In an Instagram post and on her story, Angel Olsen put it quite simply: “I’m gay” and me and my homegirls are quite pleased. Her story shared a picture of herself red-nosed and beaming at the camera, which I can only assume her beau was behind. I was informed by a gay friend’s story and immediately went to the source to see if it could possibly be true, and reader, it was. Angel Olsen is gay. She also shared some very cute pictures of her cute partner and again, me and my girls? Overjoyed. My favorite picture of the bunch (besides the picture of Angel smiling like a woman in love) is a picture of her partner bundled up in a yellow and burgundy scarf, strolling across the street in a tan overcoat. The scarf is just swallowing this person’s whole head and it made me giggle when I saw it.
I’ve been listening to Angel Olsen since around 2015 when I first heard “Unfucktheworld” off of Burn Your Fire For No Witness. I thought, “damn, this voice.” Even in that song where she sits at a lower register and the vocal performance is relatively calm, you can tell she can sing sing, not just sing. The song I fucked with the most off that album was “White Fire”; it made its way onto my many “I’m Sad” playlists for the opening lyrics: “everything is tragic / it all just falls apart” and the creeping, haunting tenor of the instruments in it. It’s safe to say I’m a fan and I’m very happy about this news that Angel Olsen is gay.
When a singer like Angel Olsen comes out, it feels more personal for me than other celebrities, especially if I really like their music. The singers I know that are out as gay are few and far between, though the number has been steadily growing for years. I’m not ashamed to say I just like listening to gay people’s music more than straight people. In some cases, I don’t have to switch up the pronouns, the lyrics resonate more, and, I’ll say it, gay people are just more talented. When I saw the Instagram story that confirmed what my friend had posted, I immediately cranked up my favorite Angel Olsen song, “Sister” from her album My Woman. It felt good, people coming out and stepping into their selves feels good. In a week of truly horrible news for Black, Brown, and trans people, I was just dying for some good news. Though I don’t know her and am only a fan, I’m really very happy for Angel. It’s truly a blessing to be in love in a world this ugly.
So dykes, I’m here to give you permission to send “Shut Up Kiss Me” to your crush and hope they are a fan of blunt communication. My Premiere Emotional Crisis playlist just got gayer.
I actually thought Angel Olsen had already confirmed this before, but maybe it’s just that “Shut Up Kiss Me” always gave off extremely gay energy to me. Anyway, very happy for both of them! And us.
I am fully into everyone living their own lives and loving whoever but also I am DEEPLY VALIDATED BY THIS, I KNEW IT IN MY SOUL THE SECOND I HEARD SOME THINGS COSMIC and also I am just v happy that she has a human who’s bringing her joy
I’d never been really into Angel Olsen despite her music being up my typical alley, but I recently got into Shut Up Kiss Me like 5 years late cause they played it on Dickinson, so this is welcome news! I can now fully embrace her music as Gay Media, not just Gay Media-adjacent!
lmaooo I defo sent shut up and kiss me to someone that I had a crush on a few years ago and they totally kissed the shit out of me after. I’m so so incredibly happy for her. Even more excited for her projects to come. Her bassist, Emily Elhaj, and Heather McEntire who has toured with her as her back up vocalist are queer as well :)
THIS FEELS SO RIGHT
I’m so confused why people are acting like she’s only just coming out now when she eg literally posted a picture of her partner on Valentine’s Day ??? and just generally from her Instagram posts has been very clearly in a relationship with them for months??? Is it just that she has explicitly said the words “I’m gay” now???
haha yeah, the Valentine’s Day post solidified it for me. Angel has been sprinkling things on the internet for a while now but we still love to see it. regardless, the posts were so cute and I’m happy for them.
Great news. “Sister” always felt like a gay song to me.
Yaay, this is very exciting!!
Congrats to her, and to us the queer community, and to me for finally contextualizing/validating my decision to listen to “shut up kiss me” multiple times a day
honestly you truly love to hear it every time
I knew it! I remember getting the queerest energy from her at a show and then reading an interview where she said she wasn’t queer and it was so confusing.
Some (including me) don’t id with the queer label. I feel more comfortable with gay/lesbian. Maybe that’s how she feels.