Virtuoso

Get to know: Punk Adams

“This song is an anthem for anyone who’s ever tried to break your spirit…this is our fight back song!”

It’s a big world out there filled to the brim of beautiful and different people. US-based singer and rapper Punk Adams is one of them. Bursting on to the scene in 2017 with his premier single Yesterday, Punk Adams is an artist with a clear intention – visibility.

Punk’s music is a melange of R’n’B, House and Pop. As alternative as it sounds, there is something that works from a commercial aspect – it’s current, it’s fun, it’s bop-able. Tracks like Foreign and Yesterday are slow tempo and explore themes of relationships and self-reflection.

Yesterday is a trippy, dream-like journey that starts with the lyrics “today I’m fine, I swear I swear” however, yesterday gave self-doubt. It’s a song about experiencing personal struggles and the ups and downs of general feeling. Foreign itself is also quite dream-like and explores relationships.

His more up-tempo tracks include Corner Store which Punk declares as the “start of Vogue R’n’B”. The song explores the relationship between himself and his father with a deliberate nod to the Ballroom Scene and all the glorious isms that encompass it.

The music video itself is set in NYC, the birthplace of the Ballroom Scene, with a few members of the scene giving the girls a show – including the voguing Icon Pony Garçon.

Punk’s latest release, Big World, is a celebration. It’s loud, it’s colourful and it’s bold. It’s a celebration of his life and the lives of those who are, by social norms, othered. The track itself is lively with house and jazz influence.

Honestly, I danced instantly when I first heard this, and I think I’m going to keep getting my life with every listen. This track has an early Azealia Banks type feel, it’s really a bow to what black queer artists have always been doing, it’s an art that never dies and only grows. House music is queer, Jazz music is queer, black music in its entirety has always been championed by queer influence.

Queer creation is something special and has been the backbone of many social trends and pop culture. It’s only right that queer people get to exist and twirl wherever they please.

Punk Adams is without a doubt, someone to watch.