Sound Check is EnVi’s curated artist catalog highlighting must-know talent across the Asian diaspora and beyond. From breakout stars to hidden gems, this series is your gateway to discovering artists who will redefine your playlists.
Bisexuals are often overlooked in discussions around anti-queer rhetoric, or deemed too straight to be gay but too gay to be straight. But being bisexual does not mean inability to pick a gender or just one partner. It’s a multifaceted experience that sometimes opens the room to explore and expand one’s sexuality. In honor of Bisexual Awareness Week, we are spotlighting bisexual icons (bicons) and pansexual musicians, from indie rock frontpersons to smoky R&B crooners.
Michelle Zauner
The name Michelle Zauner rings different bells depending on who you ask. Book club frequenters would recognize her from the bestseller Crying in H Mart, a memoir that expands upon a The New Yorker essay chronicling life after her mother died of pancreatic cancer. But before that, the Korean multi-hyphenate has long been known as the lead vocalist of Japanese Breakfast, a Grammy-nominated Philly ensemble formed in 2013.
That is how she met her husband Peter Bradley, a love story immortalized through the band’s song “Till Death.” But Bradley isn’t the only person Zauner has written about in a Japanese Breakfast song. She revealed that “Everybody Wants to Love You” is about her relationship with an unnamed woman “who has no idea [she] wrote it for her,” allowing her to share a piece of her bisexuality through her music.
Tinashe
It’s never too late to have a breakthrough year, and that couldn’t be more true about Tinashe. Like many other pop stars who found themselves being discussed in the 2020s music scene, Tinashe’s debut took place over a decade ago. But social media helped propel her back to mainstream consciousness, especially after her songs “Nasty” and “No Broke Boys” became viral hits. Even before that, her presence in the industry is still felt, even if you don’t realize it: Korean artists across pop, R&B, and hip-hop ceaselessly still draw inspiration from her releases, and she’s hopped on remixes with many of your favourite artists, from Nick Jonas to Britney Spears to Charli xcx.
Throughout her career, the first-generation Zimbabwean immigrant has been crafting headbangers across alternative R&B and dance-pop soundscapes. She’s never known to be afraid to show her freak, a flag she proudly waves alongside a bisexual one. Though none of her songs explicitly mention it, allusions to her attraction to different genders are woven through candid, personal anecdotes across her seven albums, two EPs, and four mixtapes. Her eighth record, Popstar, sets her off on a trajectory that leads to the club: whether the high-octane, neon-lit dance floor with “Melatonin” or the 2010s synth-rock-R&B debrief in the back bathroom with “I’d Rather Be Alone.”
Clairo
Not a single TikTok For You Page could escape the grip of “Sofia” in late 2019 and throughout 2020. The cushiony bedroom pop track, paying homage to namesake celebrity crushes like Sofia Coppola and Sofia Vergara, came courtesy of Clairo. The track isn’t even the first time she lets her queerness take center stage. “Bags,” which dropped a couple of months prior to “Sofia,” also garnered much love, especially after she revealed it was also written about the Grammy-nominated musician’s experience with another girl. These weren’t even her first (nor last) brushes with virality; her first breakthrough, the lo-fi GarageBand-produced single “Pretty Girl,” was actually the genesis.
The song was first intended for The Le Sigh Vol. III, a compilation of female and non-binary indie rock acts benefiting the Transgender Law Center. From there, her activism only grew alongside her music. At the Glastonbury Festival in 2022, she wore a T-shirt that read “Bans Off Our Bodies” to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade. She is also one of the performers in the lineup for London’s Artists for Aid Benefit Concert, which raised funds for Gaza and Sudan. Her latest single, “losing pride,” is even a charity track only available for purchase through her Bandcamp, with proceeds going to the climate justice organization Zero Hour.
Raveena
Fans of R&B shouldn’t be strangers to the name Raveena Aurora. Often going by her mononymous stage name, the Indian Punjabi songstress has enchanted listeners with her smoky pipes since debuting with the EP Shanti in 2017 (or even her independent, now-private YouTube debut in 2012). It’s a dreamy but bold homage to her heritage, delivered in a compact collection of four lush songs that packs a punch.
That wouldn’t be the last time Raveena’s music finds roots in her identity. In 2018, her single “Temptation” became a groovy, sumptuous way for her to come out as bisexual, musing about the woman of her dreams. She has since revealed she might be pansexual. To this day, her music still continues to reveal more and more about herself, delivered through records that blend psychedelic sounds, indie and experimental production styles, and soulful R&B sensibilities. That includes the latest release “Blissed Out,” which, contrary to its title, unpacks the aftermath of grief from losing her mother to cancer.
Lewloh
Lewis Loh, who goes by the moniker lewloh, sits at an intersection with many branches. He’s proudly bisexual (openly so since a Facebook post in 2014). He’s also a third culture kid, born and raised in Hong Kong to Singaporean parents. Despite all that, one thing he isn’t is confused: his identity may expand and evolve, but he knows who he is. And his music reflects that.
The singer-songwriter manifests itself in each track, each one a page of his diary that comes alive through minimalist production with an indie glaze. Some of them are more explicitly queer, like “summer boy.” But most of the time, lewloh doesn’t have to make the conscious distinction of his bisexuality; he just is, expressed through lyrics that regale the experiences any queer person could relate to. “Cold these days,” for example, opens with the couplet “It’s been a little bit cold these days ‘cause I don’t know what it means to be held by somebody who loves me.” Meanwhile, the latest single off his upcoming album, “Halfway Happy,” tells a story about being stuck in the in-between.
The bisexual and pansexual experiences are unique, and these artists continue to capture that through their songs. Their music reflects emotional struggles, the disorientation of finding their place among intersecting communities, and the joy of self-love. They become beacons of light for listeners of any identity to find their own kind of joy, reminding the world that bisexuality and pansexuality exists and will always persist.
Can’t find your bicon on this list? Check out this list of LGBTQ+ Asian artists you should get into!
