Seeing Stars with Eddie the Kidd

For me Eddie the Kidd is one of the brightest lights in the queer music community. He's not only a great artist in his own right but he's also one of the scene's biggest cheerleaders too. He Stans other queer artists as much as I do and his enthusiasm, kindness & humor is infectious. Eddie is constantly championing other queer artists as well as collaborating with various queer artists too. Eddie really brings a sense of community & acceptance to the queer scene in much the same way that Kisos & Nick White do, who are two queer artists he's also collaborated with as well. 

In fact, my story with Eddie begins with Kisos. As I've mentioned before 2018 was when I discovered modern queer music but 2019 is really when I discovered this underground scene of queer artists around the world. The more artists I discovered the more those artists introduced me to other queer artists through either their own social media pages or through their own specially curated playlists on Spotify. Kisos I had discovered early in 2019 right before I launched my blog. 

I've discussed my history with Kisos in past articles on this blog so I'll jump ahead and say that I was following Kisos' own playlist throughout 2019, which had helped introduced me to other queer artists such as Blithe & John Conlin. Kisos playlist also introduced me to Eddie The Kidd at the end of 2019 when I first heard Eddie's song Beauty Queen on there. I immediately was drawn into the song, the lyrics and the visual of the cover art. It was a catchy pop song reminding me of Teenage Dream era Katy Perry but doing a gender reversal that also saw Eddie refer to himself as a Beauty Queen in the lyrics. Here was a gay song where the male singer repositioned themselves as the object of affection & desire in a very feminine way. 

Well shortly after discovering that song I looked up more of Eddie's music which is when I also discovered another bop by him called Your Type. Your Type and Beauty Queen both went into heavy rotation for me by that point and both songs came off Eddie’s first EP Sleep Talk. In fact when I think of those 2 songs I think about visiting my parents in Hawaii with my husband in January of 2020. I remember playing those 2 songs a lot as we drove around the island, which are some of my last really good memories I have before the pandemic hit. Those songs are sun kissed pop music that are meant for driving around with the windows rolled down. 

Speaking of the pandemic that's when I started to get to know Eddie a lot more. As we followed each other on social media I could see he was just as much a fan of queer music as I was. Plus we both seemed to share a deep love for Gregory Dillon based on his posts about Gregory. Eventually when I decided to start doing livestreams with queer artists, Eddie was among the first people I asked to do a livestream interview with. My livestream with Eddie was a total blast as we not only discussed his music but gushed about our shared passions including Gregory Dillon of course. 

During that interview Eddie kept a tight lid on his next single, but shortly after that livestream Eddie started teasing his upcoming song. It appeared that Kisos would be involved in Eddie's next song, which got me even more excited and it seemed to have an intergalactic theme too. Eventually it was revealed that Eddie's next single would be called Lunar Tide and Kisos was going to be singing on it too. The song was an absolute bop and it also felt very Eddie the Kidd, who had already crafted a signature sound, which was pop music with a little bit of atmosphere for flavoring much like our shared idol Gregory Dillon. What was really interesting about the song for me was hearing Kisos' vocals on the track. Up until that point Kisos music had been a bit more stripped down & raw so to hear him on a slickly produced pop song definitely felt very new and fresh for him. It also proved that Kisos is a strong enough vocalist to switch up genres and production like that, which not everyone can do. 

Shortly after the release of Lunar Tide I received a package in the mail from Eddie, which included a small painting that said Cool AF, a signed postcard with Eddie on the front and a very sweet handwritten letter written in pink. Eddie basically thanked me for my support of him & his music very early on & how much that meant to him. This very thoughtful letter again reinforced how kind & supportive Eddie truly is. 

The next single Eddie released was This Isn't Love, which became an instant favorite among fellow queer artists & fans. In fact the response was so great that Eddie ended up doing a remix of it with Kisos & Nick White, which I now consider the definitive version of This Isn't Love. Fever was the next single Eddie put out and it continued his hot streak of undeniable bops which raised expectations for his next EP. 

But before we get to Eddie's EP we must discuss yet again The Cult Prom concert in Brooklyn New York over the fall of 2021. Eddie and I both traveled to see this concert with Eddie flying in from Texas & me driving up from Washington DC. Eddie and I of course were the first people in line for the show and went in as soon as the doors open because we both didn't want to miss a minute of it. I got to meet his boyfriend and his best friend at the show and we would soon discover how much we love horror movies, especially Scream & Halloween. 

Then we saw Gregory come out who gave us both a hug which made Eddie blush and after Gregory walked away he said "Did that really just happen?" Throughout the show we pretty much hung out together and I talked up J Line to him since he was unfamiliar with J Line and after J Line's performance Eddie was very impressed and already a fan. By the time Gregory came on we went to the front of the stage and fan-girled out. We were the two biggest Gregory Dillon fans we knew so it was a lot of fun to share that moment with each other, which we had been talking about ever since our livestream together over a year before. Afterwards we got to take some pics with Gregory and then we went out with Kisos and some other queer artists for pizza and we all had a great time. We also took a great group photo together as well. 

The next day my husband and I went out to brunch with Eddie, his boyfriend, his best friend, Kisos, Bentley Robles and Bentley's mom. It was during this brunch that I really connected with Eddie's friend and boyfriend over Scream. We also took a picture together one last time before heading home. It was a great weekend and meeting Eddie was one of the many highlights. 

As 2022 got underway the release of Eddie's second EP was finally upon us. Released on January 14, Seeing Stars was a 6 song EP that featured 3 previously released songs (Lunar Tide, Fever & This Isn't Love) and 3 new songs. Of the 3 new songs my favorites were the title track & Gregory. The title track showed off Eddie's skills as a producer and composer and it has some of his best production yet. It's a fully immersive bop right at the start thanks to that production and I've found myself listening to it non stop since January 14. 

The other song Gregory is of course about Gregory Dillon and it's a cute song that only Eddie can deliver. The song is a campy love letter to Gregory Dillon that sees Eddie name checking as many Gregory Dillon songs as possible from Painted Blue to Mischief to Plastic Ferrari. I especially love Eddie's tongue and cheek talk set during the bridge where he says: 

"Hey Gregory it’s me again

I don't know if you’ve heard

But I’ve wrote you a song

And I referenced so many of your songs in my song

Haha isn’t that crazy?

Anyway I’m running out of minutes so I gotta go

But I’ll talk to you very soon

Love, your alien boyfriend"

 It's very Eddie the Kidd and as a fellow Gregory Dillon Stan myself I'm most certainly the target audience for this song. 

That pretty much brings us up to the present. In a few short years Eddie the Kidd has built up a solid stable of pop songs that are among the most endearing & melodic in the indie queer music scene. Eddie excels at feel good bops that put you in a good mood whenever you listen to them which is honestly the best thing a pop song can do in all honesty. For those curious this is my ranking of Eddie's top 6 songs and they are a solid starting point for first time listeners who want to dive into his music. After a few listens you'll probably become an Eddie the Kidd Stan like me and many others in the queer music community. 

 6. Gregory

5. This Isn't Love Remix

4. Seeing Stars

3. Your Type 

2. Beauty Queen

1. Lunar Tide