KISS & TELL

A boy band’s gay megastar struggles under public scrutiny.

Canadian boy band Kiss & Tell may have started out as a joke, but the five teens’ 2022 multicity tour is no laughing matter. While their first show brings feelings of euphoria, the spotlight shines a little too brightly on Hunter Drake when his ex-boyfriend posts their sexts on social media. The fans react negatively, prompting The Label to quickly revamp Hunter’s image with an updated wardrobe. The Label also plays matchmaker, suggesting a new beau: recently out Iranian American Kaivan Parvani from Kiss & Tell’s boy-band opener, PAR-K. Sparks fly, and the two boys decide to date for real. As Hunter, who is White, spends more time with Kaivan and less working on Kiss & Tell’s pivotal third album, tensions build among the band. Can they make it until the end of the tour? This is a love letter to boy bands, complete with lyrics and chord progressions that lend a sense of joyous authenticity. Combining first-person narrative with fictional interviews, think pieces, fan fiction, and more, the author effectively encapsulates the ecosystem of celebrity and fandom—and cultivates a strong, contemporary social message. Hunter’s myopic focus on his own queerness and objectification in the music industry opens the door for important conversations about the impact of identity, particularly as other members of the ethnically diverse band engage with him in ways that cleverly complicate readers’ reactions.

An absolute bop; Khorram’s best yet.