The Right ‘Gay’ Stuff

We’re leaning all the way in with Tom Goss’ new single and having the absolute time of our lives doing it. With “Gay Stuff,” the out singer-songwriter invites us to laugh, dance and unapologetically celebrate everything that makes queerness so joyful, so bold and so gloriously absurd. Accompanied by a delightfully over-the-top music video directed by longtime collaborator Michael Serrato, “Gay Stuff” is pure dance-pop fun: equal parts satire, celebration and self-love.

The song’s story actually began nearly a decade ago, when producer and co-writer Austin Danson first floated the idea. “We thought it was just funny,” Tom recalls. “We pitched it around to other queer artists, but no one bit. Years later, Austin sent me a reworked version, and I couldn’t stop laughing. We realized this song was too good not to make ourselves.” And thank God they did.

Inspired by drag royalty like Willam, Alaska, and RuPaul, “Gay Stuff” pokes fun at stereotypes while fully embracing them. “Everything is gay! Everything is straight! Everything is in-between,” Tom tells us. “The sooner we stop trying to limit ourselves, the freer and happier we’ll be.”

After years of sharing heartfelt, emotional music with audiences around the globe, Tom was more than ready to revel in something a little more campy. “I love being ridiculous,” he says. “We’re facing a lot of horrifying news these days. I wanted to be a source of release from that constant barrage, not amplify it.”

And ridiculous it gets. Just ask him the gayest “normal” thing he’s done today: “It’s very humid on tour, so I’m coating my genitals in baby powder to keep the sweat down.” If that isn’t gay stuff, we don’t know what is.

If Tom had to lip-sync “Gay Stuff” for his life? He’s calling Serrato for a wardrobe assist. Failing that, “cutoff jeans (way too short), sequined shoes, giant eyelashes, a smokey eye and a tear-away tank top revealing nipple pasties shaped like bears.”

Shooting the video was as chaotic and fabulous as the song itself. Just 48 hours after wrapping another project, Tom and his crew were racing around Palm Springs, changing outfits in his car and filming each scene in under 10 minutes. But the magic of Palm Springs and the generosity of its people turned the whirlwind into a dream. “We would’ve been kicked out of places in L.A.,” Tom says. “But in Palm Springs, shop owners were offering us their stores to shoot in. It was a great lesson in generosity and hospitality.”

And yes, everything in the video, including the poodle, was sourced in under two days thanks to a flurry of texts, last-minute connections and the help of gay icons Deven Green and Ned Douglas.

At its heart, “Gay Stuff” is about embracing everything we are. “I love being gay. I love wearing short shorts. I love loving men and what that means in the bedroom!” Tom says. “We laugh about it because we know there’s nothing in this world that can stop us from experiencing our true joy and freedom.”

If laughter is the gateway to change, Tom hopes “Gay Stuff” sparks deeper conversations. “I find it hilarious how people who want to erase us still love theatre, art, cinema and writing. Listen, all of that is fucking gay!” he says. “You cannot separate us from the culture. We are the culture.”

So here’s to all of it. The joy, the absurdity, the stereotypes, the sweat, the nipple pasties. It’s all gay stuff. And we’re here for it.

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