Notes of hope: music born of the Pulse shooting
This story is part of INTO’s seven-part series, in which we’ve asked queer voices to respond to the surge in gun crime and the sixth anniversary of the Pulse shooting.
We hope these varied perspectives encourage dialogue and change to end the needless violence plaguing our country.“Art is a place where tragedy meets beauty.” – Akshay VasuThe days after June 12th, 2016 saw the queer community and those aligned with us attempting to pick up the pieces after the unthinkable tragedy.
In the aftermath, the creatives of our community — and lord knows there are many — got to work contributing to the healing process the best way they know how.Here are a selection of songs written by queer and queer-allied folks in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting.Released just days after the Pulse tragedy, Aguilera’s voice flies strong over this earliest of musical memorials for Orlando.
Her trademark riffing and belting are almost out of place here, but something about them adds a sense of conviction to lines like “One day we won’t have to sing this chorus/Waiting for a change to set us free.” The song was first written in 2015 following the police shooting of Mansur Ball-Bey in St.
