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Concerts

Toronto Queer Music Festival Lavender Wild Gets Slayyyter, Rebecca Black for Summer Dance Party

Ari Hicks, Makayla Couture and more will take the stage at History for a sweaty August event, with proceeds going towards 2SLGBTQI+ charity The Get Real Movement as well as Toronto's Glad Day Bookshop, the oldest queer bookstore in the world.

Slayyyter

Slayyyter

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With Pride month in full swing, Toronto queer music festival Lavender Wild has announced a sizzling new event for later this summer.

"Starfucker" singer Slayyyter will headline the August 24 celebration at Toronto's History club, with queer musician and "Friday" singer Rebecca Black DJing, while Canadian drag queens Makayla Couture and Naomi Leone also bringing their star quality to the stage.


Proceeds from the event will go towards 2SLGBTQI+ charity The Get Real Movement, which combats discrimination in schools and workplaces, as well as to Toronto's Glad Day Bookshop, the world's oldest queer bookstore. Glad Day is facing possible eviction and fundraising to keep its doors open as it plans its next era.

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Lavender Wild, an initiative of Live Nation, had its first edition in 2023, which was less dance focused, bringing international stars like Hayley Kiyoko, G Flip and Girl In Red to Toronto, as well as programming Canadian artists like myst milano. and Shawnee Kish. The festival prioritizes hiring 2SLGBTQI+ labour on-stage and off, including videographers, vendors, photographers and more.

The 2024 edition will swap last year's Echo Beach location for History, promising to be a sweet and sweaty night at the club.

Tickets go on sale Friday, June 21 on the Lavender Wild site.

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Jason Derulo and Nora Fatehi
Mohamed Saad

Jason Derulo and Nora Fatehi

Pop

Nora Fatehi and Jason Derulo Join Forces for ‘Snake’: Inside the Globe-Spanning Collaboration

Fatehi, a Canadian-Moroccan Bollywood superstar, hopes the new single "introduces me to the international market in a very unique way," while Derulo preps new music of his own.

Nora Fatehi and Jason Derulo have kicked off 2025 with a single designed to combine cultures. On Thursday (Jan. 16), the Bollywood superstar and veteran hitmaker unveiled “Snake,” a thumping dance collaboration that joins East Asian melodies with American dance-pop production, creating a sensual duet with global aspirations.

Fatehi tells Billboard that the track came courtesy of a discussion with producer Tommy Brown (Ariana Grande, Victoria Monét) about finding a sound that could unite audiences in different regions of the world. “My main word was ‘exotic,’ and I wanted to make sure that it was dance-oriented — that whoever heard the song would want to move,” she recalls. “And after finishing the song, we were thinking about which artist would really be a good collaborator, and Jason’s name came up. And I’ve been a fan, and someone who’s really appreciated his journey, for a very long time.”

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