This story originally appeared on Them.
Legacy lesbian magazine Curve named Puerto Rican rapper and Out100 honoree Young Miko the Sexiest Lesbian Alive for its November 2026 issue in celebration of 35 years of sapphic media.
While it’s obvious that the ultra-suave androgynous artist is objectively attractive — I mean she is irresistible in those leather pants and skin-tight tanks, showing off her tattoo sleeves, and her furrowed brows with the signature slit — the award was all-encompassing and had a number of requirements the recipient had to meet to win. Afterall, sexiness is much more than just physical appearance and style.
Naturally, Miko hit all the marks necessary to bag the title: openly identifying as and proudly claiming the lesbian identity, using her platform/work/influence to advocate for and support the LGBTQ+ community at large, demonstrating her personal values of inclusion and respect for the wider LGBTQ+ community, making her own meaningful and substantial cultural impact and creating a global buzz for her work in 2026, and of course, being alive.
The contest, which is Curve’s own cheeky interpretation of People Magazine’s annual Sexiest Man Alive cover award, had 24 different nominees, and there were over 3,000 people who weighed in with a vote. Young Miko swept away the competition, with a number of voters making cases for her impact not only on the broader queer community, but especially on queer Latinx representation.
“She was the first woman I ever heard singing about want[ing] another woman, taking away the romance and showing that lesbians can also have passing desires,” one voter wrote. “As a Latina lesbian in a genre dominated by men like reggaeton she claimed her space and sang from real lesbian experiences. She showed us that we can desire without shame.”
“She has done so much for the reggaeton industry and Latinas everywhere,” another voter wrote. “I discovered Young Miko during a very unstable period in my life and she helps me feel more comfortable in my sexuality and latinidad.”
“She’s breaking stereotypes and cultural norms by making queerness in women front and center in a Latino world where being queer is looked down upon,” a third voter wrote.
Miko harnesses her own sexuality by embracing and subverting it through a uniquely Latinx perspective. In a U.S. music landscape and industry that has only just started appreciating Spanish language music, her presence and success are historic. Her sultry lyrics, most often sung in Spanish, her deep raspy intonation, and her domination of a musical genre that largely platforms cis-het performers, puts her desire for women front and center, inspiring many young queer Latines to do the same.
During her interview with Curve, Miko expressed that for her, sexiness is a combination of a person’s energy, confidence, personality, self-expression, and non-conformity.
“With time, sexy has become more about freedom to me, but also about kindness and how we treat other people,” she told the magazine. “Someone who makes others feel good just by being around them is very attractive to me. Being kind is sexy, being thoughtful is sexy, and being a good person is sexy.”
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