11 Songs Where Musicians Were Sexually Awakened 🎧 features music courtesy of Demi Lovato, Liam Payne, Rich Brian, Troye Sivan & ZAYN.

Sexual awakening.  In some form or fashion, everyone experiences it.  Notably, it’s been captured musically in numerous songs.  Some songs go into depth – too much depth – dealing with the physical characteristics of the act.  Others focus more on love and the emotions surrounding the experience.  While the term sexual awakening is used, sex can be secondary or non-factor on the songs selected for this playlist.  ‘Songs Where Musicians Were Sexually Awakened’ features songs that reference tales of coming of age sexually. Sex plays an explicit role in some, while in others, it’s secondary.  Without further ado, Songs Where Musicians Where Sexually Awakened.

1. Rich Brian, “Kitty”

Amen • 88rising / EMPIRE • 2018

“Ain’t no game that I play when it comes to / Gettin’ that kitty out the cage for my night.” “Kitty” is the dirtiest and perhaps most outrageous song on Amen, capturing the sexual awakening of Rich Brian.  Even as he’s ‘getting it in,’ there’s a humorous, twist.  After getting drunk, meeting “the girl of [his] dreams,” virgin Brian has sex with her, gets caught by her mom, has his friend Mike pick him up, and finds out his first was Mike’s sister.

2. Sufjan Stevens, “Mystery of Love”

Call Me by Your Name • Madison Gate • 2017

“Hold your hands upon my head / Till I breathe my last breath.” Sufjan Stevens is poetic throughout the course of “Mystery of Love,” a song appearing from the soundtrack to the Academy-Award-nominated film, Call Me by Your Name.  Call Me by Your Name is a film depicting a gay coming of age story. Stevens performs in his usual hushed manner, depicting new love as well as the hardships and plights of love.  Clever throughout its course, some of the cleverest Sufjan Stevens lyrics occur in the second verse, which references Hephaestion and Alexander, the Great.

“Lord, I no longer believe
Drowned in living waters
Cursed by the love that I received
From my brother's daughter
Like Hephaestion, who died
Alexander's lover
Now my riverbed has dried
Shall I find no other?”

3. Liam Payne, “Strip That Down”

Ft. Quavo

Strip That Down – Single • Capitol • 2017

“You know I used to be in 1D (now I’m out, free).” Liberation! Life after participating in a boy band requires adjustments. In most cases, such adjustments include a more adult, sexier image.  On his debut single “Strip That Down”, Liam Payne leaves the boyish ways of One Direction behind in favor of being a sexually mature man. Payne isn’t as blunt as a later entry on this playlist, but the lyrics are suggestive, speaking to the sexual liberalism of young adults.

“So, put your hands on my body
And swing that round for me, baby (swing)
You know I love it when the music's loud
But c'mon, strip that down for me.”

4. alt-J, “3WW”

Relaxer • Atlantic • 2017

“Well that smell of sex / Good like burning wood / The wayward lad lay claim / to two thirsty girls from Hornsea / Who left a note when dawn came.” “3WW” (three worn words) kicks off Relaxer splendidly.  The sound has a folky, pleasing quality.  The lyrics are poetic, with great vocal performances from members Gus Unger-Hamilton and Joe Newman, as well as guest contributions from Ellie Rowsell. Pertinent to this playlist, “3WW” encompasses love and sex, specifically a sexual awakening for the protagonist referenced in the aforementioned lyrics.  The love, rather the thrilling sex that takes place, is merely temporary and ultimately, empty.

5. ZAYN, “PILLOWTALK”

Mind of Mine • RCA • 2016

“Climb on board / We’ll go slow and high tempo.” Someone’s horny! According to Louis Wise of The Sunday Times, former One Direction member Zayn Malik said the following regarding his solo number one hit, “PILLOWTALK.”

“I think I’m pretty black and white what it’s about,” he says with a little grin. “Everybody has sex, and it’s something people wanna hear about. It’s part of everybody’s life, a very BIG part of life! And you don’t wanna sweep it under the carpet. It has to be talked about.”

Recapping an earlier statement, life post-boy band requires adjustments. Those adjustments encompass sex.  On “PILLOWTALK,” Zayn sings about having sex. He’s blunter than his colleague Liam Payne.

“So, we'll piss off the neighbors
In the place that feels the tears
The place to lose your fears
Yeah, reckless behavior
A place that is so pure, so dirty and raw
In the bed all day, bed all day, bed all day
Fucking and fighting on
It's our paradise and it's our war zone
It's our paradise and it's our war zone.”

6. Father John Misty, “Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)”

I Love You, Honeybear • Sub Pop • 2016

“I’ve never done this, baby, be gentle / It’s my first time, I’ve got you inside.”  The lyrics, excerpted from the first chorus of “Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins),” depicts two virgins who have yet to have sex. Throughout the song, Father John Misty references sexual awakening, but the actual sex is secondary. In the context of album I Love You, Honeybear, it’s clear that Father John Misty is expressing his love for his wife, as opposed to the loss of virginity itself.

“I wanna take you in the kitchen
Lift up your wedding dress someone was probably murdered in [...]
First time, you let me stay the night despite your own rules
You took off early to go cheat your way through film school
You left a note in your perfect script:
‘Stay as long as you want,’ and I haven’t left your bed since.”

7. Troye Sivan, “BITE”

Blue Neighbourhood • Capitol • 2015

“Don’t you wanna see a man up close? / A phoenix in the fire.” Troye Sivan delivered a gem with his debut album, Blue Neighbourhood. Blue Neighbourhood masterfully captures his experiences as a gay male coping with being different.  One of the most distinct records is “BITE,” which literally has a bite about it, sounding suspect. According to an interview with Pop Buzz, Sivan stated, “‘BITE’ is about my first time in a gay club.” He goes on to describe the chaotic atmosphere, asserting he “wanted to capture the chaos”: “… [I was] taken aback by the sticky floor, the shirtless men, and everything else.”

Lyrically, “BITE” grows progressively sketchier.

“The rapture in the dark puts me at ease
The blind eye of the storm
Let’s go for a walk down Easy street
Where you can be reborn.”

“BITE” is a statement about losing virginity in regards to a life experience. For Sivan, it marks a rite of passage in his life as a gay man – another part of his sexual awakening. It parallels a number of first experiences.

8. Demi Lovato, “Cool for the Summer”

Confident • Hollywood / Island • 2015

“Tell me what you want / What you like / it’s okay / I’m a little curious too…I can keep a secret, can you?” Open-minded pop star Demi Lovato courted some controversy (for lack of a better word) with her hit single, “Cool for The Summer.” What makes the record bold are references to bi-curiousness and lesbianism, insinuated in the aforementioned lyrics. The lustfulness is clear, with a reference to “cherry” fueling the same-sex tilt.

“Got my mind on your body and your body on my mind
Got a taste for the cherry, I just need to take a bite.”

The chorus continues the curiousness:

“Take me down into your paradise
Don’t be scared, cause I’m your body type
Just something that we wanna try
Cause you and I
We’re cool for the summer.”

“Cool for the Summer” brings light to the existence of a sexual spectrum that goes beyond being exclusively straight, exclusively gay, or bisexual.  Interestingly, there’s a Purple-Red Scale for determining sexuality.  Since it’s only “cool for the summer,” clearly Lovato considers this to be a fling as opposed to a serious relationship. Nonetheless, a sexually awakening experience.

9. J. Cole, “Wet Dreamz”

2014 Forest Hills Drive • Roc Nation • 2014

“Man, it wasn’t nothin’ like the first time / She was in my math class / Long hair, brown skin, with a fat ass.” See where this one’s going? “Wet Dreamz” ranks among the blunter songs on this sexually awakened playlist.  J. Cole depicts his sexual awakening, which includes wet dreams and losing his virginity, and he doesn’t spare us the details.

“Wet dreamin’, thinkin’ that I’m smashin’, but I’m sleepin’
I want it bad, and I ain’t never been obsessed before
She wrote a note that said, ‘you ever had sex before?’
Damn...
And I ain’t never did this before, no...”

The rapper, who reminisces back to the past, pretends he’s “experienced,” but is a clueless virgin ultimately.

“I wrote back and said
‘Of course I had sex before,’ knowin' I was frontin'
I said, ‘I'm like a pro, baby,’ knowin' I was stuntin'
But if I told the truth, I knew that I'd get played out, son
Hadn't been in pussy since the day I came out one
But she don't know that
So she done wrote back and told me
‘Oh, you a pro, homie? Well, I want you to show me.’”

The song fits and ranks among the best of his 2014 studio album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive.

10. Kendrick Lamar, “Sherane a.k.a. Master Splinter’s Daughter”

Good kid, m.A.A.d city • Interscope • 2012

“And strictly had wanted her thighs around me / Seventeen, with nothin’ but pussy stuck on my mental / My motive was rather sinful…” “Sherane a.k.a. Master Splinter’s Daughter” serves as the opener from Kendrick Lamar’s critically-acclaimed, proper major label debut, good kid, m.A.A.d city. Essentially, “Sherane” finds 17-year old Lamar in search of sex, with the “apple of his eye.” He gets a surprise once he arrives “in a Caravan…” at her place – but that’s beyond the focus of this particular playlist.

“I was in heat like a cactus, my tactics of bein’ thirsty
Probably could hurt me, but fuck it, I got some heart
Grab my momma’s keys, hopped in the car, then oh boy […]
So now I’m down Rosecrans in a Caravan...
I’m thinkin’ about the that sex, thinkin’ about her thighs
Or maybe kissin’ on her neck, or maybe that position’s next
Sent a picture of her titties blowin’ up my texts...”

11. Frank Ocean, “Thinkin Bout You”

Channel Orange • Def Jam • 2012

“Yes of course I remember, how could I forget how you feel? / You know you were my first time, a new feel…” “Thinkin Bout You” is a song written about being in love for the first time. For Frank Ocean, his first time experience occurred with a guy. Ocean came out as bisexual during the run of his 2012 debut album, Channel Orange. An incredibly successful, critically-acclaimed album, one of the reasons for its success was single, “Thinkin Bout You.”

Interestingly, there’s only one subtle LGBT reference:

“My eyes don’t shed tears, but boy, they pour when… I’m thinkin’ ‘bout you…do you think about me still?”

Without the backstory and the aforementioned quote, “Thinkin Bout You” plays out like any other song about first loves or sexual awakening.

Photo Credits: 88rising, EMPIRE, Def Jam, Hollywood, Island, Atlantic, Capitol, RCA, Sub Pop, Madison Gate, Roc Nation, Interscope