Mike Taveira releases his new pansexual pop anthem Curious today along with the official music video featuring RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Monét X Change and Sonique, model Arisce Wanzer and George Todd McLachlan from Showtime’s Shameless.
Taveira released his debut single Heart last year, which landed on Billboard Pride’s Queer Necessities playlist and quickly racked up over 100 thousand streams. Growing up without any openly pansexual figures to look up to, Taveira knew that his personal journey needed to be expressed through his own music. With his new single Curious released today, The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann spoke exclusively with Mike Taveira about what inspired the track, creating its stunning video and which fellow musicians he most admires.
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review: What inspired Curious and what did you want to celebrate with it?
“Curious is about the first steps I took towards honoring my queerness. I was attracted to someone who I knew was also attracted to me, but societal pressures restricted us from acting on it until we found ourselves alone. The song reflects the moment where we could be vulnerable with each other and explore this part of ourselves. The music video highlights pansexuality and celebrates sensual connection between people of all genders.”
How does it reflect what you’re feeling personally right now?
“This is a reflection of when I was discovering my pansexuality. What I’m feeling now is proud of who I am. Being open to the now and the present is still what I do.”
I love the video, who did you collaborate with on it and how does it fit in with the track?
“The video features notable queer talent like RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars winner Monét X Change, Drag Race OG artist Kylie Sonique Love, trans model Arisce Wanzer, George Todd McLachlan from Showtime’s Shameless and other familiar faces. I’m very grateful to have friends and people within the community that are passionate about seeing queer artists tell their stories, so when I had inspiration for a scene or character I looked for someone who could accurately reflect the world we live in. Collaboration between queer artists is beautiful and important and it’s very humbling to be lifted up and supported by the community that I love so much.”
Who are the artists you look up to musically for inspiration or just admire the most?
“Janelle Monáe is someone I look up to a lot. There’s not many pansexual artists out there. The reason why I’m even doing this is because I never had a pansexual person to look up to. Someone who, like me, is attracted to cis women and cis men, trans women, trans men, non-binary people. To me, it doesn’t matter. Seeing Janelle live her truth has been so inspiring, and I want to do the same for others.”
Are you working on more new music, tell us about what else is coming up?
“Right now I am working on more singles but I hope to release an EP or mixtape in the future.”
Mike Taveira’s new single/video Curious is out now. Stream on Spotify & Apple Music. Watch on YouTube.
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