Im Coming Out

Meaning of I'm Coming Out by Diana Ross and what it is about

In 1979, after seeing Chic in concert with her daughters, and after the success of her last album, The Boss, which was produced and composed by Ashford & Simpson, Ross asked Chic founders Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards to write songs for a new album. Nile Rodgers stated in a TikTok video from 2021 that the song was written with the LGBTQ population in mind and was sparked by drag queens who were dressed like Diana Ross at a New York nightclub.

Since Ross was "coming out" from under Berry Gordy's thumb and leaving Motown Records, the words have special significance for her. The BBC4 documentary How to Make It in the Music Business claims that Ross was in love with the record until she played it for Frankie Crocker, who pointed out that gay people usually use "I'm coming out" to announce their sexual orientation, that listeners would assume Diana was coming out, and that it would ruin her career. Though she was eventually persuaded that this was not the case and chose to release the song, she ran back to the studio in tears and wanted to know why Rodgers and Edwards would write the song knowing that it would harm her career.

I'm Coming Out lyrics by Diana Ross

I'm coming out

I'm coming

I'm coming out

I'm coming out

I'm coming out

I'm coming out

I want the world to know

Got to let it show

I'm coming out

I want the world to know

I got to let it show

There's a new me coming out

And I just had to live

And I wanna give

I'm completely positive

I think this time around

I am gonna do it

Like you never knew it

Ooh, I'll make it through

The time has come for me

To break out of this shell

I have to shout

That I am coming out

I'm coming out

I want the world to know

I got to let it show

I'm coming

I'm (coming out) coming

(I want the world to know)

(I got to let it show)

I've got to show the world

All that I wanna be

And all my abillities

There's so much more to me

Somehow, I have to make them

Just understand

I got it well in hand

And, oh, how I've planned

I'm spreadin' love

There is no need to fear

And I just feel so good

Everytime I hear

I'm coming out

Coming

(I want the world to know)

(I got to let it show)

I'm coming out

I want the world to know

I got to let it show

[Instrumental Interlude]

I'm coming out

I want the world to know

Got to let it show.... scat to end