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Backstage at Brighton Pride on day one

Yahoo goes backstage to meet the stars on the first day of Brighton Pride.

Video transcript

HARRIET ROSE: Hi, guys. Harriet Rose here. Brighton Pride is back after three years, and it's a special 30th anniversary. On this stage today, we're going to be seeing Ella Henderson, Bimini, Todrick Hall, and Christina Aguilera. And I have managed to block myself a backstage pass. And I'm going to be bringing you all the gossip. Bimini, wow. I'm in the present for an icon. You've just got off stage. Baby, how are you feeling?

BIMINI BON-BOULASH: I feel amazing.

HARRIET ROSE: Yeah?

BIMINI BON-BOULASH: Like, we just did the Brighton Pride. It's insane. And you know what? Like, a few years ago, I came here and performed, and I was like-- as part of the collective, and we were like in the dance tent, and it was like part of guilty pleasures, and it was crazy. And I remember thinking like, "I'd love to do the main stage one day." And I just did it.

HARRIET ROSE: L Devine, hot off the stage, how was it, babe? You've just performed at Brighton Pride.

L DEVINE: Whoa. Yeah, it was awesome. I loved it. It's my first Brighton Pride as a opponent and performing.

HARRIET ROSE: Really?

L DEVINE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I loved it.

RAYE: The energy was immaculate.

HARRIET ROSE: Immaculate--

RAYE: That's all I can say.

HARRIET ROSE: --vibes.

RAYE: Yeah. And the more we went on, the more acquainted we got. You know, it's kind of like dating I feel like performing on stage, you know I mean?

HARRIET ROSE: Is it?

RAYE: You start off like, "Here I am. What do you think of my outfit and my vibe?" And then you go on and a little conversation and a little flirting, you know what I mean?

HARRIET ROSE: Oh, yeah.

RAYE: By the end, I'm like, "Yeah."

ELLA HENDERSON: So much love, like, you can't describe the love that you feel.

HARRIET ROSE: Yes.

ELLA HENDERSON: Not just, like, for me up there on stage, like, I'm going to go out later and get in the crowd with people, because you can just feel it and sense it. And, yeah, what an honor to be here, like, honestly.

CALL ME LOOP: Three years off as been so, so, so tough I think for everybody involved. So to be back, it feels like extra, extra special.

HARRIET ROSE: 100%.

CALL ME LOOP: I don't know. It's just-- there's an energy today, which I know sounds a bit, oh, but there's an energy today and it's incredible.

HARRIET ROSE: Oh, my god. 100%. I feel like--

CALL ME LOOP: It's amazing.

HARRIET ROSE: --more so than before, because we had this time off.

CALL ME LOOP: Yeah.

SADIE SINNER: We have drag, we have DJs, we have burlesque, we have sideshow like hula hooping, we've had groups. It's been incredible. And everyone has been eating it up.

HARRIET ROSE: And why is it so important at events like pride that we're celebrating all parts of the community?

SADIE SINNER: Because our experiences aren't universal, right? We need to honor the intersection of what queerness is for me and what queerness is for you.

HARRIET ROSE: Yeah, absolutely.

SADIE SINNER: Right?

HARRIET ROSE: 100%.

SADIE SINNER: And they're just as important.

HARRIET ROSE: And we need to look really good doing it.

SADIE SINNER: Oh, my goodness. Don't we just as well?

TODRICK HALL: I have heard the tale of how amazing and incredible this event is, and it definitely lived up to it's expectation. In fact, it's superseded it.

HARRIET ROSE: Yeah. Oh, that's so great to hear. We love it. Have you been to Brighton before?

TODRICK HALL: Never.

HARRIET ROSE: Oh.

TODRICK HALL: But this is the perfect way to come, like--

HARRIET ROSE: Yes.

TODRICK HALL: You know, some people have said thank you, Tod, that you brought the LA weather to Brighton.

HARRIET ROSE: Yes.

TODRICK HALL: So you're welcome everyone.

HARRIET ROSE: Thank you for the energy and the weather.

TODRICK HALL: I brought LA's weather to Brighton. But it's just been awesome to see so many people. And everyone's so sweet here and so lovely. And I'm just really, really excited that I got to be a part of this.

L DEVINE: Today, like, it's obviously all about like celebrations and partying and stuff. But it's also just so important, because, you know, it reminds us of the shoulders that we stand on and those who like celebrated like we are now but in the face of like so much more hate.

HARRIET ROSE: Yeah.

L DEVINE: It's just like really inspiring.

ELLA HENDERSON: Well, pride just makes me feel like how music makes me feel, which is this big universal thing that it doesn't matter where you come from, what your background, your upbringing, what music you was raised upon, your ethnicity, your style, what you look like, how big or small you are, it does not matter, like, equality is everything. And I don't know, like, one love, I guess.

BIMINI BON-BOULASH: There's so much more queerness being visible, and that's so important, because growing up, we didn't have that. Queer people weren't celebrated, and now they're being celebrated. But they're still-- there's still room to grow, and that's the world and we're fighting for that change, so--

HARRIET ROSE: We're here and we're queer.

BIMINI BON-BOULASH: But that's the part, though. Yeah, we're here and we're queer, and we're bloody brilliant.

HARRIET ROSE: Yeah. We are bloody brilliant to be fair.

RAYE: This community has held me through all of it.

HARRIET ROSE: Yeah.

RAYE: So it's like even when, like, big festival and that wouldn't book me, I would be getting pride slots. Like, the gays are streaming my music and have been forever. And I told them on stage, I flippin' love you and I flippin' got you. There's nothing like it.

HARRIET ROSE: How does that feel to be such an inspiration to those, you know, around you?

TODRICK HALL: It's what any artist would dream to do, you know, like to be able to create your own work and for it to touch people, give people confidence. I get messages from people who say that the reason they're still alive is because of certain songs that you've done. I think any human, not just an artist, if you are a human being who is able to have such an impact on someone that it makes them want to fight to stay alive, then I think that you're doing what you were meant to do, what you're put on this earth to do.

I believe this is my purpose. And when things get rough and get difficult, I always have to go back to that and rely on that truth. Thank you for having me.

HARRIET ROSE: Thank you so much.

TODRICK HALL: You look gorgeous, by the way.

HARRIET ROSE: Thank-- don't say that.

TODRICK HALL: You do. You do.

HARRIET ROSE: You're amazing. Thank you so much.

TODRICK HALL: Thank you, Yahoo.

HARRIET ROSE: Thank you. Ella, thank you so much, babe. You're amazing.

ELLA HENDERSON: Thanks for having me.

HARRIET ROSE: Happy pride.

ELLA HENDERSON: Happy pride.

HARRIET ROSE: Happy pride.

CALL ME LOOP: Happy pride.

HARRIET ROSE: Happy pride, everybody.

RAYE: (SINGING) Happy pride.

HARRIET ROSE: Let's go party now.

SADIE SINNER: Yes.

HARRIET ROSE: I'm hungry and I'm thirsty. Come on.

[MUSIC PLAYING]