When SAM SMITH covered WHITNEY HOUSTON's "HOW WILL I KNOW," why did he change the lyric from "how will I know if he really loves me" to "how will I know if you really love me"? "He" would've worked fine. Smith is gay and not closeted. But a strange thing about pop fans and homosexuality: They appear to be increasingly OK with singers being gay, but they're not yet comfortable with their songs being gay. In a PITCHFORK essay, JIM FARBER explores the struggle for acceptance of "pronoun-proper gay love songs." Mainstream gay pop stars, he says, have mirrored the gay-rights movement by choosing to "downplay the divisive specifics of sex choice" while emphasizing "the righteous angle of identity." And that, he suggests, is another kind of closet. He credits FRANK OCEAN's "FORREST GUMP" as a landmark in breaking that taboo, and cites a growing list of artists including TEGAN AND SARA, MARY LAMBERT, OLLY ALEXANDER who have helped bring same-sex pronouns out of that closet. But for most, "singing the truth of your life" remains a struggle... Which is not to say that simply being gay doesn't still present issues. AMOS BARSHAD's FADER profile of ILOVEMAKONNEN is a wonderful look at a (for now) one-hit wonder who has been made to feel like an outsider almost every step of the way, and who has responded by embracing his outsiderness... If you were puzzled by my reference in Thursday's rantnrave to an obscure guitarist named BILLY YEAGER whose 301 JACKSON ST recently became the most expensive album ever sold on DISCOGS, puzzle no more. In what amounts to the most thoroughly researched correction ever, SPIN and NPR MUSIC published lengthy investigations into what appears to be an elaborate hoax perpetrated by a guy who makes up in imagination what he lacks in stardom... Congrats to SHIRLEY HALPERIN and JEM ASWAD, who have left BILLBOARD to take over the music editorial operation at VARIETY... It's FRIDAY and that means new music from MOUNT EERIE, PALLBEARER, THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN, KELLY LEE OWENS, MIKE WILL MADE-IT, JANKA NABAY & THE BUBU GANG, SOULWAX, CRAIG FINN, DAYE JACK, GOLDLINK, JAMES BLUNT, LAETITIA SADIER SOURCE ENSEMBLE, RAEKWON, SHAWTY LO (RIP), SPIRAL STAIRS, RAELYNN, TUXEDO, JESSI COLTER, SERA CAHOONE, TREY SONGZ, WOLF EYES, JETHRO TULL and BOSS HOG... Oh, and a new KENDRICK LAMAR single... RIP BOSTON drummer SIB HASHIAN, who collapsed onstage on a cruise ship, and UTAH recording studio owner KURT COCHRAN, killed in Wednesday's terrorist attack in LONDON.