Love songs about women are nothing new. But for a long time, queer women often had to search for themselves within stories that weren’t being told from their perspective. As more openly queer artists entered the mainstream, that began to shift, with women writing songs about other women that explored romance in ways that felt intimate, specific, and honest.
These songs don’t all approach love the same way. Some are euphoric and all-consuming, others soft and grounded. Together, artists like k.d. lang, Tegan and Sara, Charlotte Day Wilson, Jade LeMac, and more showcase the many ways love can be experienced, celebrated, and expressed.
Released on k.d. lang’s 1992 album Ingénue, “Constant Craving” remains one of the most iconic songs ever written about longing. Rather than treating desire as something dramatic or easily attainable, the song focuses on the ache of wanting someone just out of reach. “Maybe a great magnet pulls all souls towards truth,” lang sings.
lang publicly came out the same year Ingénue was released, as “Constant Craving” was becoming an unexpected mainstream hit. At a time when very few major artists, especially women, were openly gay, the song resonated deeply with listeners who connected to its portrayal of wanting love while navigating the barriers that can stand in the way of it. More than thirty years later, “Constant Craving” remains one of the most enduring and recognizable sapphic love songs ever recorded.
Filled with tension, uncertainty, and undeniable chemistry, “Edge of the Earth” captures the feeling of being so drawn to someone that even when they leave you spinning, you wouldn’t want it any other way. The Beaches channel that emotional whirlwind through lyrics about being pushed ‘in circles’ and ‘to the edge of the Earth,’ only to find themselves ‘coming back’ again.”
For The Beaches, the song also marked a more openly queer perspective in their songwriting. After guitarist Leandra Earl came out during the pandemic, she spoke about how important it felt to finally release a song with explicit female pronouns and a clearly queer point of view, especially within the traditionally male-dominated world of rock music.
Jade LeMac wrote the chorus of “Constellations” when she was just 15 years old, and the song still carries the overwhelming intensity of young love. Built around the image of freckles becoming constellations, the track turns physical details into something cosmic, capturing the feeling of being so infatuated with someone that even the smallest things about them begin to feel monumental.
LeMac has spoken openly about how naturally her sexuality weaves itself into her music because the relationships and crushes she writes about are rooted in her real romantic experiences with women. That perspective gives “Constellations” its intimacy, grounding all of its dreamy imagery in the very real experience of falling hard for another girl.
On “you’re like,” Jamie Fine captures the refreshing feeling of finally finding someone who makes life feel lighter and realizing you’re ready to go all in with them. “You’re like a breath of fresh air on a summer night,” she sings, turning the track into a bright, easygoing love song about falling hard for a woman and wanting to hold onto that feeling for as long as possible.
Fine has also been openly candid about her sexuality and the importance of creating space for queer listeners within her music, something that’s made her live shows feel as much like community spaces as performances. That same warmth carries through “you’re like,” which Fine describes as a song meant for “the most beautiful day of the year” to blast with the love of your life.
“Closer” captures the euphoric rush of an intense early crush. Built around pulsing synths and restless momentum, the song lives in the thrilling space between wanting someone and finally acting on it. “Here comes the breath before we get a little bit closer / Here comes the rush before we touch, come a little closer,” Tegan and Sara sing, capturing the butterflies-in-your-stomach anticipation of a relationship shifting from flirtation into something real.
Because Tegan and Sara have always been so open about their sexuality, songs like “Closer” never needed explicit pronouns to resonate with queer listeners. By the time Heartthrob arrived, the duo had already become important figures for many queer women, helping bring sapphic perspectives further into mainstream pop.
Charlotte Day Wilson once described wanting to write a “no-nuance, lesbian R&B love song,” and “Take Care of You” delivers exactly that. Featured on her album ALPHA, the first project where Wilson allowed herself to be fully unapologetic about her sexuality, the song luxuriates in desire, tenderness, and devotion simultaneously.
The track combines Wilson’s earthy, gospel-tinged vocals with the smooth, laid-back delivery of fellow queer R&B artist Syd as the two explore intimacy in its many forms. Religious imagery becomes sensual as Wilson sings, “You’ll come around like I’ve prayed for it / wearing your cross on my chain for it,” while the song’s repeated promise to “take care of you” anchors the track’s interplay of devotion and desire.
Before releasing Where Flowers Bloom, Adria Kain avoided explicitly gendering relationships in her music, wanting her songs to feel universal rather than tied to a singular perspective. By embracing gendered language and she/her pronouns, Where Flowers Bloom marked the first time she openly centred her queerness in her songwriting, bringing a new level of honesty and specificity to her love songs.
“Flowers, for you” leans fully into desire and devotion. Over warm neo-soul production, Kain sings openly about wanting to care for and show up for the woman she loves: “I’m at your service / Give you everything you want / Cuz you really deserve it.” The song balances flirtation with genuine admiration, moving from attraction into something deeper as Kain closes the song with “Cuz’ the way you’re moving really got me thinking / About marriage and love, forever.”
Shawnee Kish’s “My Love” is straightforward in its devotion. Written for her wife, Olympic rugby champion Jen Kish, when, as Shawnee has said, “the odds were stacked against us,” the song frames love as a place of refuge amid uncertainty. Through the recurring image of “a house in the middle of a war,” Kish portrays a relationship that remains steady even as “these walls are shaking.”
As a Two-Spirit Mohawk artist, Shawnee Kish has spoken openly about the journey of becoming fully herself through music, and “My Love” reflects that same openness. The song celebrates a love that provides comfort and stability, finding peace in the presence of another person no matter what is happening beyond the walls you’ve built together.
