MUNA’s “I Know A Place” Will Remind You There’s Good In The World

There is no true safe space. The Pulse nightclub shooting this past June, where a gunman walked into a gay nightclub on Latin night and murdered 49 people, reminded us so. It's the space between us that is safe, if we work and allow it to be. That's at the heart of L.A. trio MUNA's newest song, "I Know A Place." 

"This song was written for queer folks, for people of color, for immigrants, for those who have been made to feel unsafe in their own skin," the band shared on Twitter earlier today. Speaking to TIME, MUNA's lead singer, Katie Gavin, said the song's original intention took on new meaning with the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states and the aforementioned massacre in Orlando. "'I Know A Place' was never supposed to be a funeral hymn," she adds. "It was also meant to serve as encouragement for our community to remain vulnerable and kind and hopeful in the face of violence."

There's hope brimming in Gavin's voice as she sings of self-acceptance and a supportive community. The chorus begins with the line "If you want to go out dancing" that soars above a bouncing '80s-tinged track and, for a few counts, introduces the four-to-the-floor beat of a club. Its optimism is completely intoxicating. The dance floor is a sacred place within the LGBTQIA community, with Madonna calling it "a place where you can get away" in "Vogue." That rings particularly true for queer people because it's underneath those lights that we come together to celebrate our queerness and individuality without any inhibitions or alarm. The place MUNA sings of exists and it uplifts in the face of all the forces trying to deny that right.

MUNA's debut album, About U, drops February 3.