They’re just summertime friends!
Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, a.k.a. The Chainsmokers, have shared a very homoerotic picture to promote their brand-new single, “Summertime Friends.” In it, Pall is seen sitting in a straddling position on top of Taggart. They’re both shirtless, wearing jeans, and showing off their Calvin Klein underwear, as this is a reference to a photo from Hailey and Justin Bieber’s CK campaign.
The Chainsmokers wrote in the caption (which is meant to be unserious, of course):
“‘Summertime Friends’ comes out this week and this was supposed to be the cover art, but it came out ridiculous. We are so upset. Firing creative director immediately. Never trusting our team again.”
Straight people will likely just interpret this picture as a funny thing that Pall and Taggart did to promote a new song. Meanwhile, gay people who enjoy bearded and hairy men will probably find some homoeroticism in the photo.
It’s not a new strategy for straight male artists to use homoerotic themes and images to promote new music. Alas, there’s always plenty of plausible deniability regarding whether or not that was their original intention… so that’s that!
2023 has been a busy year for new releases from The Chainsmokers. Prior to “Summertime Friends,” the DJ duo released singles like “Make Me Feel,” “Up & Down,” “Self Destruction Mode,” “See You Again,” and “My Bad.” The duo’s last album, So Far So Good, was released in May 2022 and peaked at no. 106 on the Billboard 200 chart.
We hope they had fun!