My Pride Anthems: Juno Dawson

The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything, and that includes how we’re all celebrating Pride in 2020.

With huge public gatherings out of the question, we’re asking a range of LGBTQ celebrities and allies for their personal Pride anthems, to help us all get into the Pride spirit from lockdown.

Up next in our My Pride Anthems series is young adult author Juno Dawson, who recently released her latest novel Wonderland, a modern retelling of Alice In Wonderland with a transgender teenager at the centre of the story.

Juno – who was recently awarded the Young Adult Book Prize for her latest work – has picked songs from artists including The Saturdays and Demi Lovato, revealing her choices are tracks she associates with “key Prides in her life”...

The Shapeshifters – Lola’s Theme

“I met my friend Sarah-Lee at Brighton Pride 2005. It was the first time we’d really been out together, and we just absolutely went off to this song, and in that moment I knew that we were going to be friends forever. And we still are.

“And this is so not my normal kind of music, but that song, and dancing to that song at The Open House in Brighton, brings back memories.

“Sarah-Lee is cisgender, but she’s now the most amazing advocate for trans rights, she’s really dedicated herself to supporting trans youth whenever she can, and she’s one of the stewards for Trans Pride in Brighton, she’s amazing.”

Demi Lovato – Cool For The Summer

“I think songs can really define your summer, and Pride summer tends to fall around the summer months. If there was ever a bisexual or trans-inclusive song, it’s Demi Lovato’s Cool For The Summer. Because, of course, she refers to ‘don’t be scared ‘cause I’m your body type’. There you go. Also what a bop! And then it was immortalised in a Drag Race lip sync, as well.

“This song reminds me of me and my friend Lewis, and that year he was going through a really horrible break-up, and he stayed with me for a few nights, and we just listened to this song over and over and over.”

The Saturdays – All Fired Up

“This song has absolutely nothing to do with anything LGBT, but when this came out, I had moved to London, and I came down [to Brighton] for what I believe was the last Pride I had using my previous name, and so it did slightly feel like a ‘going away party’.

“I wasn’t sure what my relationship with Pride was going to be after that, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be my last Pride. And luckily, it was not, and there have been many more since. And many more to come. Well, if we’re ever allowed to reunite with people in public spaces again.”

Visage – Fade To Grey

“Blast from the past. If you don’t know this song, you’ll know the sample, because Kelly Osbourne sampled it on One Word.

“This one again, it has nothing to do with the song itself, but it was my first Pride in London, and it was my first time at [club night] Gay Shame. It was absolutely pouring with rain outside, such a wash-out, and I was in the toilets at Gay Shame, and I realised I was queueing up next to Caitlin Moran and Grace Dent, bizarrely. And that song came on, and we just had the most amazing bathroom party.

“And that was pre-transition – so this notion that we’re not all sharing bathrooms at all times, it’s wild. So don’t be worried about bathrooms, just go and dance to Visage with Caitlin Moran and Grace Dent.”

Lady Gaga – Alice

“Honestly, this is not promotion for my book! But it’s quite clear that album, Chromatica, is the album of the summer, which is so frustrating because can you imagine how much fun we would have had at Pride events dancing to Rain On Me and Alice?

“And so it’s a bit of a shame, and I understand now why Gaga put the album back a little bit, because it was an album that should have come out around Pride month. And even though we’re all going to have to celebrate Pride at our homes and in our gardens this year, there’s no doubt that album is a Pride album.”

Juno Dawson’s latest book, Wonderland, is available to buy now.