Planning a wedding is stressful, no doubt, but where you really die a little bit each time is in the locking in the details that make your moment a special day. For gay weddings, it’s doubly hard. You can’t walk into a store and find groom and groom signage or bride and bride invitations. You either have to custom make things yourself or find someone online who can. And when it comes to finding music that is appropriate, that’s a whole other beast. Sure, there are songs that meaningful to you as a couple, but most have a heteronormative message that fails to consider that gay narrative or that a same-sex couple may want to use it as a wedding song because of the universal theme of love.
My partner and I found this process grueling. We went through hundreds of songs that were meaningful to us, then we broke down the lyrics and realized…all these guys are singing about girls so we were limited to finding female vocals that were singing about a man—still didn’t feel 100% kosher, but we were limited. More about this insane process HERE
With all of this in mind, it’s nice to discover that MGM Resorts has put together a small album entitled Universal Love, that celebrates modern love for everyone and for those who are looking for the right song to make their special day all the more perfect. Where the hell was this album one year ago?!
The album is a collection of six songs that have been “reimagined as wedding songs for the LGBTQ community, celebrating the enduring and overwhelming power of love and music to unite” says the official press release.
The album features queer covers of classic love songs. Tracks include:
Bob Dylan – “He’s Funny That Way”
St. Vincent – “And Then She Kissed Me”
Kele Okereke – “My Guy”
Valerie June – “Mad About the Girl”
Benjamin Gibbard – “And I Love Him”
Kesha –“ I Need a Woman to Love”
My favorite track is Gibbard’s And I Love Him, which would have definitely been a top choice for one of our wedding songs.
Phyllis James, MGM Resorts’ Chief Diversity & Corporate Social Responsibility Officer, said:
We believe projects like this will help all of us reach a point where seeing the world through the lens of people who happen to be different from us becomes natural and commonplace. It is an immense honor for MGM Resorts to spearhead this inspirational project which celebrates LGBTQ dimensions of the universal emotion of love.
Each artist attached to the project has a personal connection to why they are involved.
While the album only has 6 tracks, let’s hope that his is the beginning of new form of love song that celebrates everyone and that can resonate in the hearts of lovers universally.
Fall in love all over again when you listen to Universal Love
