LVL1, one of the revelation artists of recent years in Spain following the success of his single, ‘FVN!’, which has led the artist from Algeciras to appear in Rolling Stone or to collaborate with international names such as Danny L. Harle or EASYFUN , has denounced the “lack of respect” that he has suffered from El Diario de Sevilla, in a news article published by the medium about the programming of Monkey Week, which starts this week.
In the news, El Diario de Sevilla lists names of female artists participating in the festival and includes that of LVL1, despite the fact that the author of ‘PLAY’ has used neutral pronouns since the beginning of his career. The outlet also openly refuses to use masculine or neuter pronouns: «The festival includes LVL1, the artist mentioned at her own request, because he feels like a man“, as an Andalusian living in Madrid” was the phrase in question.
Curiously, the editor expressed in the text that he had “special affection” for LVL1 for having interviewed him in the past, despite calling him feminine and referring to his identity in a mocking tone.
The article in El Diario de Sevilla has led LVL1 to clarify that he recognizes himself as a trans man and to reveal that he is in a “medical transition process” although it was not part of his plans to make it public: “It bothers me to have to tell and justify anything because “It’s literally my business,” he declared, pointing out that undergoing surgery does not make him “more trans.”
In a series of tweets, LVL1 comments: “I am a trans person and this is not new or even two days ago, I have been out of the closet as a non-binary person since the beginning of my career, and I have not used feminine pronouns since very shortly after. It is something progressive, hence it is called transition. It’s a long process. Today, although I will always be a non-binary person, because gender is a social construction and I believe we can play with it however we want, my identity is closer to that of a boy than that of a girl. For this reason, I am also in the process of medical transition.
LVL1 adds: «Removing the fact that I have been put back into the bag of female artists, it bothers me that the article highlights the issue of my identity without having any idea how to do it. Talking about myself in the feminine (“quoted”) when it has already been seen that it is not done in my bios or anywhere, and then saying that “I feel like a man”… is a lack of respect. And it hurts me because there is talk of being fond of me but, nevertheless, my identity is treated as if it were a postmodern whim when we are already in 2025 and we should have a little more education with these things.
After the criticism of LVL1, El Diario de Sevilla has rectified its article, which now reads the following: «I want to finish by mentioning LVL1, based in Madrid, according to the hand program, but with Andalusian roots that extend from Algeciras to Seville.
