A multiple Golden Melody Award winner in her native Taiwan, ABAO brings the rich and ancient culture of the island’s Indigenous society into the realm of contemporary pop music. She states her purpose has always been to encourage people from all walks of life to appreciate a beauty that goes beyond the social labels often thrust upon us. It should come as no surprise, then, that ABAO is also a vocal advocate of LGBTQ+ issues. Here, the busy singer-songwriter shares with Apple Music some insight into her choices for this exclusive playlist.
It looks like you’ve integrated both the LGBTQ+ underground scene and the limelight of the big stage in this playlist. Can you share what you think the highlights are? “When I was making this playlist, I had some core ideas I wanted to put in, like love—indiscriminate love—along with songs that can make people cry together, some comforting ones and some that give strength and encouragement. When I listen to music it’s usually in my own space or when I’m driving. That’s how I went about it, as if I and all my LGBTQ+ friends were in a car together, picking the songs we would want to listen to, like being on our own parade.”
Movie soundtracks feature prominently in this playlist. What’s your favourite classic LGBTQ+ movie? “Yes, movies are an important factor. It’s because I have a lot of queer friends around me, we listen a lot of music together and it’s often only after that we think, ‘Oh, this song is from a movie?’ and then we go and watch the movie. There is one I want to recommend to everyone—Pose. Although it’s about queer African American people, as I’m watching it I feel like I’m seeing a lot of my own drag queen or queer indigenous friends. They encounter a lot of the same adversity and it allows me to understand them a lot more. I think even people who aren’t particularly interested in LGBTQ+ issues can just appreciate the gorgeous dancing scenes.”
At last year’s Kaohsiung Pride parade, you dedicated the stage to people from minority groups like Indigenous Taiwanese and drag queens. Do you have any stories that left you with a big impression? “That time was pretty special. [The organisers] said that they could make drag queens a focus this time and wanted them to walk along a runway. I just thought, ‘Hey, cool’, because we’ve all seen Victoria’s Secret [runway models] but we’ve never seen the drag version of Victoria’s Secret. So, I thought, on this important occasion we could try letting all different kinds of beauty be seen and it would be well worth it. I think what left me with the biggest impression was how the drag queens were all vying for the audience’s attention. One of them dressed up as a banquet table; they literally wore a whole banquet on their body.”
Is there anything in the playlist that encourages Indigenous LGBTQ+ people? Or do you have anything you want to say to them? “I don’t think there’s anywhere on the playlist where I try to encourage any ethnicity of LGBTQ+ people in particular because surely there’s no reason to distinguish people like that when listening to music. There are a lot of empowering tracks on this playlist and I trust that they can give encouragement to people facing all kinds of difficulties. Everyone faces difficulties—difficulty is kind of fair in that way so you shouldn’t focus on yourself that much. There are a lot of people just like you; you’re not alone in your struggle. I hope these songs can make everyone happy and bring them some positive energy.”
As a singer, what do you think you can do to promote gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights in Taiwan? “I am a singer so I think using music would be the most practical. I’ve done a lot of fundraising events for LGBTQ+ communities and I can also do performances for public awareness and charity. Also, when I worked with Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association, people were saying they wanted sex education to be taken further. They might want there to be some sort of awareness of gender and LGBTQ+ issues starting at kindergarten or elementary school. And music might be helpful for such advocacy.”