St. Vincent and Valerie June are also among singers who cover popular love songs like 'She's Funny That Way', 'I Need a Man to Love Me' and 'Then He Kissed Me' with gender twists in album 'Universal Love'.

• Apr 6, 2018

AceShowbiz - Kesha (previously known as Ke$ha) and Bob Dylan have joined forces with a slew of other artists to honor LGBT community by reworking some classic love songs with gender flips. They change the pronouns on such songs as "She's Funny That Way" and "I Need a Man to Love Me" in hopes that the new versions could be used by same-sex couples at their weddings.

The six-song album, "Universal Love", was released on Thursday, April 4. It features Kesha's "I Need a Woman to Love Me", a spin-off to Janis Joplin's "I Need a Man to Love Me". "I've always been an advocate for equal rights. It's an issue that is so close to my heart. It is something that is part of my family, part of my friends and is a part of me," she says in a video interview released with the album. "When I was approached for this project, I instantly said yes. It was a no brainer, and I fought my entire life and my whole career for equality, and I will continue to do so forever."

Dylan reimagined "She's Funny That Way" into "He's Funny That Way". St. Vincent reworked The Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me" to "Then She Kissed Me". The singer-songwriter says, "I think if you look at the history of music, it's always been about changing the culture. If you are a musician, if you are a writer or a storyteller, you get to tell the stories that people see themselves in. The great thing about music is that transcends all the barriers, and it goes right to people's heart, and everyone has a heart."

Valerie June rerecorded "Mad About the Boy" and changed it into "Mad About the Girl". She says that she thought about her cousin Melanie, who recently married her girlfriend, when she was approached for the album. "I thought about them and how beautiful their wedding was," June says. "They dated for many years before they got married, and I thought about how awesome and beautiful everything is for them now."

"Love is universal. Shouldn't love songs be too?" a website for the album states. It also includes Death Cab for Cutie's Benjamin Gibbard's "And I Love Him", a spin-off to The Beatles' "And I Love Her", and Bloc Party's frontman Kele Okereke's cover of "My Girl", "My Guy".

Tom Murphy, a co-producer of "Universal Love", says, "If definitions of love and marriage are changing and becoming more inclusive, maybe it's time love songs caught up." He also tells New York Times, "If we view music as something that brings people together, shouldn't these popular songs be open to everyone?"