NEWS
Kate Nash has shared a powerful new single called ‘GERM’, which sees her celebrate the trans community and call out bigotry.
Released today (May 28), the new single comes following the singer completing a UK and European tour, launching the first-ever fan-led music survey, and campaigning to help protect grassroots talent around the UK.
According to a new description, this month was set to be a time rest for the singer before she hits the road again, however this idea was put aside following the UK Supreme Court ruling that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex under the Equality Act.
In the empowering new single, Nash reflects on how she felt “uneasy” after seeing anti-trans rhetoric become more normalised, and calls on people to speak out in defence of those affected by the ruling.
“I feel no threat from any trans person that might be in the toilets, I’ve never felt threatened by a trans person as it turns out,” Nash says in the song. “The 69,958 rapes that were reported between Oct 2023 and Sept 24 in the UK do slightly concern me though… 91 per cent of people prosecuted for sexual offences are cis men aged 18+.”
Speaking about the track, Nash said: “Using feminism to erase the rights of others is inherently un-feminist. ‘GERM’ is my response to the recent news that the Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex and that the concept of sex is binary. Trans people were excluded from the conversation.”
“I am left uneasy as I see behaviours we would otherwise or previously label as intolerance or bullying become normalised & even celebrated by the media & in society. I believe this will lead to more transphobia and more misogyny in the UK,” she continued. “I also believe it to be misdirected and not at all where feminist efforts should be focused. In fact, I don’t consider it to be feminist at all.
“The demonisation of entire groups of people, led by bad faith actors, is not a step forward but a huge echo of a past we should have moved on from. I owe so much of myself to feminism. Tarnishing the most important ideology in my life by denying the existence of trans women is something I take very personally.”
Concluding, she added: “Denying that trans people exist and having a personal desire to remove them from public spaces because it makes you uncomfortable to share spaces with trans people is transphobic. Dismantling systems of oppression lies at the very core of feminism. If you are transphobic therefore you are not a feminist. Welcome to your rebrand GERM.”
The discussion around trans rights outlined in ‘GERM’ also comes amid debate around the accessibility to facilities at this year’s upcoming Download festival. Controversy arose yesterday when NOAHFINNCE highlighted how the Donnington festival was seemingly sticking to government guidance that would prevent trans women from using women’s facilities and trans men from using men’s facilities on-site.
After backlash from the likes of NOAHFINNCE, Pinkshift and Witch Fever followed, the festival organisers issued a statement to NME, confirming that there would be gender-neutral bathrooms provided across the site.
In other Kate Nash news, the singer spoke to NME earlier this year about the struggles faced by emerging artists in the UK, and outlined if she thought a positive outcome could be in reach.
“I think it will happen, and I think major labels are scared – and they should be,” she said. “It’s actually affecting the British economy. It’s not just about music and musicians, and that’s what politicians need to take note of.”
“It was reported that one in 10 songs streamed globally are by British artists, and only about one 30th of that money makes it back to the UK. You’re not just letting down musicians, you’re letting down the British economy,” she added.
“If we don’t have cutting-edge culture and music thriving in the UK, then what do we have to be proud of? That is something that so many people here pride themselves on, but what about musicians? You can’t just screw them over constantly and expect it not to have an impact. It is.”
Later this week, Nash is set to take to the stage at Mighty Hoopla, joined by The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. Here, she will perform ‘GERM’ live for the first time. Buy tickets to upcoming shows here.
Reneé Rapp is seen as a “huge inspiration” by SZA.
The 25-year-old artist performed SZA’s Good Days in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, accompanied by two acoustic guitarists and a harp player. SZA, 35, was deeply moved by the rendition.
She posted a short video of the moment on Instagram Stories and wrote: “Renee is a HUGE inspiration, energy, voice spirit.”
During her chat with the BBC, Renee shared her thoughts about the track. She said: “I mean, I love SZA. I mean, she was one of my favorite artists in high school. And she's remained one of my favorite artists to this day. I think she's amazing. She's also, I mean, she's an incredible songwriter, but I think because she has so much swag. People don't realize how good of a singer she is. She's a fantastic vocalist and is really, really, really articulate. And I don't cover a lot of songs anymore. So I wanted to cover something that was, like, slightly challenging and also really vocally impressive, and frankly, hard for me to do.”
Renee is currently in the middle of promoting her second album, Bite Me, and opened up about how much more enjoyable it was to create compared to her first project.
She explained: “I mean, I feel like everything was incredibly different. I stopped listening to people that don't make music, because if you don't make music, then why the hell am I listening to you. And I also think the biggest difference, I think I just got a lot better. I think I have just become a better songwriter. I think I understand how to make pop music now in a way that I didn't really before. And I was very sure about what this album was and thematically, what it needed.
“So I felt like I was quite like, headstrong in like, what was gonna work and what wasn't. Because, nobody knows something better than yourself. I think a lot of things were different. I also just, like, had a lot of fun making it, like, I made it with like, three people, mostly, like, it was always like, four of us in the studio all the time, and we got so close, and some of us were already so close. So it was also just like a mess. It was such a mess, like we were just tweaking every day. It was so fun. And I don't think I enjoyed making the first one as much.”
