Binoy, Boyhood | LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶

In the 21^st edition of LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 (2023), we highlight the song, “Boyhood” performed by Kenyan born/bred, LA-based singer/songwriter, Binoy.  

Be prepared to #SLAY! LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 embraces, highlights, and celebrates singles and tracks by LGBTQIA musicians or allies.  In this column, we provide background and insight into the respective musician(s), as well as analyze + go gaga over the decadent bops being served up.  Furthermore, when the music dictates deeper, more transcendent discussion, we ensure the point is articulated to the fullest.  All styles of music are welcome while the BOPZ can be classics or brand-spanking new. So, without further ado, in the 21^st edition of LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 (2023), we highlight 🎵 “Boyhood” performed by 🎙 Binoy.

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“This is boyhood, it don’t do a boy good / Break ‘em down young, build ‘em up rough and dumb.” Sigh, not everyone experiences happiness as a child, particularly when they are perceived to be different 😢.  Being gay and not fitting societal expectations (eww, toxic masculinity) as young man sets you apart, something that 🎙 Binoy (Binoy Zachariah) captures superbly on his song, 🎵 “Boyhood”, which appears on his 2023 EP, 💿 Boyhood. The handsome, Kenyan born and bred singer/songwriter, now based in LA, provides a tale of the war fought as a boy because of being gay, perceived to be too feminine, and generally, being unaccepted.  While “Boyhood” features picturesque production and terrific vocals from Binoy, it is a troubling listen because it pisses you off this is the boyhood far too many LGBTQ+ youth experience.

The punches 👊 are thrown from the onset: “Bloody nose / Blood on my clothes / It leaves a mark / When they hit hard.” Ugh 😡! They hit, of course because “I’m the oddest of them all / Another day in seventh grade / Of getting punched for being gay / No matter how much you act straight.” Again, ugh 😡!  In a perfect world, this boy should be able to be who he is without being bruised, bullied, and perhaps worse, psychologically damaged.  Furthermore, things don’t improve at home, with “the house burning down” from dysfunction.  Another lyric sure to piss off progressive souls who cry foul regarding homophobia: “Daddy, daddy on the phone / Saying son, be more manly / Less like mom / Be more proud of where you’re from / And the woman in me rages like a storm.” F#¢K TOXIC MASCULINITY!!! 🎵 “Boyhood” is a song that should make you angry regardless of sexuality. It has long been time for the world to move beyond stereotypes, toxic masculinity, bullying, and definitely HOMOPHOBIA.  There is space for everyone in this world, and nobody’s boyhood should be the war that Binoy sings about.  A bop indeed, but also, this should be a wake-up call for many.

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🎙 Binoy • 💿 Boyhood • 🏷 Binoy Zachariah • 🗓 2023

Binoy, “Boyhood”: LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 No. 21 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner/ The Musical Hype; Binoy Zachariah; Anna Shvets, Monstera, Polina Tankilevitch, RODNAE Productions, Spencer Cooper, Uriel Mont via Pexels; Jim, Kurious via Pixabay; Hugo Herrera on Unsplash]