Single of the Week: Shura’s “Religion (U Can Lay Your Hands On Me)”

By Sylvia Lee

Shura’s got us praisin’ the gay gods in her sweet celebration of queer love.

The British artist is back from one hell of a hiatus, after breaking the internet with her viral LGBTQ+-anthem Touch in 2014. Seriously, check out the music video; it has millions of views and there’s a lot of making out.

Last week, she dropped her aptly-named second studio album “forevher”. It’s a bold departure from her signature synthpop melancholia that celebrates wlw (women who love women) relationships. Fun fact: Shura was inspired by that one time she flew over the Atlantic Ocean for a first date with a woman in Brooklyn and didn’t end up on MTV’s “Catfish” (she fell in LOVE). 

Let’s talk about why her standout track “religion (u can lay your hands on me)” has us feeling SOFT. It’s not often that queer narratives give us the happy endings we deserve, so we are all for Shura’s subversive, yet empowering message: “It's human, it's our religion/No preacher to teach us to love”.

While “religion (u can lay your hands on me)” echoes her much earlier retro sound, there is a tenderness to it that fuses together groovy disco and bedroom R&B. At its heart, it’s a feel-good ode to long distance girl crushes that is irreverent in the face of homophobia. The lyrics, too, are unapologetically sensual and Shura proves she isn’t afraid of using explicitly queer pronouns.

Forget melancholy and unrequited queer love. This time, it’s about celebrating who you love and owning it, dammit.