Homecoming Queen (Thelma Plum song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Thelma Plum
- Alexander Burnett
- Oli Horton
| "Homecoming Queen" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Strings version | ||||
| Single by Thelma Plum | ||||
| from the album Better in Blak | ||||
| Released | 12 July 2019[1] | |||
| Length | 3:51 | |||
| Label | Mosy Recordings, Sony Music Australia | |||
| Songwriters |
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| Producer | ||||
| Thelma Plum singles chronology | ||||
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"Homecoming Queen" is a song by Australian singer/songwriter Thelma Plum, and was sent to radio on 12 July 2019 as the fourth and final single from her debut studio album Better in Blak.
Plum told Triple J that the song "speaks to growing up as an Aboriginal girl in rural Australia", saying, "watching videos on the TV and looking through magazines, but I never saw anyone who looked like me. There was absolutely no representation in mainstream media. That really does something, really skews your idea of beauty. I had to teach myself how to love myself, that I was beautiful and good enough."[2]
There is a refence in the song to the 1967 Australian referendum, which asked Australians whether Indigenous Australians should be included in official population counts for constitutional purposes.[3]
The song polled at number 67 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2019.[4]
At the National Indigenous Music Awards 2020, the song was nominated for Song of the Year.[5]
An Alice Ivy remix was released on the Anniversary Edition of the album in 2020.
Plum performed the song on The Sound on 15 November 2020.[6][7]
A strings version was released in October 2021.[8]
Cool Accidents said "'Homecoming Queen' is ultimately an anthem of self-love - one that embraces differences and celebrates individuality."[9]
Dani Maher from Harper's Bazaar said "'Homecoming Queen', like all of her releases, is a lyrical delight pinning her heart resolutely to her sleeve in its vulnerability".[10]
Nathan Jolly from The Guardian called it the "standout track" from the album said "Feeling unseen as a young Indigenous Australian must be a crushing and damaging experience, and Plum chronicles this experience and her own hard-fought rise to self-respect in a wonderfully moving way."[11]