Syd, the leader of R&B group The Internet, was always apparent in her sexuality, at least since the beginning of her career in music. When she was working as the engineer for L.A. rap collective Odd Future, she often didn't have the luxury of privacy. When backlash over some of the group's early homophobic lyrics would appear, it would often fall to Syd to act as their spokesperson, as the only openly gay member of the group.
Much has changed since those days, for everyone involved. In an interview with Billboard for their Pride month issue, Syd speaks about how her sexuality has impacted her life, and how she plans on inspiring others.
In regards to her time with Odd Future, she finds it kind of funny now. "If you ranked Odd Future, I was at the very bottom. I didn't think anybody was paying attention," she says. "It’s hilarious, I went through all of these interviews, and everybody was gay the whole time."
While it's likely that she doesn't mean literally everybody in the group, more of the members have outed themselves since. Frank Ocean famously opened up as bisexual before the release of his debut album, Channel Orange, and Tyler, The Creator rapped about "kissing white boys" on "I Ain't Got Time." However, he's never confirmed his sexuality specifically.
Syd isn't dwelling on the past though, as she plans to inspire young women just like her, and even says she's considering starting her own music festival, with exclusively women artists on the lineup.
"I do want to inspire people -- young girls who may like to wear boys’ clothes and who romanticize women and feel nothing wrong with it," says Syd.