Blog - Page 9 of 10 - IN THE KEY OF Q

Why You Don’t Need a ‘Gay Best Friend’

The Dreaded Phrase “Oh my god, I’ve always wanted a gay best friend!” If you’re a gay man, you’ve probably heard this phrase at least once. It usually comes with a squeal, sometimes a clap, and almost invariably a presumptuous familiarity that suggests you’ve just been selected for a role you never auditioned for. From…
The Chameleon Queer: Navigating Identity and Expression

The Chameleon Queer During my chat with SADBOY recorded a couple of years ago, he described something so familiar yet rarely articulated about queer existence: “I think it really helps you with being a chameleon, like you’re able to fit in different spaces. I can be in my gay world. I can be in the…
The Art of Emotional Translation in Queer Culture

Episode remastered, re-edited and extended for 2025! The Art of Emotional Substitution “I’ve spent my life translating heteronormative content into my own story,” I tell Matt Fishel during our conversation. What I’m actually saying is a form of labour so normalised that I’d never considered its psychological cost. For decades, queer people have performed daily…
Reconnecting with Your Inner Child

Reclaiming Our Eight-Year-Old Selves A while back I had as a guest on the show, Blake Mundell who performs under the name COURIER. As is standard part of the show’s format, when I asked what his 15-year-old self would think of his music, Blake said something unexpected: his 15-year-old self would probably be appalled, but…
Confronting Pretty Privilege in Queer Culture

The Tyranny of Pretty Privilege In an upcoming episode (dropping Tuesday 27 May) musician TIN returns to the show. In our chat whilst talking about the racism he faces in Queer culture, he said in “Top Trumps” sex-grading that “an Asian ten will be seen on par as a white six.” The brutal simplicity of…
The Impact of First Kisses on Queer Identity

That First Kiss: The Power of Queer Epiphanies There’s a moment that Ty McKinnie described in our conversation when everything suddenly made sense for him. His first kiss with a boy in the school bathroom – scheduled, awkward, and utterly transformative. “I kiss him and I’m like, ‘Oh, shit, I get it now. I get…
The Healing Power of Music Creation

Finding Sanctuary in Creation When Brendan Maclean told me that sitting at a piano in an empty room puts him “in a good place,” it struck a chord (pun intended). “If I’m at a piano with an empty room, I’m in a good place. Because you can just let those chords ring out and that’s…
Madonna and the Complexities of Allyship

Episode remastered, re-edited and extended for 2025! The Unexpected Sanctuary When Matt Fishel describes watching the Madonna documentary “In Bed with Madonna” (aka “Truth or Dare”) obsessively from age nine, gravitating towards the gay scenes without understanding why, I remember my similar reaction watching in the twilight years of sixth form. Being in a position…
Overcoming Self-Surveillance

The Weight of Watching Every Breath There’s something devastating about having to monitor yourself constantly. When Wuhryn told me about his experience growing up queer in Atlanta, we talked about how exhausting it can be trying to “straight-check” one’s own behaviour. This constant self-surveillance is something many of us in the queer community know intimately.…
Breaking Industry Barriers

The Box They Try to Put Us In It starts with a small chair in a large room. A middle-aged man sitting opposite, nodding along to your songs while mentally calculating potential profits. Then comes the inevitable line: “You’ve got to cut the gay content. Nobody wants to hear it.” This wasn’t just Matt Fishel’s…