The Aces Premiere Their Queer-Longing Anthem 'Kelly'

The Aces just dropped an anthem for queer longing, and the band is premiering their new song exclusively with PRIDE.

"'Kelly' is so exciting for us a band," Cristal tells PRIDE. "It's one of our favorite songs we've ever written. It's also, obviously, very queer." She adds, "I date women and was dating this girl at this time that inspired this song."

"Met a girl with a smile that I liked and her name was Kelly," Cristal's airy vocals tease over a bouncy, Caribbean-inspired synth beat. "Golden hair in her eyes of the kind make you feel like heaven."

It was inspired by a feeling Cristal says everybody has had, of "being really interested in someone and feeling like this person was not giving me the attention I so hoped she would be giving me."

"Everyone's had those maddening, crazy feelings of just getting mixed feelings from this person all the time."

Though careful listeners might've clocked the subtle "blue bikini by the pool" reference in their last single, "My Phone is Trying to Kill Me," this new track marks the first time The Aces have used pronouns in any of their songs. "Kelly" feels like a declaration of sorts, a proud acknowledgment of 3/4 of the members' identity.

Cristal says the band's previous avoidance of pronouns "wasn't consciously purposeful. We definitely were a lot younger when we were writing the last record."

When they were putting together their debut 2018 album When My Heart Felt Volcanic, the girls were between 16 and 18 years old. Three of the four members are queer and just newly out at the time. There's no denying there was some nervousness about being accepted, but they were also still figuring out who they were for themselves. "There are societal pressures where you don't wanna niche yourself, you don't want to be seen as the gay band, and you don't want to be seen as not as commercial as you could be." Cristal concludes, "We just weren't ready to step into that space quite yet as artists."

Alisa agrees, adding, "We were young and also coming from a super conservative town. When you're being told that can compromise your dreams, it's a really scary thing."

With their upcoming album, Under My Influence, the girls let go of any inhibitions they might've had. "As we've grown and matured and stepped into what this album's really about, stepping into your power and being unapologetically yourself, it was a no brainer," says Alisa. "It was like, fuck it, we're setting out to make the most honest, authentic record we've ever made and that must include our whole truth."

To celebrate the release, The Aces are also kicking off PRIDE's 2020 Soundtracks of Pride series, where our favorite LGBTQ+ musicians share songs that made them who they are. We all have those songs that are forever ingrained in our coming-of-age stories. Songs that gave us hope, played during our first kiss, made us feel fierce, or simply helped us understand ourselves a little bit better. Oftentimes, this is particularly true for LGBTQ+ artists.

Compiled by Cristal, Alisa, and Katie, The Aces' playlist includes tracks from Clairo, Tyler the Creator, ABBA, Janelle Monáe, Troye Sivan, and more!

"Kelly" by The Aces is available to buy and stream here. Their sophomore album, Under My Influence, drops June 12. Listen to their Soundtrack of Pride playlist above and be sure to check back in for the rest of June for more from LGBTQ+ artists!