Liza Anne’s recent single “Cheerleader” celebrated their coming out as gay and nonbinary. They continue to explore that theme on today’s new track, which applies a similarly jubilant sound to a more confused mix of feelings. Built from scratchy guitars, jarring snare drum cracks, funky bass, and a barrage of different vocal hooks, the propulsive “Rainbow Sweater” is all about the ritual of getting dressed as an expression of identity. “I know how to do this!” goes the final shouted lyric. “It’s just a couple of small steps/ And I’ll get through it.”
Liza Anne elaborates:
So much of the last three years has been a reclamation of self — at the beginning of sobriety, it really did feel like I was seeing color for the first time, and while I was still super closeted, I felt like I was using getting dressed as a hyper depiction of self — being loud in the ways I could while so much of me was still being quiet. Throughout the pandemic, getting dressed became this act of embodiment I likened to what it felt like to move my body through emotions on stage. I think that clothing has always felt like spell work to me — using the colors and shapes to help me feel more at home in my body. It’s so beautiful to me how much getting dressed has been such a sacred playground for my queerness — there are no rules when getting dressed just like there are no rules when it comes to the whole of identity. Relief from any sort of binary has been so healing to me.
Watch director Jacq Justice’s video for “Rainbow Sweater” below.
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