopolitical attacks against LGBTQ+ people in many parts of the world, isnโt any different. Music is often used to not only unite queer people together, but also to help them express themselves and advocate for their dignity. From ballads that make you look within to club music that takes you to cloud nine, check out these seven LGBTQ+ artists from the Asian diaspora.
Mad Tsai
Mad Tsai has never been concerned about which of his identities needs to take center stage โ they all share the same spotlight, whether itโs his Peruvian Taiwanese heritage or bisexuality. This intersectionality has been a big part of his artistry, even since his early days as a bedroom singer crafting viral TikToks during the COVID-19 lockdown.
His boy-next-door charm certainly helps lure people in, but itโs just a veneer. The Californian singer-songwriter isnโt scared to bare his soul through his music, from coming out to his mom through the breakthrough single โBoy Biโ to eviscerating online hate with โSTRAYS.โ The latter is a pivotal mark in his evolution. Gone is the abundance of pop culture references, cheeky (and queer) twists on 2000s classics, and an aesthetic built on the American high school experience. Now, Mad Tsai is all grown up: more self-assured and uniquely individual, refusing to let his light be dimmed by being restrained to any single box. This change is reflected in his music; โDIET,โ his latest single, might just be his best to date, continuing this streak of a darker, grittier, more alternative take on his bedroom pop style.
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Rina Sawayama
Before the โ00s nostalgia hit the music scene worldwide, Rina Sawayama was already ahead of almost everyone else. As the only daughter of a Japanese immigrant living in London during the turn of the millennium, she didnโt need to look far for inspiration. Whether critiquing digital dependency in RINA, navigating her life as a pansexual Japanese British woman in SAWAYAMA, or breaking free from trauma and self-loathing in Hold The Girl, Sawayama excels at distilling her life experiences into songs influenced by the popular genres of the decade. To top it off, she has an equally tender and powerful voice to boot. Itโs no surprise that sheโs earned multiple nominations for her artistry, including BRIT Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, NME Awards, and GLAAD Media Awards.
While RS3 is still in the works for the foreseeable future, Sawayama remains booked and busy. In 2023, she made her silver screen debut in the action-thriller John Wick series as Akira. She also cofounded GODMODE, a beauty brand inspired by otherworldly worlds of video games, with actress Chloรซ Grace Moretz. As an outspoken advocate of human rights, Sawayama continues to use her platform to uplift others and encourage them to unlock their full potential.
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Denise Julia
Although Denise Julia may be a flashier persona compared to her creator, Julia Denise Lee, much of her identity is deeply rooted in truth. Her lyrics, packaged into glossy and easy-listening tracks, have never concealed her experiences dating both men and women as a pansexual person. Most she penned herself, which makes each release feel like a parcel of journal entries dropped on listenersโ doorsteps. She has also worked with queer collaborators, including award-winning director Samantha Lee for her โSugar nโ Spiceโ music video as well as Omani OPM musician Jason Dhakal in โbum 2 me.โ
From the moment she debuted, itโs clear that Denise Julia brings a different attitude to the Filipino music landscape. Amid the pastel-colored pop girl groups and spunky hip-hop boybands, the Manila-born artist built her style from the R&B sensibilities of Aaliyah, Tamia, and SZA. She is no stranger to razor-sharp audacity with songs like โbetter than he doesโ and โ2GOOD4U,โ asserting her dominance and self-worth in a relationship in flirtatious and sensuous ways. But itโs the songs like โ(boy itโs just) attractionโ and โCHANGESโ where she lets her guard down and shows a different side of herself โ one thatโs more tender and introspective.
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XG
From their outset, XG have been a nonconformist amid the growing girl group scene โ and not just from their Japanese-Korean bilateral base or a sonic identity that fuses conventional musical styles with a psychedelic edge. Though the group began as Xtraordinary Girls, they became Xtraordinary Genes shortly after member COCONA came out as non-binary and transmasc. In many ways, XG have transcended what they set out to be, becoming a global powerhouse group that abandons any semblance of trying to fit in by being their own weird, kooky, spunky selves, much like the concept of queer joy itself.
Theyโre currently touring their debut full-length album, THE CORE – ๆ ธ, which contains heavy-hitting dance anthems like โHYPNOTIZEโ and โGALA.โ These tracks continue the groupโs upbeat blasts ร la predecessors like โSOMETHING AINโT RIGHTโ and โIS THIS LOVE.โ But a different side reveals itself through โ4 SEASONS.โ Gone is the maximalist production and space aesthetics theyโre known for, replaced with a stripped-back ballad and heartfelt lyrics that bare their raw emotions.
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Montaigne
Just like their namesake, Australian indie singer-songwriter Montaigne creates and lives by a (musical) philosophy: one that is sincere and intricate, with a tinge of whimsy. Most people might be familiar with their song โBecause I Love You,โ which was featured in the Netflix series Heartstopper, but their journey began more than a decade ago. Their 2016 debut album, Glorious Heights, proved their songwriting prowess and earned them an ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist. Not long after the release of their second album, they were selected to represent Australia at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest with the song โTechnicolour,โ but later failed to qualify for the grand final.
While their Eurovision journey was cut short, Montaigneโs career trajectory only went up from there. The release of the electronic album making it!in 2022saw them growing more confident in their artistry. It featured electrifying and witty tracks like โjc ultraโ as well as introspective ones like โgravity,โ featuring Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. In 2023, they participated in composing the soundtrack of the video game Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical, which received a 2024 GRAMMY nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media. And with 2025โs itโs hard to be a fishโ their first album after going indie โ Montaigne dives deep into their past wounds from familial abuse (as heard in โtalking shitโ and โgetting olderโ) and hollow commercial success (โitโs all about the moneyโ), choosing themself despite everything.
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Kai Mata
Sometimes, a voice in the music industry doesnโt always mean intricate runs or big powerhouse belts. In the case of Kai Mata, itโs an avid and loud fight against oppression, coupling arts with resistance and a fighting spirit. Despite growing propaganda and scapegoating against the LGBTQ+ community in her home country of Indonesia, Kai remains a stalwart soldier for queer people, even with hate speech from locals filling her comment section.
With a sonic repertoire thatโs as diverse as her intersecting identities, Kai has brought her music further afield than her current home in Bali. She has graced stages in Thailand, Brazil, New York, and Norway (among others), while her award-winning activism has brought her to the classrooms of schools like University of California, Riverside and the Global Campus of Human Rights.
An eclectic showing makes her discography a Forrest Gump-style box of chocolates โ you never know what youโll get. โBangga Beginiโ (Proud This Way) gives you a glimpse of Indonesiaโs national genre, dangdut and koplo, while โPray Awayโ is more palatable globally with an Olivia Rodrigo-esque new wave sound. One thing remains constant, though: her music will always, always center her experiences as a proud trans lesbian woman who brazenly wears pride on her sleeves, no matter what may come her way.
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underscores
If there was a list of frontrunners in the hyperpop field, underscores would certainly be among them. The singer-producer gained footing during her then-faceless Soundcloud era, which led to the launch of her debut studio album, fishmonger. But โhyperpopโ would be insufficient to describe the eclecticism of her works. After being signed to Mom+Pop Music, she released Wallsocket in 2023, a concept album that fuses sounds of electronic, pop, and rock with lyrics focusing on the titular fictional town and its inhabitants. She also spent a few years running an anonymous YouTube channel analyzing K-pop music.
Backed by the growing public recognition of her artistry, underscores takes her songwriting to the next level with her third studio album, U, released in March 2026. While the album is crafted for an atmospheric mall-shopping experience, its production is far from commercial slop. Take โTell Me (U Want It),โ whose pulsating arpeggios evolve into a distorted electronic mess as she drowns in desperation and longing. Itโs quickly followed by โMusic,โ a track with drill-inspired beats that recounts a love story for not just an individual, but also for creating the so-called โperfect song.โ On the other end of the continuum, thereโs โDo It,โ a danceable track that calls back to the pop girls of the โ00s, and โBodyfeeling,โ a pop-rock track that centers on codependency. All nine tracks of the album demonstrate underscoresโ capability of crafting a soundscape thatโs both an homage to the genres she loves and inventive.
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Amid an increase in societal marginalization, systemic oppression, identity scapegoating, and violence waged against queer people in many Asian countries, these artists stand as beacons of light and hope. Whether itโs a sad song that encapsulates your inner feelings or celebratory explosions to dance along to, these artists continue to prove why representation is important, bringing joy, solace, discovery, and power to voices often erased.
Looking to get to know more about these queer artists? Get up close and personal with Mad Tsai through our exclusive interview with him and discover more Asian talents who deserve to be on your radar, from talented women to groundbreaking girl groups!
