Homecoming Queen (Thelma Plum song)

"Homecoming Queen"
Strings version
Single by Thelma Plum
from the album Better in Blak
Released12 July 2019[1]
Length3:51
LabelMosy Recordings, Sony Music Australia
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Thelma Plum singles chronology
"Better in Blak"
(2019)
"Homecoming Queen"
(2019)
"These Days"
(2020)

"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]

  1. ^ "Thelma Plum - Homecoming Queen (Official Audio)". PBS 106.7FM. July 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Better In Blak: Thelma Plum transforms trauma into triumph on her healing debut album". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 11 July 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  3. ^ "Love & War: How Thelma Plum found therapy in Better In Blak". Pilerats. 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Here's The Winner Of Triple J's Hottest 100 Of 2019". Music Feeds. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Announcement: National Indigenous Music Awards Finalists Unveiled". noise11. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  6. ^ Triscari, Caleb (10 November 2020). "The Avalanches and Leon Bridges to perform for 'The Sound' this weekend". NME Australia. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  7. ^ "The Sound: Series Two, Episode 3 – Matt Okine". ABC iview. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  8. ^ "My live version of Homecoming Queen with Strings as broadcast last year on ABC TV's @thesoundau is now available on all platforms!!! It was such a treat to perform this with so many talented musicians". Instagram. October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2023.