Sufjan Stevens, “Venus” | LGBTQ Bopz

On the 13^th edition of LGBTQ Bopz (2022), we highlight the song, “Venus” performed by Sufjan Stevens. 

B

ring on the B-O-P-Z, like #SLAYYY! LGBTQ Bopz is a column t that embraces, highlights, and celebrates singles and tracks by LGBTQIA musicians.  On LGBTQ Bopz we provide background info and insight into the respective musician(s), as well as analyze + go gaga over the 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 and the BOPZ can be classics or brand-spanking new. So, without further ado, on the 13^th edition of LGBTQ Bopz (2022), we highlight “Venus” performed by Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, and James McAlister. 

---

Theme & Lyrics  

“Methodist summer camp: you show me yours, show you mine / Sensitive thunderclap, slip beneath sleeping bag spine.” Um, excuse me Sufjan Stevens?  Did he just sing (and pen) what I thought you he did? Apparently, so! The gifted indie singer/songwriter references a same-sex experience that occurred at Methodist summer camp as a teen. Interestingly, in a 2015 Pitchfork interview by Ryan Dombal, Steven asserts, “some of my most profound spiritual and sexual experiences were at a Methodist summer camp.” Woo! Furthermore, of the sexual reference from “Venus,” Stevens clarifies via Salon, “[Methodist summer camp is] when I had my first sexual experience.” Damn… I mean, amen???

Sex is a fitting topic for “Venus,” which appears on the 2017 collaborative album, Planetarium, featuring Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, and James McAlister.  “Venus” not only references the planet but also the Greek goddess of love… and sex. “Run radiator, run: red-headed horny-eyed friend,” Stevens later sings on this titillating number, not to mention the likes of “Half shell, half undressed lover of mine,” or “Crazed nymphomania, touch me if touching’s no sin.”  “Touch me if touching’s no sin” is quite thought-provoking, questioning sex as a sin (between those unmarried) and perhaps more sinful between the same sex.

Of “Venus,” Thea Ballard writes in her review of Planetarium for Pitchfork that it “twists lore out of summer-camp lust”.  “Venus” is lustful indeed, though worth noting, the lyrics are poetic.  Still, if Stevens had become associated with being an innocent, Christian musician, he’s clearly NOT without sin here. Perhaps he’s most sinful when he asserts, “I never meant to do harm, to you, to love.” Interestingly, these lyrics can be traced back to another male-male love song, “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!” (“Touching his back with my hand I kiss him / I see the wasp on the length of my arm”).

---

Final Thoughts  

Question: is Sufjan Stevens a member of the LGBTQ+ community? Maybe, but he’s never claimed to be and that’s his business.  Furthermore, just because you’ve participated in a same-sex experience or experimentation, it doesn’t necessarily make you gay. All of this considered, Stevens has released songs that have a clear, deserving place in the LGBTQ+ catalog, including “Venus.”

---

Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly & James McAlister • Planetarium • 4AD Ltd • 2017

---

Sufjan Stevens, “Venus”: LGBTQ Bopz No. 13 (2022) [: 4AD Ltd, Anna Shvets, Brent Faulkner, Kurious, The Musical Hype, Pexels, Pixabay]

---