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Valentine’s Day is the perfect day to put on some of your favorite love songs and spend a nice, romantic night with your partner.
Thankfully, queer musicians are some of the best in the world when it comes to writing and singing about love. From classic artists like Melissa Etheridge and Joan Armatrading to more modern singers like Lil Nas X and Hayley Kiyoko, queer artists have given us some truly classic love songs over the years.
Here’s a list of fifteen of our all-time favorite, most romantic queer love songs so that you can have a perfect Valentine’s Day and beyond.
Kiyoko, also known as Lesbian Jesus to her fans, wrote the lyrics to this song about her current partner, Becca Tilley. “Knew that we’re gonna be friends in the morning/After we stayed up till six in the morning/I knew what I wanted, yeah/It was you that I wanted,” Kiyoko sings about her lover.
Lil Nas X is mostly known for his funny and raunchy songs, but “That’s What I Want” is a tender love song that we can’t help but sing along to. “I want someone to love me/I need someone who needs me/Cause it don’t feel right when it’s late at night/and it’s just me and my dreams,” he sings, and we all can relate.
Brandi Carlile is one of the greatest artists and songwriters of her generation, so it only makes sense that she’s written and recorded some of the best love songs of the last twenty years. In this gentle acoustic tune, she sings “I know I could be spending a little too much time with you, but ‘time’ and ‘too much’ don’t belong together like we do. If I had all my yesterdays, I’d give ‘em to you too.” Swoon!
This super sweet country song from 1977 was written by Brown about his band’s bassist Greg Hardin. Brown was closeted at the time, and the song was his only way to express his deep feelings at the time. “I just wanna talk to you, I know it’s crazy to be calling this time at night,” Brown sings, “I just wanna hear your voice. Oh, anything you say would make me feel alright.”
Basing their music video on the classic lesbian rom-com But I’m a Cheerleader makes this song even more romantic. From 2021-2022, this celebration of love between two girls had queer women in an absolute chokehold with lyrics like “She said I got her if I want/she’s so soft like silk chiffon.”
Frank Ocean is a king of melancholy love songs, and he proves his skills on this beautiful track. With his impossibly smooth voice, Ocean longs for his lover to think long term about their relationship. “I’ve been thinkin bout you, do you think about me still?” he asks.
Armatrading’s 1976 classic is about a young woman yearning for love, and it has some of the most beautiful lyrics of all time. “With friends, I still feel so insecure,” she sings. “Little darling, I believe you could help me a lot. Just take my hand and lead me where you will.”
Smith has said that this song was inspired by a hookup and the feeling of wishing it was more, and that longing for real love and connection is something we all want. Smith even admits that they’re “not good at a one night stand,” before singing “I don’t want you to leave before you hold my hand.”
Nonbinary singer G Flip made a powerful statement in this love song to their wife Chrishell Stause, arguing that they can be a better man for Stause than any man could be. “I know how you think, and what you like, and what your body needs,” G Flip says.
Kehlani let out her soft side in this gentle acoustic tune about all the ways the singer likes her women (“sweet, a little selfish” and “green, a little jealous”). “All the pretty girls in the world, but I'm in this space with you,” she sings. It’s the perfect soundtrack to a summer romance.
Melissa Etheridge’s passionate plea to her lover “Come To My Window” was the soundtrack for many a lesbian’s lonely night thinking about the woman they love. “I would dial the numbers just to listen to your breath,” Etheridge sings, saying that she’d do anything and everything “just to reach you.”
Sivan is another artist perhaps more known for his sexy and fun songs than his romantic ones, but his dance hit “My My My!” is actually quite the love story, in which he sings “Now, let’s stop running from love, running from love. Let’s stop, my baby/Let’s stop running from us, running from us. Let’s stop, my baby.”
This Tegan and Sara classic is such a sweet and cute love song that we can’t help but dance with joy when we hear it. Singing along to the hook of “It’s not just all physical/I’m the type who won’t get oh so critical/so let’s make things physical/I won’t treat you like you’re oh so typical/I want you close, I want you,” is an ultimate act of love.
Kesha’s absolutely beautiful tune from her album Rainbow is about a love that extends beyond time and place. “I know forever don’t exist,” Kesha sings, “But after this life I’ll find you in the next. So when I say ‘forever’ it’s the goddamn truth/I’ll keep finding, finding you.”
Bloc Party’s melancholic and tragic love story about two boys who fell in love but never made a move can inspire queer listeners everywhere to take the plunge and confess their feelings. “You should’ve asked me for it, I would have been brave” the song says. “You should have asked me for it, how I could say no? And our love could have soared over playgrounds and rooftops.”
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