"Homecoming Queen" | ||||
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![]() 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 | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | ||||
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]
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Australia (ARIA) [12] | Platinum | 70,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |