Cat Burns is Broadening Black Lesbian Representation

intervieweditorial

5 Apr

There’s a lot of doom and gloom surrounding LGBTQ+ people in the UK at the moment. The press is determined to drag down anything positive and constantly peddle fear mongering articles about trans people, drag queen story hours and homophobic Tory policies. Musician Cat Burns notes how bleak it is and the importance of talking about the positive sides of being a queer person. The 22 year old singer songwriter climbed through the ranks of TikTok during the first lockdown in 2020 with her single go that soundtracked 1000s of videos. As an out and proud lesbian how does Cat feel about the current treatment of LGBTQ+ people in the UK at the moment?
She bemoans the bleakness of it all and why she strives to be positive and open and proud about who she is. Cat notes: “It's nice to add a little bit of love into the world. I'm very aware of how lucky I am as a queer black woman, to have been able to come out to their family, and really not be met with any pushback at all. And for them to be so accepting to my girlfriend and for us all to have experiences together. For it to be just normal.”

Cat’s Insta bio reads “helping you get through shit one song at a time” and with songs about everything from anxiety, to coming out, to going through breakups and falling in love, it’s evident her emotive and confessional lyrics do just that. In her song free Cat sings:

“There's no way you can tell me who I'm supposed to be

See now I'm free, now I'm free

Oh, what a feeling

Oh, what a fucking relief

'Cause now I'm free”

“It's always slightly frustrating the need that people feel to always compare you to others. Some people feel like they can only like you as a musician if they know you're similar to somebody else.”

Yet Cat impresses that she is aware not everyone has the same experience as a queer person. She mentions a story from a fan who isn’t out yet and listens to the song from the safety of their room with headphones on, living vicariously through Cat and her confessional lyrics. She explains, “I like to talk about coming out and being queer in a sensitive way. My experience is not an experience shared by all queer people. I know a lot of people who can't come out, or it's not safe for them to come out. Some people have messaged me saying the song makes them feel free in their head. That’s the message of the song really, it can exist at so many different stages of someone's queer journey.”

So after grafting for years and constantly being pigeonholed by record label execs who tried to convince her to pivot towards being an R&B artist when she was cutting her teeth, how does it feel to break into the mainstream?

Burns smiles, “It feels good. Not gonna lie, it feels good! I'm obviously a queer Black woman and I want to see that representation I never really saw.” We also chat about the need for people to constantly compare and categorise new musicians. Cat comments that she was compared to Tracy Chapman purely because she was a Black girl with a guitar. How does she feel about the comparison? “I mean, I love Tracy Chapman, she's amazing. So compare me all you want. But it's always slightly frustrating the need that people feel to always compare you to others. Some people feel like they can only like you as a musician if they know you're similar to somebody else.”

“A lot of women who come out have to come to terms with asking themselves, ‘Am I actually attracted to men? Or have I just been told that I’m attracted to men and raised in a straight society?’”

Cat notes the close minded-ness of it all, “For me as a black artist, I prefer it when people can compare me to all musicians. If you can say, ‘Oh, actually, you remind me of early Ed Sheeran's stuff’ I'm like, thank you, you're not seeing just my gender and race and putting me into a specific box. You're seeing me as an artist outside of those boundaries. I like comparisons where race and gender are not at the forefront and it's just about the music.”

The male gaze is a powerful thing to try and shake off. Cat knows all about this. Her personal style is masculine and Butch leaning. Waistcoats, sweater vests, structured suit jackets, cargo pants and clean crisp white tees layered with gold necklaces. In her song anxiety Cat describes her personal style staples as “a beanie, and a white tee, and oversized jeans”. A classic lesbian fit.

Cat is an out and proud queer woman but she reflects on the early days of working out her sexuality as a teenager and pandering to the male gaze. Cat notes that she’s always been drawn to masculine clothing - Does she think that was maybe an early sign or indicator of her queerness?

“I've always been interested in menswear and leaned towards more masculine clothing. I love that kind of clean, minimalistic menswear vibe. That was one of my main indicators I was queer. When I was younger I thought I liked boys but it was more that I just liked how they dressed. I didn't actually want to be with them! When I was dating men, I just didn't like them. I was just forcing myself to and I think a lot of queer women or lesbians can relate to that struggle.”

The penny finally dropped for Cat and her sexuality when she read a viral PDF. She explains, “There's this Google doc that’s an amazing resource called “Am I a Lesbian?” It's a 28 page document that talks about lesbian identity and compulsive heterosexuality.”

The document was originally written by Tumblr user Anjeli Luz in 2018 with the intention of helping women reflect upon the influences of compulsory heterosexuality in their lives. But, as with lots of things these days, it gained traction on TikTok in 2020 and popped off.

The concept of compulsory heterosexuality isn’t a new one. Feminist writer, poet and essayist Adrienne Rich coined the term in 1980 in her essay "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" that discusses “lesbian visibility, structures of lesbian sexuality” and how “heterosexuality is not "natural" or intrinsic but an institution imposed upon many cultures and societies that render women in a subordinate situation.”

It’s a concept that’s close to Cat’s heart. She adds “A lot of women who come out have to come to terms with asking themselves, ‘Am I actually attracted to men? Or have I just been told that I’m attracted to men and raised in a straight society?’”

She continues by stating that when you come out you have to “unpack your relationship with the male gaze and completely debunk it.”

The grip that compulsive heterosexuality has on us can sometimes feel inescapable. But there’s so much power in reclaiming something viewed as masculine for yourself. I add that a lot of straight men just simply don’t understand the power, and the attractiveness, of a woman dressing in a so-called masculine way.

Cat agrees “They really don’t understand. Butch women, masculine women or even women who mix the two… they kind of mistake it for "Oh, you just want to be us". Cat laughs cheekily, “That’s not the case! It's just the clothes fit us in a particular way that looks better than it fits you. We don’t want to be like you. We want to be better than you!”

Talking of random essays going viral on TikTok, as an artist who has organically grown her fanbase through the app, how does Cat feel about the social media app that now dominates our screentime? “TikTok is what you make it, it's a very algorithmic app. I think when you kind of understand it more, you find it easier to wrap your head around. And I know for me, I was very lucky with the time I joined TikTok and what I was posting at the time to be able to grow my following to where I did.

But does she feel like she's constantly trying to one up herself on the app? She considers it as an interesting relationship: “There's this expectation that every song you put on there is going to blow up or every song is going to be the one that changes everything for you. But there's just no way to control it, you can't make your song blow up. The people decide whether the song blows up or not. All you can do is create your art and, and promote it in the best way you see possible and that's it. But when it works and the masses decide that they like it. It's a nice feeling! You can get almost instant gratification.”

Burns might have dabbled in acting in her music video for people pleaser but she wants to firmly focus on music for now. "I really don't want to be an actor.” she laughs. “For me, directing is something that I find super interesting. I didn't mind being an extra in the music video because it helped tell the story. But on a normal day, no acting! I’m just sticking to music for now.” Cat describes her new single live more & love more “It’s a super positive just enjoy life type of song. I really wanted to make one of those songs in a non cringey way. I made it with the intention of inspiring people to romanticise their life a little bit more” Romanticising our lives is a beautiful note to end our conversation on and it’s clear Cat’s music is determined to spread honesty and positivity. Cat ain’t cringe but she’s free.