“Boys Don’t Cry” by Luke Armstrong just dropped today, June 10, 2026. It’s the perfect introspective, dreamy indie track that captures religious trauma and toxic masculinity from an LGBTQIA+ perspective.
Between smooth rhythmic verses and a soft, higher-toned chorus, this track takes the deep thought that can be heard in the lyrics and brings it to the musical forefront. The opening synth sound sounds like a harp, ushering everything in, with vocals that introduce the main hook, “Boys don’t cry.” Having this be the title, the main hook, and the opening line gives a lot of cohesiveness in the narrative. After this, the percussion cuts in and gives this track some great rhythmic density. It provides a bit of grit to the verses, and this plays well with the vocals, which are rhythmic and soft. It’s like the punch drives in the feeling and allows the vocals to remain soft throughout. All while the percussion gives that energy, the instrumentation seems to float around in the atmosphere like wind chimes.
Lyrically, “Boys Don’t Cry” is a deep cut based on societal expectations from a queer perspective. But it’s also about how being closed off to others due to one’s own struggles with expressing their own emotions. After the intro, the first verse starts with, “Walking up / You ask what’s wrong / So it won’t take long to / Call it off.” The main voice of the track seems to be having their own struggles, but because they’re closed off, they also are avoidant and want to run when it comes to others wanting to know their emotional state. They don’t want to get involved with another due to this, as they aren’t ready to approach their own emotions.
The prechorus has the line, “Hold me closer than the Holy Ghost.” Though the narrator has a “push” aspect to how they approach relationships, there is still a “pull.” They want to be heard, reeled back in when need be, and helped when they’re struggling. That being said, the avoidance of their own feelings and queerness makes it hard to accept this help. The chorus mentions that “boys don’t cry, when they lie,” which may be the main voice lying to themself about their sexuality and openness, or lying to this object of desire about their true feelings.
The second verse gives a bit more depth into feelings of love and of knowing the other person in question. It mentions pretending to be in true love, but the love the main voice of the track could give wasn’t enough. This may be because the toxic conditioning kept them from being able to understand or be understood. This leads into another pre-chorus, where they ask to be taken home, which seems to spark a final moment of acceptance and falling into their affection. The latter half of the song repeats the two primary hooks, and this offers up a final moment of introspection.
“Boys Don’t Cry” is extremely well put together, and the way it captures a realistic queer narrative makes it the perfect track to explore for Pride Month. Though it has sad undertones, it also has a lot to be learned from in terms of self-acceptance. It just came out today, so it’s time to catch it while it’s fresh!
Written by Sage Plapp
Where to find Luke Armstrong:
