Bisexual Pop Singer Jill Sobule Left a Lasting Queer Legacy
The force behind of 1995's seminal, joyous pop hit "I Kissed A Girl" died at the age of 66 last week in a house fire.
May got off to a sad start with news of the death of Jill Sobule, the trailblazing LGBTQ singer/songwriter.
The 66-year-old died in a house fire in Woodbury, Minnesota on Thursday morning, May 1. According to a New York Times obituary, Sobule had been staying with friends while rehearsing for upcoming concerts in her home state of Colorado.
A longtime advocate and activist for human rights, LGBTQ equality, and mental health, Sobule, who identified as bisexual, was a mainstay on the touring circuit, with near-annual performances in the greater Washington region, including regular stops at the Birchmere and Rams Head on Stage.
Sobule released nine studio albums, the last three on her own Pinko Records, launched in 2009. Her seventh studio album, California Years, was an entirely fan-funded project. It made the musician a crowdfunding pioneer, one whose expertise was inevitably solicited by the founders of Kickstarter as they launched their company.
Born Jill Susan Sobule on Jan. 16, 1959, to a veterinarian father and a musician mother, Sobule was raised along with an older brother in a Jewish household in Denver.
Her legacy will live on through her recorded music, including the original cast recording of F*ck 7th Grade from the musical’s Off-Broadway debut in 2022. (The cast album is set for an early June release.)
June will also see the release of a 30th-anniversary vinyl edition of Sobule’s breakthrough, self-titled sophomore album.
That album formed the pinnacle of Sobule’s success as a pop artist and also made her an early entrant in the pantheon of out LGBTQ artists.
The album’s single, “I Kissed A Girl,” far and away Sobule’s biggest hit, was reportedly the first overtly gay-themed song to crack the Top 20 of a Billboard chart.
It was followed by “Supermodel,” which became a modest hit due to its inclusion in the hit film Clueless later that year.
“People call me a one-hit wonder, and I say, ‘Wait a second, I’m a two-hit wonder!’” Sobule said in a 2022 New York Times interview.
Released 30 years ago, on May 2, 1995, “I Kissed A Girl” was a firecracker of a song. Its lyrics describe an encounter of same-sex affection shared between two women, both of whom happen to be in relationships with men.
The song is sweet and expressive and far more genuine in feeling than the 2008 song bearing the same title that introduced the world to Katy Perry.
Perry’s No. 1 hit framed her encounter with another woman as a one-time fluke, summed up by the refrain, “I hope my boyfriend won’t mind it.”
Sobule evinces no such concern in her song, which finds her instead reveling in the moment and hinting at more to come. As she exclaims in the bridge, “I kissed a girl, and I may do it again!”
Sobule’s expression of the hopeful hypothetical, along with the groundbreaking theme of her song and even her bisexual identity, were all significantly downplayed and discounted by executives at Atlantic, her record label at the time.
“I was out in the ’80s and early ’90s, and then I got my record deal,” Sobule recounted in a 2021 interview with the Philadelphia Gay News. “I was sitting in a conference room getting ready to have the first big meeting…with all the bigwigs, and they said, ‘We’ve already had Tracy Chapman and Melissa Etheridge. Thank God we finally have a straight female singer-songwriter.’ It freaked me out, but…I didn’t want to be categorized as a lesbian singer-songwriter [or as] part of the ‘Women’s Music’ scene…it just wasn’t my thing. But if you say something, you get put in a box.
“I didn’t even think [‘I Kissed A Girl’] was going to make it onto the record,” she continued, “but it came out and was treated like a novelty. For me, I wanted it out because it was the kind of song I wish I’d heard when I was young. I knew the only way it was going to get on the Billboard charts was to make it like pulp fiction, so I had the scenario of these suburban wives that get it on [in the music video]. At first the label was all in, but then they started backtracking a little. There was a station in Nashville that put a disclaimer on the video, and the song got banned on some stations, which was awesome!
“But here’s what bummed me out more than anything: We had Fabio, who was on all the romance novels, and I loved the idea of leaving him for the [female] neighbor…. We were going to have a real [same-sex] kiss at the end…but at the last minute, they pulled it and instead ended it with me pregnant with Fabio’s baby. That broke my heart — but to this day, I still get messages from people saying the video really helped them.”
A formal memorial celebrating Sobule will be held later this summer, according to a statement released by her family.
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.