Flashback Friday: Sylvester - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) | Remembering a queer classic

December 16th marked the anniversary of Sylvester’s passing. So for this week’s Flashback Friday, we shall honour Sylvester, and the legacy he left behind with a gay lil’ ol’ song you may have heard of, called “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”. A song which has become not only a disco classic, but a ubiquitous queer anthem.

Something I was thinking about a lot as I was putting this post together is the importance of Black queer history being taught, shared and passed down - especially due to so many of those who lived the experience in the 70s and 80s having passed away. Aaaaaaaaand there is social media, pop culture and virality, and all that shit too.

I can’t even say ‘In this day and age’ and mean the past couple of years, because what I am about to say happened way back in the 90s when Madonna’s “Vogue” became a mega hit. But it’s so easy to see one thing and believe it to be the starting point, when in fact there is a whole history (involving Black folk) which precedes it. RuPaul’s Drag Race is one such example. Some avid viewers of the show may think that it created drag, certain lingo, fan pops and dramatic dips (the move incorrectly referred to a ‘death drop’); not knowing that all of these things pre-date Drag Race, and that the show itself and much of what it’s known for exists because of a road which was paved long before it. Another example in music is Beyoncé’s album Renaissance. The whole thing stands on the shoulders of Black pioneers of dance music, disco and hedonism through the 70s to the 90s, and there are many that don’t get this despite the album being explicit in this. And folk like Sylvester and their song “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” stand at the intersection of it all.

There are some songs that elicit a very specific feeling and suck you in, no matter what mood you’re in at the time. “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” is one of those songs for me, as I’m sure it is for many. This song just makes me feel uninhibited and alive.

But there is also a tinge of sadness that hits when I come down from the euphoria of this song, because I think about how Sylvester, along with so many other queer talents and pioneers of the 70s and 80s, have passed due to HIV/AIDS. And then I really get into my feelings about the importance of leaving something behind which will outlive you and live on through masses of other people. And then I spiral into thinking about how great this is in theory, but the unfortunateness of it not being a reality for all of us. But then I play the song again, and it’s fine. Until it ends. And then I’m right back in the cycle again.

*Dances whilst crying in the dark*

But I think this is what it boils down to, and part of the magic of Sylvester and this song. When you listen to it, it’s more than just about the joy of the song, but everything behind it. The pain, the sadness, the anguish over the future. All balled up into one thing. And yet still, we can smile. We can love. We can dance through it all. Because it’s a sign that we’re able to feel. Mighty real.

Side note. Sylvester has other great songs aside from “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”. “Trouble in Paradise” is a jam, and Sell My Soul is a nice lil’ disco album.

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