Proudly bisexual, Lucy LaForge’s new Lucy & La Mer single “Blue Dress,” premiering exclusively below, is her “Americana tribute” to the “lightbulb crush” that made her aware of her sexuality.
“I wrote the song right after a first date — last year, actually — just reflecting on that initial lightbulb experience about being curious and attracted to another gender than you thought you were,” LaForge tells Billboard. “I wanted it to be something that was positive and energetic, not so serious or tortured or anything like that.” LaForge does, however, trace her pan-gender interest back to her youth in Winchester, Calif., a small, conservative rural town.
“It was actually a drummer in the church band when I was in middle school,” LaForge recalls, “And she was just the coolest person I’d ever seen. I don’t even know her name, but I remember her as this wonderful, magical drummer person. My family didn’t even go to church, but I was going back every Sunday. I didn’t recognize it until after I came out years later.”
Besides spreading a message of tolerance, acceptance and support, LaForge also hopes “Blue Dress” will lighten the tone of some of the discussion around sexuality. “The emotions around it can be so shameful and guilty, especially in the binary way of thinking,” she explains. “A lot of straight individuals feel like it’s not OK to be a little curious. Even in the gay community it’s like you have to choose a side, choose an identity and stick to it. The song celebrates being in the moment when that person crosses the room and right now they are everything. It’s celebrating that feeling, almost in a wholesome way. It’s not oversexualized or anything.”
LaForge is showcasing the song on a short Love Is Gay Tour of U.S. cities, playing mostly Pride Month events on the West Coast — with a stop in New York City on June 27 — and is donating $1 per ticket to the Love Is Gay LGBTQ center in Los Angeles. “Blue Dress” will also be part of a new EP, I Feel Better Now, which is due out later this year and further examines the singer-songwriter’s sexual identity.
“I wrote it when I was feeling very depressed,” says LaForge, who revealed her bisexuality during an interview in Billboard Pride last year. “I thought coming out would help me cheer up. It didn’t, but the songs are very folk-pop, very encouraging, about simplifying life and just really focusing on our little victories day-to-day. Since I came out I’ve been getting all these links about studies and things about how the bisexual community deals with depression, suicide, mental illness, things I wasn’t aware of. It’s really nice to see people sharing and being supportive like that. It helps.”
LaForge’s remaining Love Is Gay tour dates include:
June 18 Salt Lake City, UT Goldblood Collective
June 21 Portland, OR The Hallowed Halls (presented by Future Prairie)
June 22 Seattle, WA Screwdriver (presented by The Seattle Lesbian)
June 27 New York City, NY Pride Event at Brooksfield Place
June 28 San Francisco, CA HoneyHive (Presented by L.Y.R.I.C)
June 29 San Francisco, CA The Knockout (Presented by Uncensored Visionary)
July 8 Los Angeles, CA, Bootleg Theater (Presented by Badass Bands)
July 20 Los Angeles, CA, LA State Historic Park (presented by LA Times)