Trixie and the Rockers

Oct 11, 2024 | Blogs, feature | 0 comments

If the name Trixie Mattel sounds familiar, you probably aren’t alone. Born Brian Firkus, drag queen and Barbie enthusiast Trixie Mattel strutted her way into the limelight all the way back in 2015 on the seventh season of hit queer reality competition show “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Despite placing sixth and not taking home the title of America’s Next Drag Superstar, Mattel had stolen the hearts of the viewers and left the season as one of the undisputed fan favorites. After the season, the production company behind “RuPaul’s Drag Race” decided to give Mattel and her season seven co-star Katya their own web series. On March 25, 2016, the first episode of the still-running web show “UNHhhh” premiered, and the rest was history.

Over the course of the next few years, Mattel skyrocketed from reality TV contestant to global superstar. She returned to reality TV to win the third season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” starred in “The Trixie and Katya Show” on Viceland, starred in the documentary “Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts” that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, stars in the viral Netflix review series “I Like to Watch,” and hosts the award-winning podcast “The Bald and the Beautiful.” Mattel also is a New York Times bestselling author of two books, the founder and CEO of Trixie Cosmetics, a judge on singing competition show “Queen of the Universe,” and the star of “Trixie Motel,” an HBO series that sees Mattel buying and renovating a Palm Springs motel of the same name. This is all to say that Mattel (the self-proclaimed “Capitalist Barbie”) certainly already had a lot on her plate as a celebrity, businessperson, and entertainer. However, of course she did not stop at just doing reality TV, cosmetics, book writing, acting, comedy, podcasting, and hotel renovation, but has also recorded music. Music that, to me, is extremely dynamic, well made and thought out, and wildly underappreciated. So, this Coming Out Day, I want to deep dive into the music of Trixie Mattel, discuss what about it I love so much, and maybe even crack the case of why the music by this queer entertainment titan is not getting the flowers it so rightfully deserves. 

One thing I love about Trixie Mattel’s musical ventures is how closely related they are to her ever-evolving drag aesthetic. In essence, she is a musical drag chameleon, dipping her stilettoed foot into all types of music styles as her overall brand changes and develops. Her first major venture into making music as Trixie was around the same time as her appearances on “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” Season 3, releasing country albums “Two Birds” and “One Stone” in mid-2017 and early 2018, respectively. These albums were both very well received, with “Two Birds” charting number 2 on Heatseekers, number 6 on Independent Albums, and number 16 on Americana/Folk Albums and “One Stone” charting number 1 on Heatseekers, number 10 on Independent Albums, and number 16 on Americana/Folk Albums Billboard Charts. The sound of these albums are both very classic country, with Mattel heard playing the guitar and autoharp throughout the albums. This slowed-down, acoustic true-dyed-in-the-wool country music sound reminiscent of such greats like Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton isn’t even something many country artists do nowadays. So to see a proudly unapologetic drag queen like Trixie Mattel, who was most famous up to that point for her exaggerated makeup and boisterous comedy chops, dig deep into her struggles growing up queer and poor in rural Wisconsin to produce two extremely raw and authentic albums in a genre long dominated by straight white Christian men was truly a sight to behold. 

By the time 2020 came around, Mattel had ditched the gingham and cowboy boots for mini dresses and gogo boots to become a Full-On 60s Beach Blanket Babe. As such, her music went the way of her look and gave birth to her second studio album “Barbara.” Released in February 2020 and named after the iconic 11 and a half inch fashion doll, “Barbara” is still to me the quintessential Trixie Mattel album. Bridging the gap between her past and present aesthetics, “Barbara” is an 8 song album split evenly down the middle, encompassing two entirely different music genres. The second half of the album is very reminiscent of “Two Birds/One Stone,” with an Americana folk sound very consistent with her prior two albums. The first half of “Barbara”, however, takes Mattel’s music in a whole new direction. In conjunction with her new aesthetic changes, the album’s first half sees Mattel embodying a sensational surf-rock sound reminiscent of The Beach Boys that takes the listener on a journey down the 60s California coast. “Barbara” is at its strongest with “Malibu” and “Girl Next Door”, two songs so catchy and upbeat they will make you feel like you are riding top-down listening to them on your transistor radio with the sea breeze in your hair. For me, “Barbara” is an album that lets all the stress melt away and just for a few minutes will transport you to a time where having fun in the sun is all you need to worry about.

“The Blonde & Pink Albums” are Mattel’s most recent full album release. Released in 2022, this duo album encompasses everything that makes Trixie who she is. Much of the album embodies a new wave-esque high-energy electro-rock sound, which is best exemplified by the first single from the album “Hello Hello.” A killer guitar backing and lyrics so quintessentially confident in that Trixie Mattel way, “Hello Hello” is a track on the album I find myself returning to over and over again. “Boyfriend” is another absolute standout from the album, with a power pop sound and a 60s girl group vibe with Mattel desperately pining over someone else’s man. “Boyfriend” is a song with a sound structured around the lyrics, having the song phrase modulate halfway through to be higher and match Mattel’s increasingly manic lyrics. The album isn’t one-note by any standard however, with songs like “White Rabbit” featuring Michelle Branch, “This Town” featuring Shakey Graves, and a cover of the Go-Go’s “Vacation” adding some slowed-down balance to an otherwise high-energy album.

Mattel has released 5 EPs, with two of them in particular rising above the rest. Her fourth EP “Full Coverage, Vol. 1” is a standout, seeing Mattel cover four popular songs both old and new. Her cover of “Jackson” with fellow queer artist Orville Peck is one of my favorite Mattel tracks across all of her music, with Mattel and Peck’s playful rendition of Johnny and June Carter Cash’s country hit staying very true to the original. Another track from this EP that is a standout to me is Mattel’s cover of Violent Femmes “Blister in the Sun.” Mattel takes “Blister in the Sun” and splashes it with a glossy coat of pink paint, turning the indie acoustic sound into something her own and creates a track you will never want to stop listening to. 

Mattel’s fifth EP “Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous” takes Mattel’s sound in a direction not heard before. Like many of us, during the pandemic Mattel revealed she picked up a new hobby that she had always wanted to try. That hobby was DJing. What started as a pandemic hobby then turned into another business venture, with Mattel taking her DJing on the road and touring her show Solid Pink Disco around the country and the world. “Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous” was the offspring of that, with four of the EPs 5 tracks being different versions of Mattel’s DJ remix of the hit RuPaul song of the same name. The standout from the EP for me, however, is the last track titled “Solid Pink Disco.” Serving as the starting track for every one of her shows on the Solid Pink Disco tour, “Solid Pink Disco” is the epitome of what a Trixie Mattel DJ song should sound like. With a backing sample of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love”, the song is a groovy techno tune with absolutely nonsense lyrics and feels like Mattel simply having fun and embracing whatever musical whims that come her way. Although EPs by artists often get overshadowed by full album releases, I can confidently say that Mattel’s EPs are not ones that you will want to skip, and have some of my favorite songs out of her entire discography.

So, why doesn’t Trixie Mattel get the credit she deserves for her music? There is no doubt that Mattel is wildly successful. She has had the ability to do things that most people only dream of, and is extremely popular in regards to her drag, comedy, and as a media personality in pop culture broadly. However, the one area of her career that this popularity and respect does not seem to apply to is her music, regardless of the quality or how acclaimed it is. Her music has consistently been well reviewed by music critics, with Billboard even listing “One Stone” as one of the best albums of the year so far for 2018 at the time of its release. However, nothing more than that. No real awards or accolades, little radio play, and her music only coming into discussion when discussing “Pride Music” or “Music Made By a Drag Queen.” This, I believe, is the crux of the reason for this snub. Trixie Mattel is a drag queen, and so whenever she does anything, she is not that thing but instead a drag queen doing something else. Trixie isn’t a comedian, but a drag queen who is funny. Trixie isn’t an actor, but a drag queen who acts. And, Trixie isn’t a musician, but a drag queen that makes music. This seeming asterisk at the end of everything that Mattel does that she has to be a drag queen first and everything else second is something that may still work in terms of doing comedy or acting, as this is what people are used to seeing drag queens do. But, for a drag queen to make music outside of what people think “drag queen music” sounds like is an albatross around her neck. It should not be, but it is. Deep and authentic folk and country, surf rock, and new wave pop rock are not exactly styles of music that people picture a drag queen making. And by making, I mean genuinely making herself. Mattel plays the guitar and autoharp, is a literal DJ, and writes the vast majority of her songs, with “Two Birds and One Stone” both being written solely and entirely by her. If other musicians made the music Trixie Mattel has made and put the work into their music as Mattel has done, people would be singing their praises and talking about potential VMA performances and Grammy nominations and how they are “The Next Big Thing”. But Mattel, who is relegated to being a drag queen first and everything else second, is unable to break into that conversation, which is unfortunate. It should not matter what people think a drag queen is or what a drag queen should be able to do. Throughout her career, Trixie Mattel has broken barriers for drag artists and done things few other drag queens, if any, had done. Breaking down the barriers for drag artists to get the credit they deserve from the music industry should not be any different, and it is high time for drag musicians to get their flowers. Are people ready to see a drag queen win a Grammy Award? Well, they should be.


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