Belgium’s Eurovision entrant Mustii hopes the contest will show queer artists “deserve” a platform. (Eurovision/European Broadcasting Union/Peppe Andersson)
Belgium’s Eurovision Song Contest entrant and Drag Race Belgique judge Mustii has shared his hope that the music contest will serve as a reminder to the world that queer people “deserve to be here”.
Mustii, who will take to the stage at tonight’s Eurovision semi-final (9 May) with his moody pop bop “Before The Party’s Over” in hopes of making it to Saturday’s Grand Final, says there is still a “fight” to get queer people accepted.
Speaking exclusively to PinkNews, Mustii reflected on the fact that, despite there being a huge number of LGBTQ+ artists in this year’s contest, some of the participating countries – like Russia and Lithuania – are less than accepting of LGBTQ+ people.
“I’m a queer artist, I’m proud of it, and I hope young people can identify themselves [in me],” he declares.
“For the countries where it’s a bit more hard… maybe I’m naive, but I have the hope that through the music, through the emotions that we can deliver, they will feel connected and they will know that, in fact, [it] doesn’t matter if you’re gay or bi or whatever.
“I hope that by arts, by music, we can show that we share the same emotion, that it’s OK, that it’s not a problem, that we deserve to be here,” he adds.
While Belgium is currently deemed as one of the European countries most accepting of LGBTQ+ people according to the Rainbow Europe Map and Index 2023, Mustii feels that, even there, there is still work to do.
“Even in Belgium, I know we are pretty… progressive, the gay marriage is there since a long time, we have a lot of rights and stuff, but even in these countries, there’s still a lot of struggle and people are still rejected from their families, people are still hurt, there’s still some people who are dying,” he says.
“So I think it’s a fight that we must have and keep on pushing in the mainstream areas.”
Mustii says that he doesn’t consider himself a “political militant” and won’t have any “flag or rainbow colours” during his performance, but he hopes the lyrics of his song “Before The Party’s Over” will connect with queer listeners anyway.
“[The] underlying… message behind [it], you can totally see my song as a song about the community, for example, someone rejected from his family,” he explains.
“A lot of people [are] sending me messages because they thought the song was about that and they’re like, ‘Thank you for that. I feel really helped,’ and so for me it’s really touching to have that. It’s just that I hope that music can connect each other.”
As one of several LGBTQ+ artists at this year’s contest, which includes Ireland’s Bambie Thug and Lithuania’s Silvester Belt, Mustii has enjoyed hanging out with his community.
“With [Switzerland’s entrant] Nemo we went along very well. I’m a really really huge fan of [UK entrant] Olly Alexander, so it’s still weird for me to be there like, ‘Hey, how are you Olly?’ It’s a bit of a dream for me.
“But it’s really super nice and we are in the same boat, and I can feel that. There’s a great mood. It’s a great year for the queer artists.”
The Eurovision Song Contest second semi-final airs on 9 May at 8pm on BBC One, with the Grand Final set to take place on Saturday 11 May.