Muscular go-go dancers lined the stage as drag queen Trixie Mattel performed a DJ set well-suited towards her LA barbie doll persona. This performance is just one of the many anticipated sets at New England’s newest LGBTQ+ festival, Outloud Boston. The festival made a show-stopping debut at the Suffolk Downs on Saturday, June 21. Outloud brought a celebratory mixture of queer joy and musical expression to Boston, and it came right in time for Pride month.
The show’s lineup not only included big names in the queer community such as Mattel, singer and actor Frankie Grande, and rapper Flo Milli, but local queer legends too, like Boston’s own Big Body Kweeng. With her sex-positive musical repertoire and undeniable boss energy, it’s no wonder that Kweeng was selected to kick off the festivities at Outloud Boston.
Kweeng opened the festival with fully choreographed renditions of a few of her most successful songs. Kweeng took the stage in a pink and white marching band uniform, flanked by her dancers. Across her chest, the letters “BBK” were printed in bold. This costume is an ode to her track “LINE IT UP.” In the song, she sings: “The way that I’m flexin’ keeping them pressed, I know I’m the best, the ‘S’ on my chest.” Here, Kweeng makes a reference to Superman while simultaneously reclaiming the title of “Superhero,” a designation that she feels is far too often assigned solely to cisgender individuals.
“It’s a superhero reference, because I feel like a lot of the time, I carry my community on my back,” said Kweeng. “I literally wear the ‘S’ on my chest, and I’m trying to carry on other folks who are afraid to be like me.”
On and off the stage, Kweeng challenges gender stereotypes. As a Black, transgender rapper she fully embraces her sexual freedom and promotes body positivity, both lyrically and visually. In her 2021 song, “Big Body,” Kweeng sings “I got a big booty, with some thunder thighs, I’m six feet tall and I’m super fine.”
These vivid descriptions of her body are more than a clever rhyming scheme; they’re a declaration of confidence, and pride in herself. She explained that the path to success hasn’t been easy. She says she’s faced both physical and verbal conflict in the past.
“I fight every single day,” Kweeng said. “It doesn’t bother me because I feel like I’m opening doors for others that want to do the same things that I do.”
Kweeng says she is grateful to have not only her mother and aunt at this show, but her 13-year-old son as well. She refers to him as a “show baby.”
“It means a lot, because being a Black queer musician, and being able to play bigger shows, and be on big stages, is super iconic. Especially coming from Boston.”
After Kweeng’s performance, rapper and poet Oompa performed her own set. Oompa is a Roxbury native, and Kweeng teased that the two of them are working on an upcoming project called “For the Girls.”
As the afternoon continued, “Big Brother” and “Henry Danger” alum Frankie Grande performed a few songs off his new album “Hotel Rock Bottom,” which will be released on Friday, June 27.
Grande, dressed in a black leather jacket paired with a Speedo, sang his new dance tracks “Boys” and “Rhythm of Love.”. He engaged with the audience throughout his set, jumping off the stage into the crowd and holding hands with his supporters. Grande said that now it is more important than ever for the next generation of LGBTQ+ people to be involved in the community.
“Especially to people in college right now, I know the world is on fire, but you guys are going to be the ones to fix it,” said Grande.
Grande says that, throughout history, the LGBTQ+ community has been scapegoated. Now, he says, it’s happening again. Specifically, he criticizes Donald Trump and his administration for their continued attacks on the transgender community. Grande says he looks to his elders to help him stay positive no matter what.
“I look to the people who have paved the path for me to be this gay, and in this little amount of clothing up on a stage, and I say thank you to them.”
As Grande’s set wrapped, 28-year-old Rebecca Black proved that her musical repertoire spans far beyond her once YouTube-famous song “Friday,” which she released at age 13. Black became the victim of online bullying for years after its release. The video currently sits at 175 million views on YouTube, with 4 million dislikes.
Black is now releasing new music that has attracted a large LGBTQ+ following. Her voice has matured since she first began making music, allowing her to sustain long-held belts in her upper register during live performances. This reigned true at Outloud, where she matched her powerhouse voice with fast-paced choreography.
Afterwards, rapper Flo Milli took to the stage and performed a collection of her most viral songs to date. This includes her most recent hit “Never Lose Me,” which debuted at #20 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart in 2024.
Her high pitched voice and “girly pop” attitude have allowed her to stand out in the rap world. Milli played into her persona at Out Loud by wearing a green and purple sweater matched with a short purple skirt and long white socks. This look pays homage to the “school-girl” image that’s been popularized in the pop world over the years.
Later, as dusk struck and the night sky cast a shadow over the entirety of the festival grounds, a countdown began on stage. The crowd began counting aloud, matching the time on stage, and growing louder as the clock approached 0.
When the time came, all the lights blacked out on stage, and a dimly lit package emerged. Kim Petras, a Grammy-award winning singer and transgender activist, took the stage. She arrived in a rectangular wooden box with the words “Mail Order Bride” stamped on the front. Petras opened the show with a rendition of her 2022 song “I Don’t Want It At All,” swinging a large black leather purse over her head as she belted the chorus. The German pop star donned a grey sweater and a bedazzled glitter boot, courtesy of a recent accident. Her leg injury didn’t stop her from jumping around on stage to hype up the crowd. As Petras sang more songs from her discography, like “Got My Number” and “Can’t Do Better,” the crowd waved purple foam light sticks in the sky, illuminating the stage in front of them. Petras also teased new music; a song called “Polo” set to drop on Friday, June 27.
To those who attended, Outloud Boston’s first official festival was an all-around success. Festival-goers filled the grounds as they cheered on their favorite artists. People laid on blankets across the green turf with their friends, wearing full faces of makeup. Queer storytelling found a receptive and appreciative audience at Outloud Boston, proving that Pride is still alive and well in 2025.
