Christy DeGallerie, writer

Christy DeGallerie is a writer and interdisciplinary artist from New York.

Her contribution to the Modern Love column in the New York Times took my breath away a year ago, in which she wrote about her decision to come out to her mother on the day of her deportation. It's a moving, funny, sharp dissertation on migration, queerness, and gardening, and I insist you give it a read.

Christy is also an enormous music fan, and made this interview exceptionally easy by showing up with some fabulous selections and stories. We discuss music by the Organ, Santigold, and Azealia Banks.

Sign up to Christy's Substack, Really Bad Taste, follow her on Instagram and read more about her charity of choice, the Pauli Murray Center.

The other bits:

• Tracks of Our Queers is recorded and edited between Gadigal and Ngarigo land by me, Andy Gott
• Listen to all of the music discussed in the pod with the Selections from Tracks of Our Queers playlist
• You can email me with your own queer tracks or guest recommendations at tracksofourqueers@gmail.com
• Our beautiful artwork is illustrated by Luke Tribe

Transcript

Hello. Welcome to trucks about queers. My name is Andy. Got an each episode. I chat to a fascinating queer person about one song, one album on one artist that I've soundtrack their life. 

If you haven't read the modern love column in the New York times, I'm sure you've heard of it. You may have listened to the podcast or even seen the television series based on it. But in the slim chance, it's new to you. People from around the world submit. Essays detailing their experiences for a mantic familial and even platonic love stories. 



I was reading the column myself sometime last year when I was struck by a particularly powerful and a particularly queer tale. Totaled out of the closet and into the garden. The author Christy to gallery opens with the line. I came out to my mother the day she was deported. 

The article discusses the cultural pressures that led to Christie's recurring attempts to come out while discussing her mother's garden [00:01:00] as a metaphor for her own hopes as an undocumented migrant. I'll leave the rest for you to enjoy yourself. 

Obviously it's linked in this episode, show notes, but more relevant to this podcast. Christy is an enormous music fan and we had a ball discussing her own queer musical influences. 

Producing this podcast is very much a one queer band and listen to contributions. Go a huge way in keeping the lights switched on and the show at free. If you're interested in supporting me, you can do so by buying me a coffee through the link in the show notes, but alternatively, leaving a rating or review is greatly appreciated. 

I know that every podcast you listen to tells you this, but it's true. It's free and it's an easy way to help the podcast reach new listeners that thank you very much in the fence for your support. Enough from me over to Christie. 

Christy DeGallerie
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Andy Gott: [00:00:00] 

Well, with that clear, Christy DeGallerie, welcome to Tracks of our Queers.

Christy DeGallerie: Thank you for having me.

Andy Gott: Tell me about the music playing at home as you were growing up.

Christy DeGallerie: Oh my goodness. You know what's funny is that I think it was like a little bit of, It started out with my, my dad's really, my parents are immigrants, so my dad, there's a huge Like, country, western, kind of swamp funk theme that happens in the Caribbean. I don't know what that, what's going on over there.

But, so, my dad would play, like, Johnny Cash. we would have these records where it was really a lot of country music. And then, my mom sort of got into like, listening to like, Meredith Brooks. And, like, Macy Gray. It kind of changed. It was like Lillith [00:01:00] Fair. in my house for a little bit. 

I don't know if my mom realized how gay her music selections were. but they, they really were. I was like, listening to Tracy Chapman, Macy Gray. So I was just like, what, does she realize what's going on? But, so that was kind of it. It turned to country, then it turned to a lot of like, these like, a lot of female led music and, and bands.

And I think that, oh my god, did my mom turn me gay? Maybe that, that's how, that's the music that was growing up in my, that I was listening to growing up in my

Andy Gott: that might be another podcast, or maybe it's this one. I don't know. so you mentioned that your dad was listening to music that he'd grown up with in the Caribbean. Was the music that your mum was listening to, was that music that she'd taken with her from the country she was born in, or was that music that she was exposed to in America?

Christy DeGallerie: Definitely exposed to, cause her, her music again was also really like swamp funk and stuff and a [00:02:00] lot of French music as well. my dad speaks French, the island that he's from. So it's, there was a lot of French music, a lot of French influence. And then I think just being in America, she was a domestic worker.

So I think, just being in other people's homes and being exposed to what they were listening to, I think she was like, Oh, okay, let me just, let me, you know, widen up my taste of music. And then she'd bring that home and she'd like, we had a radio and she'd like, always like have it on. Not sure what station it was but I was like, thank God we're listening to something else. And, you know, I was so embarrassed because all my friends are listening to, you know, TLC and, you know, and I was just like, Oh, I'm not really listening to any of that at home. So I was always excited to listen to my friends, CD players and hear what they were listening to. And I love TLC.

Andy Gott: Wow, that brings me on to my next question, [00:03:00] so you've mentioned TLC, which is what your friends were listening to, but what's the music you think of when you imagine when you were formulating your own taste? Was it TLC? Was it others?

Christy DeGallerie: it was honestly a lot of Tracy Chapman. I tried to, I knew that there was something really different. Like I grew up in Harlem. I knew like there was huge hip hop scene, but there, I just never, and I hate saying, I just never really got like into it. Like there was just a few like folks with like hip hop and RB that I really love, but I couldn't vibe with it.

And I just, for a while, like, I couldn't, music just wasn't, I couldn't relate to anything really. and it wasn't until I was like 16 and 17, where I was just like, people started to show me, like, punk and like, rock and Really like a lot of like, I mean, I remember the first time I listened to like Nine Inch Nails and I was like, Whoa.

So, and my mom was definitely not going to listen to any of that. And, [00:04:00] just started to like hang out with all these different people and realize that I didn't have to be, you know, in a certain genre. I didn't know that was even allowed. So I think when I started to listen to punk and, and I realized, Oh, this is kind of more.

My speed and it kind of just, it just kind of opened me up to even understanding myself more and realizing that I was gay. And I think with music that my friends were listening to, there wasn't a gateway for me to, to be myself. I felt like I needed to conform with the environment that I was living in. And so it kind of like made me, it pushed me more into the closet. So I started hanging out with like some like skateboarders and punks and like, and started to, you know, kind of creep into what, what they were listening to and exposed me to so many wonderful bands. [00:05:00] Yeah.

okay, so you mentioned you started to form friendships in different circles with punks and skaters Yeah, pretty much. I was at a party that I shouldn't have been into. should have never, it was like, it was actually a party in like this, in a church, which is really bizarre. and I shouldn't have been there. I was too young. I was about 16 years old, and 

And, you know, all these subcultures and, and I didn't understand, like, Oh, these, I can, you know, dress like this and, you know, I don't, my hair doesn't have to be like this.

I started to also, like, learn about bad brains. And, like, all these, like, black punk bands that I had no idea existed. And, every time there was a song playing, I felt like such a herb. I was like, I'm such a loser. I don't know any of this. And anytime there was a song [00:06:00] playing, I would ask someone or I would ask a friend, I'm like, what is this?

And there was like no shazam, right? So I'd be like, what is this song? Who, what is this? You know? Or like bother a DJ who's like, please get away from me. But I was just so curious. I'm like, what is this? And every time I would ask, it was like, I found out, like, I did more research, and I found out, like, this is a black band, and every song that I was coming up with, I was like, oh, this is a black person, or this is an all female band, and it, it just, it was a completely new world.

So I kept going to these parties that I shouldn't have been going to. Sorry, mom. And, And a lot of hot girls over there. And so I kept going to these parties and I kept finding myself. And I'm just like, I'm not gay. And, and I was like, okay, this is like, there was no judgment. It was very free. I saw other black people there that I've never knew again existed who were like punks, wore black tattoos, shaved heads.

And I was [00:07:00] like, I can't believe. That this exists also in my neighborhood. I'm like, where have I been? Why haven't I seen this? and I just, it really, it really did change the course of my life. I was just like, okay, I can just, I don't have to conform with this. And which is, which is interesting with punk is that it is very similar to the movement of hip hop, right?

There is resistance. There is, I'm not going to conform. And those two worlds are very similar. and so I, while I didn't, Just jump into the hip hop scene with a lot of my friends. I still, we still had that, the commonality of, you know, screw the world and, you know, fuck the system. Right.

Andy Gott: and that's also another exciting point on that journey of discovering that these different genres while on the very surface level, might aesthetically look like they're from different worlds. If you know, you know, the commonalities are there and the people who are relating to a certain through line in that genre [00:08:00] are probably picking up on the same through line in other genres.

Christy DeGallerie: Yeah. it's the best. and I, you know, I wish, as a kid, I'm happy that I found it when I did, but I always think I'm like, Oh, I wasted so much time, not knowing this or not, understanding it. And I just learned by going to these underground parties I shouldn't have been at, I found more of myself and, my politics change as well,

you know? So, that's how important, I think that's another thing, you know, how important music, it changed my life in a way where I learned why people say fuck the system, you know, all those people at those parties were marginalized in their own way, or was running away from something.

whether it was abuse, whether it was just, I'm a weirdo when I don't fit in. so we're all gonna stomp around and sing and, essentially, hopefully hook up 

Andy Gott: Mm hmm. Mm

Christy DeGallerie: know, it really, I wish that things are changing [00:09:00] now.

I mean, I don't know how the punk scene is anymore. , everyone's like. You know, in their own way and stuff, but it changed my life and I got to meet bandmates. I ended up being in a band, which was really fun. and as all bands, we break up because, someone ends up sleeping with someone and then there's a whole fallout and then everyone has to, break up.

But. You know, that also I realized, oh, I can actually just be a part of this scene by actually, you know, playing music or listening to music or, you know. Just if I'm, if I'm a part of this underground scene, I'm going to really be a part of it now. Like I'm going to completely submerge myself into this.

And also the attention was fun, right?

Andy Gott: yeah,

Christy DeGallerie: As much as like punks don't want to conform, we also love the attention cause we're not getting anywhere else.

Andy Gott: absolutely 

So Christie, I love that journey through Your punk years if you will now human beings we contain multitudes, especially queer people 

I'd like to ask you if you still think that if you were a [00:10:00] music album, you would be the Emancipation of Mimi by Mariah Carey.



Christy DeGallerie: Oh my gosh, I actually would. Absolutely. Absolutely. Let me tell you something about Mariah Carey. Don't have me go through this, like, tangent. Because she, sometimes I just wish, there's like parts of me where I'm just like, come out of the closet, I know you're in there. Um, oh my gosh, I'm just like, come on Mariah, you're one of the girls.

Um, Mariah Carey is An icon.

Andy Gott: Yes.

Christy DeGallerie: In so many ways, I have never seen so many people from all different cultures, all different genres of music. I mean, Who just love Mariah Carey. And I think it's more so, it's not just the lyrics in what she's talking about, where she's just like, you know, it can be romantic [00:11:00] and stuff, but it's just like her overall attitude of singing.

She just doesn't give a fuck. And I think that makes her the most badass person ever. And that album was just, was everything.

Andy Gott: really, I mean, no disagreement with anything you've said about Mariah, but that album specifically is incredible. It's a masterwork. Why, what did that, this is not the album that you picked to discuss, but we can't go past this. What, what is it about that album that spoke to you specifically?

Christy DeGallerie: It's, it's like liberating. I think that's what I'm, I think that's what I get when I listen to it. I'm like, Oh, she's like a, she's an activist. She's liberating herself from all these, like the heartbreak and the, you know, and I've, and I've been through many of breakups and you know, while I am Punk forever.

I'm like, Mariah, you have healed so many of the girls with all of your songs.

Andy Gott: Mariah

Christy DeGallerie: You know?

Andy Gott: lesbian punk.

Christy DeGallerie: Yes. And she's also a [00:12:00] little delusional, which I kind of love. You know, there's, there's a little bit of delusion there. You know, like, you hate this guy, but you're still like, I want you and I'm going to chase you and I'm going to be with you, but also leave me alone on my own independent woman.

Like, what's going on? Mariah, what's going on in your head? And I think I can too be delusional in that way when it comes to romance. so that, when that came out, that was also on the radio non stop. I was like, this is actually, that's kind of everything that I went through at the same time. Mariah and I were on the same level when it comes to romance, so.

yeah, she's just, she's, it's liberating, her romance.

Andy Gott: connected with the Doolooloo through the radio waves and, it's an incredible album. Now, Christy, you are a mother, correct?

Christy DeGallerie: I am.

Andy Gott: I'd love to know if and how parenthood has shifted your musical consumption or perhaps even your taste. 

Christy DeGallerie: Not at all. 

Andy Gott: [00:13:00] love

Christy DeGallerie: love that, and I sound so like, I sound like a hipster. I'm like, I love that my kids don't listen to any of that new stuff. But it's so true. I'll have them listen to like, things that I listen to. And I feel so bad, but I'm like, I kind of like, I'll turn something on. Even if it's Tracy Chapman, I'll, I'll, I'll turn something, I don't go full punk with them.

I sometimes I do bad brains and I just like, scare them a little bit. But I'll like put, like, just Tracy Chapman on, and just see how they respond to it. And they end up loving it, and I'm like, yeah, okay, let's keep going. And I'll just like, give them like the classics, and they're like, okay, this is great.

And then I'll give them, I'll give them Bad Brains, and they're like, whoa. You know what I mean? I'll play The Cure. They're like, okay. Like, you know what I mean? I'll give them even like My Chemical Romance. I'll hook them up with some You know, [00:14:00] and they're like, whoa, I'll give them things that, like, I grew up with.

And I'm like, the things you're listening to now are like, ugh. Like, don't listen to that. Stay, stay, you know, be old with me.

And, um, yeah.

You have 

Andy Gott: in my top three reasons to have a child, one of them would be to like, brainwash them with my musical tastes. So I'm on, I'm on that journey. 

Christy DeGallerie: that's a part of parenting. If you're not a good parent if you're not giving the kids, you're throwing these records at them and, you just have to do it. and they will, listen because you're their parents. So,

Andy Gott: so they have to. 

Christy DeGallerie: they have to.

Andy Gott: Well, okay, that's a lovely segue into the reason how you came on my radar, which was through a really, really beautiful article that you wrote in the New York Times under the Modern Love column. I read it last August and it was called, well it is called, Out of the Closet and Into the Garden.

Tell me a little bit about the genesis of that piece of writing, and I'd also love to know about the response you received to it.

Christy DeGallerie: Okay, so [00:15:00] I, I have a very, very, I've always had a very complicated relationship with my mother. And, I grew up very religious. So, it was, I knew from the beginning that being queer was not something that I could say or anything like that. And, I think once, I got a little bit older, I kind of, all my friends always knew, right?

But I kind of just stayed very much in the closet. even adulthood, just like, you know, just to, you know, make sure that she, she's not going to collapse when she finds out so I, I ended up telling my mother, that I was gay the day I found out that she was getting deported. And it sounds terrible at first.

It sounds really selfish. It sounds like a very spoiled American child. Um, that this is my moment now. But it really did, it really did feel that way. It felt, and this [00:16:00] sounds terrible, but there was a moment where I like could take a deep breath and I was like, I'm going to do this now because it only feels right.

I don't know what came over me or what compelled me to do it. it just felt like, in the drama of being a lesbian, it felt like this is, this is going to be my last chance. I have to do this now, because I have no idea what's going to happen. And, which was really true. I didn't know what was going to happen.

I didn't know how the process worked. I didn't know if I was going to see her. I really didn't know what was going to happen. And I was like, you know what? I have to just, you know, let you know that I'm gay.

And she didn't really respond to it. She didn't really acknowledge it. She was just like, you know, I love you. And you know, I think you've wanted to probably say that to me for a very long time. And, you know, she was like, we're gonna have an opportunity for us to talk about this, you know, talk about you and your life and all the things you wanted to share with me, in Jamaica.

And she said that with the hints of her [00:17:00] garden, which she's, her entire life she's wanted, And, due to our circumstances of, being in, having, you know, pretty much no income at all, that's pretty much impossible, especially in New York. Everything's concrete, right? and she just, she just wanted a garden all the time.

And I was like, you know what, I'm going to get older and I'm going to have this thing and I'm going to give you this and you're going to have your garden. And I think, I knew that you can be, you know, queer and successful, but I think in her idea, there was no way that if I said I was queer, then all the dreams that we said we were going to have together, were never going to come true.

And I didn't want to kill that for her. And, so, that day on the phone, with her being deported, I, , you know, I said, we can still make this garden. You know what I mean? We can still do this. This is not like the end of any dream. And you know, I don't want my queerness to make you think that, you know, this is, my life won't be, amazing because it is.

and I [00:18:00] have an amazing life. so that was really hard to write. I wrote that. in the end of 2020, like around the end of 2020, I started writing about it because a friend thought it was absurd that I did it. Like, he kind of made fun of me. He was like, that is the funniest thing that you've done.

Like, he was just like, I can't imagine my job. I'm like, in pretty much a jail. And my kid's like, hey, I gotta tell you something real quick. and it was humorous when you think about it. It was just such like a me moment.

And I, I was going to make it into a one woman show, which, my friend wanted to produce. And it was, we were really going to do the thing. and then I was just like, maybe I should just turn it into like a, a piece first before we do anything magical with it. just to get it out there.

and I wrote it and I left it alone. and then last year, I sent it to, I won't say the publication's name, but I sent it to, my friend gave me an email, I sent it to this [00:19:00] person at, another publication and, they, Said that they hated it,

And they were like, this just isn't, this doesn't fit for us. And, we just don't understand. We don't understand it. And I don't think anyone would really relate to it. 

Andy Gott: It's a very specific set of circumstances.

Christy DeGallerie: And so I was like, I don't think that's a everyday story, so I don't know who's gonna relate to it.

And, I don't really get discouraged easily. I'm from New York, so you can hit me a million times and I'm like, whatever. So, with that, I just was like, okay, on to the next thing. And, I was like, oh, this would be like a really good modern love story. I've only read a few. And I was like, oh, this would actually be really good.

it's not about romance, but it is about love. And it's a story that should be talked about. And so I sent it to, an editor at the New York Times and I got a response in like, honestly, like a week or so. And, yeah, we just started working on it and, he, Dan, the editor, he just, you know, tweaked some things and, it was [00:20:00] out in, in August, I believe.

So it was like the, it was like I may, maybe like May, June. that I pitched it and then by August it was, it was out. And I actually didn't it was going to come out. Cause I was just like, I, you know, people are going to think this is ridiculous and that I'm an awful person. I don't know. I just kept, I just kept putting it on myself.

But the response was, was amazing. I, there were other people that talked to, there were other queer people that talked about, Having, parents who are immigrants and how they're still in the closet and they're like 40 and their parents have no idea and I was like, whoa.

And, there were just people who, wished my mom just well. Like, you know, I love the relationship that you and your mom had. And, you know, it was a really, it was an amazing response and a lot of people wanted to talk to me and find out more. I was supposed to do, the Modern Love podcast. I turned it down.

only because I think the essay says enough. I didn't want to like flesh out more of what, you know, and, and they [00:21:00] wanted to really peel it back and, and get deep into the relationship between me and my mom. And some of that is still kind of just,

Andy Gott: Complicated. There's a lot there. And, I also didn't want my mom to be like a bad person and I think people wanted to peel those layers like why did it take so long and I think people are just complicated and my mom's a boomer.

Christy DeGallerie: You know, she's a boomer and she was also religious It's just, you know, it just happens and I think some people just really don't get it and so the response was good and I'm happy, I'm happy that it was out there and it's still something that has been following me for a while and I love it and we're trying to turn it into a one

woman show, which is exciting, which is going to have a lot of music.

Andy Gott: one woman show, you can control which layers that you choose to peel back and how far you peel them back, I suppose. Um, but the, having a forcing function in coming out is something that many queer people can relate with, but not many queer [00:22:00] people, I'm sure, can relate with 

The forcing function being the deportation of a parent and that is such a specific set of circumstances. It's so lovely to know that there are people out there who can relate to parts of your story and have reached out and it's just such a, the confluence of someone's migration status, having some weight on it.

over someone else's Decision of when to come out. It's just so heavy and an enormous and complex and it was a really really beautiful article It goes without saying that it will be linked in the show notes to this episode because if you haven't read it you need to immediately but all my main takeaways from it were apart from connecting with the The discussion of the gardening, because I love gardening too, and gardening can be queer.

Christy DeGallerie: Yes. 

Andy Gott: it was just the love between a mother and a daughter in a very queer set of circumstances. So, yeah, really beautiful.

Christy DeGallerie: Thank you. I appreciate that.

Andy Gott: Let's get into the reason that we're here. Christy, you picked three [00:23:00] selections. You chose a track, an album, and an artist, which have all in some way informed or soundtracked parts of your queerness. And we're going to go back to a part of your life. Which you've already discussed a little bit with the track, so what is the track and why did you choose it?

Christy DeGallerie: So the track is, Brother by The Organ. Which is an amazing band. If no one knows this band, get on it now. It is so queered, so gay, and they don't play anymore. They unfortunately have dissolved But they, it's like this post punk and they kind of have like, this just, it's just badass.

And I think their band formed in like 2003. But this track is so amazing to me. because I heard it in one of these underground parties in a [00:24:00] church. And it was like this, this queer punk party and I was like, you know, what is this song? What is this song? And I started freaking out and it was just, first of all, the song is just hot.

But it also is like this cry for help, but this vulnerability, if you listen to the lyrics, there's this vulnerability where, you know, The singer's kind of like, you know, I'm okay with being wrong in this situation. You know, I'm okay with, like, taking the hit. and I just, it's, it's so good. It's like, it's like an anthem for me.

I don't know. Everyone has to listen to it. It's amazing. And, um, and I, I, I kissed a girl that night. Uh, when, that,

Andy Gott: Hot.

Christy DeGallerie: while that song was playing. So maybe that is why I love it so much. Um, and then later on, which was hilarious, I, [00:25:00] it was on the L Word. 

And, I was watching The L Word. I had gotten the DVDs from Babysitting Money and I hid them under my bed.

And, I put on I was watching The L Word and I was like, I know that song! And I started, freaking out. I was like, I know that song! I know that song! And so they were also on The L Word for, a little cameo. and, and I think season three I'm being, I know my L Word.

It's just, it's so special. And, and I love it. I love it so much. Love that band so much. That entire album, the organ is amazing, but Brother is just, it's a beautiful song. it's just very vulnerable. And I love when people can be vulnerable and like post punk music and it's just, it's really good.

So yes. And I, again, I kissed a girl when that song was playing.

Andy Gott: Wow, that's, that's the big moment. So I had the L word reference in my notes from a bit of research. But, you kissing a [00:26:00] girl during it is, is the moment. Is it, can I ask, was it the first girl that you kissed?

Christy DeGallerie: It was not, but I think it was the first girl that I kissed that I actually liked,

Andy Gott: Ooh, okay.

Christy DeGallerie: which makes, which makes a huge difference. so it was like the first girl that I actually liked. the first girl that I kissed, I was probably like 13. And then, and then it was years later when I heard that song, and from all that time from 13 to being like an actual teenager, I hadn't kissed anyone that entire time.

So this was like, this was legit, this was real.

Andy Gott: This was the real thing. I was getting a lot of, the cure in this song. I hadn't heard it before. And you've mentioned the cure. And there's those specific kind of guitar Chords. I can't describe it articulately, but I was getting the cure, the riffs, and and I'm just a big fan of any kind of like dream pop adjacent.

It is quite dreamy and moody and melancholy and I love it. It was a great discovery for me, so thank you for sharing.

Christy DeGallerie: so happy.

Andy Gott: I [00:27:00] am very excited to talk about this next selection. Which album did you pick, Christy, and why? 

Christy DeGallerie: Oh my gosh, Santogold by Santigold.

Andy Gott: beautiful personal story about

Christy DeGallerie: isn't she amazing? I can cry talking about her. I'm in her fan club, she has a fan club. Please check out her fan club, cause She just sends newsletters and merch, and I, if I could follow her in every city that she goes to, I would. that album saved my life.

I was in, I think it was like 2008, I don't remember what year actually, but that album saved my life. I was going through like a lot of like, um, It didn't have language then, but like a lot of gender stuff. And, really not, just, I couldn't figure things out.

Like, I just, something was just off. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I was like, am I bisexual? I'm not bi. [00:28:00] I'm straight again. Am I queer? Why do I hate my boobs? And then, and then it led to, me going to a friend's house, and my friends were, we were really into like music, like, like MySpace and, and discovering stuff and finding stuff.

And, my friend's playing, Santa Gold and I was just like, who is this? And then he was like, immediately, he didn't even say her name, he was like, oh this is Black Chick and she's so cool. And I was like, a black girl sings this? And I remember just listening and feeling. so empowered and I got like all my confidence back.

It was just like, she, that album exudes just such like kick ass confidence. I'm going to do what I want. you can't tell me anything. [00:29:00] it's just, if you need a confidence boost, that is, that is the album to listen to. And it's just every song. And I, and I also love that. I really respect artists that have a consistent sound.

I get really tripped up when, like, all of a sudden I'm used to the sound of an artist and then they completely change their sound and they're now, like, doing something else. She is consistent with every song. So it sounds like you're listening to the same thing. And for me, like, I love that. It's like, kind of the lyrics just change.

But the main theme is still there and, it's just, so good. And She's an icon she saved my life. And, I'm not sure of her status and queerness, but it is a very queer album to me. And it helped with so many things. I started to just really, you know, I was like, Oh, I don't have to dress this way. I can look like this. And, just seeing also the visuals and how she was dressing in all the music videos with that album. It was just so badass. [00:30:00] 

Andy Gott: you nailed it with the Cohesion that Santigold has in her music, and I think it's interesting to point out that at this time she was called Santo Gold, which is crazy because she's just 

Christy DeGallerie: everyone to know that. Yes.

Andy Gott: Um, but

she's cohesive. However, especially on this album, every track is very different. The styles and the genres are so complex and unique, but there is a very clear cohesion through the whole thing.

And I was rereading old reviews from when the album came out, and even at the time people were saying, each track is unique and different, but there's Very clear themes throughout the whole thing, and that is [00:31:00] Mastery. And while this was her debut album, I think she'd been working in the music industry for a good ten years before this, working with other people, songwriting, producing, that kind of thing.

And I love that, because it means that the first body of work that she put out in the world, which had her name on it and was her baby, had ten plus years of experience behind it, so she knew. Exactly who she wanted to be and exactly what she wanted to sound like. There's no figuring out who she is on this album, this is her.

And I think maybe that's why it correlates to the feelings you're picking up of that confidence, self assurity, because, I don't know if self assurity is a word, I think it's self assuredness.

Christy DeGallerie: Let's, let's make it a 

Andy Gott: Let's 

make it a word. But it's because she is all of those things. It's because she is completely confident It's so exciting.

I actually hadn't heard this album in maybe a couple of years, but by you picking it, it's taken me back to an incredibly exciting period of my life of discovering [00:32:00] this new music and through Santigold, pairing all these different genres together. 

Are you familiar with the mixtapes you put out around this time with Diplo called Top Ranking? That, this album, so I listened to this album first when you selected it and then it reminded me that there's this mixtape which I don't have on my laptop anymore because we all listen to like Spotify or whatever, but I used to have the mp3s from that mixtape on my old laptop for years and Guys, if you're listening to this, you need to stop this episode right now and go and find the Santigold Diplo

mixtape because not only is this album amazing but there was this companion mixtape which mixed in songs from the album with, I presume, a lot of the influences of the album and so many amazing samples that just couldn't be done with Spotify these days, so let's bring back the mixtape, 

Christy DeGallerie: [00:33:00] bring back the mix tapes.

Andy Gott: it was a window into the creative process of an artist and producer, but it was fun, and it introduced me to like, punk bands from the 70s and ska and reggae, all these crazy samples, and I love this podcast because I love the selections that people pick, but every now and then someone will select something, which gives me a very intense buzz because it takes me back to a specific time in my life.

And that was what this album was for me. 

Christy DeGallerie: I love that. That makes me so happy. Yeah, Santigold's amazing. Just like seeing, you know And I saw myself in her. Like this alternative indie girl and like just saying, Fuck it, I'm gonna be in this genre. And I was like, Oh my gosh. I'm so happy. I'm happy that brought you back.

Andy Gott: I remember at the time there was a lot of, comparisons with MIA, who was [00:34:00] also starting out at the time, and also worked a lot with Diplo. And I remember even at the time thinking. I don't think they're that alike, like they're both Women of color in an indie, sometimes often very white, genre. But, apart from that, the music isn't like, it's not that similar.

And I think at the time, both of them were getting a bit sick of being compared to the other, because it was quite a lazy comparison. It's like, we're actually not that similar. But what I loved was Full Circle Moment, they were actually friends, so they didn't even care anyway. They were like, we are friends, we're just not the same person.

Christy DeGallerie: We're just not the same. Yeah, I think their music was totally different. I just think they were also just like, they were fun and their clothes were cool. And they also, they both just had confidence and also just, I don't give a fuck attitude about them. So I think. Yeah, I think that's what everyone's like.

Let's put them in the same, in the same boat.

Andy Gott: but what a joy to revisit this album and it still sounds so fresh and so crisp and

Christy DeGallerie: It's timeless. it [00:35:00] doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing. Like, I feel so crazy, but I listen to that album once a week and it sounds so bizarre, but I do. It's never left my life. 

Andy Gott: love that. Well, it's back in mine for



Andy Gott: the artist, Christy, who did you pick and why?

Christy DeGallerie: Oh, don't get upset with me. Don't get upset with me. Azealia Banks!

Our problematic queen.

Oh my gosh, Azealia. it doesn't matter what she does. I, I can't take away how brilliant I can't. Of an artist she is. I, I can't let that, let that part go. 212 is probably, it is, I mean that whole album, Broke With Expensive Taste. Azealia Banks is just, She's brilliant and I [00:36:00] wish that there were the, the people, the good people that were in her corner when she first came out.

I think that would have changed her entire career. so she is very problematic. but I kind of admire how complex she is because I relate to those complexities. I think, I can sometimes put my foot in my mouth and I think she's very human. I think it's because we're seeing it up close and we're seeing it on social media that it's so easy to just quickly judge her.

and I just, think she's really smart and an amazing artist. she's from Harlem. I'm from Harlem. I remember her on Myspace. and I was like, Oh, she's doing like house music. is this techno? Is this house? I was like freaking out.

I was like, who is Azealia Banks? And when 212 came in, I was like, Oh, this is, I don't know a person that doesn't know that song. And. I, I think she's really, you know, I wish she got a lot more credit about, you know, this, like this house hip hop and rap, [00:37:00] you know, infusion with house. And I, I think she really, I, I, I mean I think she started it and it's unfortunate that I feel like she never got that credit.

But, she's, she changed my life and I. I think she's a part of the community. I don't want to say she's not. She absolutely

is. 

Andy Gott: words, she is. 

Christy DeGallerie: And her word she is. And she, every, I mean, there wasn't a gay party that I wasn't at where her music wasn't on, you know.

It was, her music was just always in a gay bar, a lesbian bar. And I was like, there's Azalea. And so, You know, I was like, I gotta stick with my girl. So every, through, being in the closet, my, a lot of, majority of my life, I felt like Azealia was like a part of my journey of just like being in the closet and listening to house music.

so I can, she's always going to be a part of my roster of favorite,

Andy Gott: she was quite literally a connection to queerness to you while you were still [00:38:00] closeted. 

Christy DeGallerie: yeah, And every person that I've dated has also just, we've bonded over Azealia Banks.

And so I just, yeah, she's been a part of my whole journey. And when I went through my whole house phase and going to all my, all my clubs, she's, she's been right there with me.

Andy Gott: Yeah,

Christy DeGallerie: I gotta keep her in my roster for sure.

Andy Gott: I think that is totally fair enough. I've been look i'm just gonna call a spade a spade I've been a bit nervous for this segment because over the last few days i've been listening to azalea and you're so right about the genius of her music It's Undisputed. When she, speaking about being in a specific time and place, when 212 came out, it was like nothing we'd ever heard before.

It was electric and even to this day if it comes on, it sends like the shivers down my neck [00:39:00] of like how it makes you feel. It was so fresh and so Full of Viv. Like, I don't even know how to describe it, but I also then remember being on that journey of being a new fan of someone who started to say things where I was like, okay, I don't know why she's saying that and then they'd snowball and get out of hand and she'd kind of dig her heels in deeper and I'm Look, don't get me wrong over the last 10 12 years There's been the occasional thing where I'm like, she's speaking truth there, I can see what she's saying. there's been other times where I'm like, can someone change her social media passwords, because

Christy DeGallerie: she needs a break sometimes, right? She needs to put the phone down sometimes. And then there's other times I'm like, Oh my God, preach, sister.

And then I'm like, Azealia, no, don't do it. And, she'll go on these long rants and it won't end. It'll be to like, you know, wee in the morning. And she'll be like, and another thing.

Andy Gott: there's some funny stuff, but there's also some, there's been [00:40:00] some like, borderline hate speech as well and really strong slurs and it's complicated because she is a woman in our community like you say and the old adage of like can you separate an artist from the art doesn't really apply here because a lot of people like yourself and her queer fans love her beyond just her art they love her because of who she is but it's complicated right when you've got

a queer artist producing incredible art.

Artistry, but then going on the record and saying some quite problematic stuff. I don't know. The journey of Azealia Banks continues and her most recent music is incredible. That new Bottega song is 

Christy DeGallerie: Oh, New Bottega is so good. New Bottega, and it's just like, it's just so, like she can, she's just so original and [00:41:00] I wish that she's had a really interesting life. Harlem is not easy, right? Harlem, New York is not easy. As someone who grew up in the projects, it's not an easy place.

but it does, it shapes you and everyone comes out a little bit differently, but there's so many talented people. I mean, the Harlem Renaissance really did produce so many amazing queer artists and she's one of them, you know, she's the continuation of that 

I think her story and her life story is, sad. it's interesting. It's hilarious. And I just, wish that, and that's my grace for her, right? I see myself in her. I see how this could easily be anybody that I know. This could be me. This is not, her rants and stuff.

it's not easy coming from a place like Harlem. And, sometimes people, you know, it is a very split place where you can be rich there, you can be, in poverty. But, she just had an interesting life. And I think that people that were supposed to take care of her in her music [00:42:00] career didn't.

And so that's where my grace comes from, her complexity and I can see that she's wrestling with herself sometimes and,

Andy Gott: completely agree. The wrestling

Christy DeGallerie: I completely agree

with 

Andy Gott: breeds that endearment that a lot of us have for her because we see that she should have had a better deal. We see that people should have taken better care of her and there's a line between okay, you're in control of your actions here and you need to take accountability for your actions, but also you deserved better in many ways for sure.

Christy DeGallerie: For sure. And I think there's a lot of elements of her. being a woman, being black, and you know, how she doesn't get the same grace that maybe Kanye does, you know what I mean? and so many other artists, musical artists, and it's really interesting how, who gets blackballed, who doesn't, and it's very complex, and it's deep, but her music's changed my life.

I can't let it go. I can't let her go.

Andy Gott: We've mentioned 212, and we've mentioned New Bottega, do you have any hardcore [00:43:00] Azealia tracks that are like in your top three otherwise?

Christy DeGallerie: Oh my gosh. Desperado. So good. Give me a chance JFK. Broke with expensive taste. Those. Three songs that I just Amazing it will take you on a trip and you'll be like, where did I just end up Azalea?

Where are you taking me? how did you come up with this andI'm thinking about JFK right now. I'm getting chills. So our problematic queen is brilliant. I can't take it away from her. But yeah, those songs are, those songs are, are, are, are really good.

But Broke With Expensive Taste, that entire album, if you just listen through it, 

Andy Gott: It's a masterpiece. It's a masterpiece. [00:44:00] Christy, I'm gonna do some quickfire questions. And I want you to say like the first thing that comes into your head. Let's see how it goes.

Christy DeGallerie: let's do it.

Andy Gott: A song that reminds you of an ex.

Christy DeGallerie: reminds an act. A song 

Andy Gott: Sounds lesbian. I'm in. A song that reminds you of sex.

Christy DeGallerie: of an act.

Andy Gott: Oh. 

Christy DeGallerie: The last new song that you heard that you fell in love with. 

Oh my gosh, there is a song, by a French rapper, his name is Yame, and, I think his song is, called, [00:45:00] Bekong. And B E C A N E. that song, I don't know if it's new or not, but it's a song that has just come up on my radar, and it's beautiful. It is in French. I started listening to French music as a child, so anytime I hear French music, I am like, But yes, it's a French rapper and it's like you would not expect a French rapper to be kind of singing in opera.

So, he mixes it up a little bit. So yes, the artist's name is Yame. And the song is, I think, Bikane.

Andy Gott: I love that.

Christy DeGallerie: yes.

Andy Gott: And you did mention that there was a charity that you wanted to give a shout out to or a social initiative.

Christy DeGallerie: Yes, the Pauli Murray, Center. Pauli Murray was a, queer civil rights activist and ended up being a priest, which is amazing. And, they have a, [00:46:00] After they passed away, someone, a few people in their old neighborhood ended up buying the, buying their house and turning it into a center. And it's in Durham, North Carolina, and they are always, always, always asking for donations so that we can continue to go visit them and see all the amazing works that they've done.

Pauli Murray has changed American politics and they've never really gotten any praise over it, no recognition, and they've changed American politics and the entire constitution.

So, yes. yes. So, they're amazing and I would love for people to go check that out.

Andy Gott: and lastly, where can, where and how can people sign up to your newsletter and read more of your writing?

Christy DeGallerie: Oh my gosh, at reallybadtaste. substack. com, where you can see all my secrets.

Andy Gott: Can't wait. Christy DeGallerie, you are queer and thank you very much for your tracks.

Christy DeGallerie: Thank you so much for having me.



You can find Christy online at links in this episode, show notes, including her model of article, her sub stack newsletter and her Instagram. Tracks of our careers is [00:02:00] presented and produced by me. Andy got entirely on unseated category and the Garriga Aboriginal land. You can email me your thoughts, recommendations, or your tracks of your quiz tracks of our careers@gmail.com. See you next time.