Rainbow Kitten Surprise, the best name ever we know, sat down with us at Outside Lands to talk about their new record and their song Hide.

Hide has been elevated by the LGBT community as an anthem but front man Sam Melo says it was never meant as an anthem but more just about his own journey of self discovery.

“It was the first song I wrote when I was working through some stuff in my life about sexuality or whatever you call it,” Melo says. “To use male pronouns in a song is kind of a statement and I don’t know if everyone is ready for that so I sat on it for about two years.”

Melo in 2015 went into a creative slump that lead to him discovering that he was gay. This was a deeply troubling time for the singer who was brought up in the Dominican Republic, a place he described as “a real man’s man kind of place.” He recalled as a kid watching outed kids get beaten.

When Melo came to this realization he was scared of what his bandmates would think and how he could reconcile who he is with who he thought he was. In a Facebook post coming out to their fans earlier this year Melo recalled his bandmates reaction to his big reveal.

“’You’re a dance major who wears a pea coat, dress shoes, and smokes Djarum Blacks. We know, it’s cool.’ Despite the anti-climactic reaction, they were the reason this song came to life in the studio nearly two years later. ”

Although it was not intended as anthem Melo does recognize the power of the song and hopes that it can allow them and others the freedom to use any pronouns they want in their songs.

“Maybe you can use whatever pronouns you want in the song, use several in the same song,” Melo says. “He, she, who cares.”

Rainbow Kitten Surprise is currently finishing up a US tour.