Music & Concerts
Trixie continues forging new musical vistas on third LP ‘Barbara’
‘Drag Race’ alum eschews formula most show vets embrace


For anyone worried that drag has gone too mainstream, RuPaul hosting “Saturday Night Live” last weekend may well be the nail in the coffin. But now that there is a minimum of one drag queen per public library — or so it seems — the queens are also much less constrained by old stereotypes. Trixie Mattel, whose new album “Barbara” is out this week, is at the forefront of pushing the bounds of what drag queens can do in the mainstream.
RuPaul’s pioneering shadow has long set the tone for the kind of songs drag queens produce. Certainly an artist in his own right, RuPaul’s 1992 hit “Supermodel (You Better Work)” paved the way for later drag queens, largely under the guises of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” who have released music, such as Alaska Thunderfuck, Sharon Needles, Shea Cole, Courtney Act and others. The show serves as testing ground through various musical competitions for new performers, as well as publicity for Ru’s own music. The club-ready, joke-heavy music produced by “Drag Race” contestants could almost be classified as its own genre. Trixie Mattel has opted instead to chart her own path.
As a contestant on season seven of “Drag Race” and winner of season three of “Drag Race All Stars,” she has done an excellent job of marketing herself after her apperances, co-hosting the raucous and consistently hilarious Youtube series “UNHhhh” with fellow “Drag Race” alum Katya. Mattel is currently on an international comedy tour. Most expected, however, was the release of her first album,“Two Birds” (2017), a genuine work of country/folk music that carried her appeal far beyond “Drag Race” devotees. The album is a delightful little folk wonder, which even included a clever Bluegrass song about inclusion: “And I knew that I got lucky/In the bluegrass of Kentucky/But bluegrass, you don’t love me after all.” The following year saw the release of her follow-up, “One Stone,” which only solidified the seriousness of Mattel’s musical endeavors.
Just as “Two Birds” and “One Stone” were two parts of a single whole, she has divided the new album into an A-side and a B-side. And like the last two, the album length runs just under 25 minutes. With “Barbara,” Mattel turns over a new leaf, venturing into pop-rock with a laid-back ’90s feel for the first half of the short record. The delightfully crisp, catchy tunes buzz from beginning to end at lightning pace and before you know it, you’ve listened to the album three times through.
The lead single and opening track “Malibu” is bouncy, light rock anthem — it’s a beach song that glows with warm nostalgia. It’s something akin to the trick mastered by Ben Folds on his 2001 album “Rockin’ the Suburbs.” Not so far off from Folds’ “Zak and Sara,” Mattel conveys nostalgia, but makes it cheery, swirly, great fun.
Still on the vibrant, up-tempo side-A, “Jesse Jesse” shows how Mattel’s wit as a drag queen and comedian comes into play in her music. It’s a light rock love anthem for handsome and underrated actor Jesse Eisenberg (“Zombieland,” “The Social Network”). But in the chorus, she turns it into a play on Rick Springfield’s 1981 hit (and straight karaoke favorite) “Jesse’s Girl.” It creates a funny, charming effect that doesn’t detract even slightly from the catchy tune: “Jesse, Jesse, take my hand/You can meet me in Zombieland/You know inside every clam’s a pearl/I could be Jesse’s girl.”
Side B presents us with a softer side of Mattel, something more akin to her previous two albums. But it flows seamlessly with the first half. And it is here that Mattel showcases her storytelling abilities. “Gold” is a beautiful, metaphorical country song about love, with a simple, lovely chorus: “Where do you go when the gold is gone, when the old front lawn’s turning gray?/Will you grow from those cold blood wrongs when those old love songs start to play?” Trixie Mattel is at the top of her game with this album and it’s a wonderful thing to hear.
Music & Concerts
Here’s everything queer that just happened at the 67th Grammy Awards
LGBTQ megastars among winners, performers

The 67th Grammy Awards featured debut performances by LGBTQ megastars Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Doechii — all of whom also won awards at Sunday’s awards ceremony, making the gay sons and thot daughters of the queer and trans world rejoice.
Though Roan was the only queer artist to take home one of the “Big Four” awards — Best New Artist, Doechii, Carpenter, Charlie XCX, Billie Eilish, and Lady Gaga were also all nominated for one or more of the “Big Four.”
Carpenter, Roan, and Doechii also shocked audiences with their debut performances, showing us what it really means to be out and loud.
Doechii
The self-proclaimed swamp princess from Florida took home a well-deserved win for Best Rap Album (“Alligator Bites Never Heal”).
She stunned audiences with her performance and her speech, dedicating her win to Black women everywhere. Only two other women have won the award — Lauryn Hill and Cardi B since the category was introduced in 1989.
“I know there are so many Black women out there that are watching me right now and I want to tell you: You can do it. Anything is possible,” said Doechii during her acceptance speech.
Chappell Roan
Roan won the Best New Artist award, prompting her to whip out her notebook and deliver a speech about her struggles with the healthcare industry after getting dropped by her first record label radicalized her.
On the carpet, she served looks on the red carpet while delivering Jean Paul Gaultier vintage realness and thanking the trans girlies who made her who she is today.
“Trans people have always existed and they will forever exist. They will never, no matter what happens, take trans joy away and [they] have to be protected more than anything because I would not be here without trans girls,” said Roan on the red carpet.
She also served during her debut Grammys performance, turning Crypto.com Arena into the Pink Pony Club while dedicating the performance to Los Angeles — the city that embraced her when she wanted to break into the industry. She used her acceptance speech as her opportunity to shine a light on her journey toward becoming the icon she is today — and to no one’s surprise, it didn’t come easy to her.
Roan opened up about her struggles with healthcare and being dropped as an artist in L.A., leaving her without health coverage and scrambling for solutions. Seems like the healthcare system has radicalized yet another one.
St. Vincent
St. Vincent revealed that she has a wife and daughter during her acceptance speeches, thanking them after winning three Grammys for Best Alternative Music Album (“All Born Screaming”), Best Alternative Music Performance (“Flea”), and Best Rock Song (“Broken Man”).
During her red carpet interview, reporters asked Clark about the shocking news about her mentioning her wife and daughter, she responded “Most people were [unaware]. It’s young, so we’ve kept it under wraps.” The reporter then continued his line of questioning, meanwhile intrusive thoughts quickly got ahold of Clark, prompting her to interrupt the reporter to clarify that she meant the child is young, not the person in the relationship she’s in.
Girl, you’re good.
Sabrina Carpenter
Though Carpenter didn’t win any of the “Big Four” categories, she did win Best Pop Vocal Album for (“Short n’ Sweet”) and Best Pop Solo Performance for (“Espresso”).
According to E!, Carpenter’s acceptance speech was apparently censored, cutting her off after she said: “Thank you, holy sh*t, bye!”
The pop star was nominated for Record of the Year (“Espresso”), Song of the Year (“Please, Please, Please”), Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album (“Short n’ Sweet”), Album of the Year (“Short n’ Sweet”), Best Remixed Recording (“Espresso – Mark Ronson x FNZ Working Late Remix”), Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (“Short n’ Sweet”) — all within her first year as a record-releasing musician.
Charli XCX
Charlie XCX truly brought the brat energy to the Grammys with her performance of (“Van Dutch”), also taking home the wins for Best Dance/Pop Recording for (“Van Dutch”) and Best Dance/Electronic Album for (“Brat”).
Lady Gaga
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance went to Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. Gaga used her acceptance speech to advocate for trans people stating that we all need love and to be uplifted.
“Trans people are not invisible. Trans people deserve love. The queer community deserves to be lifted up. Music is love. Thank you,” said Gaga.
No, thank you mother.
Last, but not least
It is also worth noting that our tried and true ally, Alicia Keys used her moment on the Grammys stage to advocate for the restoration of DEI initiatives.
“This is not the time to shut down the diversity of voices,” said Keys. “We’ve seen on this stage talented, hard-working people from different backgrounds, with different points of view, and it changes the game. DEI is not a threat, it’s a gift — and the more voices, the more powerful the sound.”
Music & Concerts
Gay Men’s Chorus starting the year with a cabaret
‘Postcards’ to be performed at CAMP Rehoboth

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington will perform “Postcards,” a cabaret, on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 5:00p.m. and 8:00p.m. at CAMP Rehoboth Elkins-Archibald Atrium.
In this performance, the choir will share hilarious and heart-warming stories and songs about the travel adventures they’ve had and hope to have. Songs include “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “Streets of Dublin,” “Magic To Do,” “Home,” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” Tickets cost $35 and can be purchased on Camp Rehoboth’s website.
Music & Concerts
WMC’s ‘Comfort and Joy’ fuses drama, well-being, light
Soloist describes production as ‘reverent and beautiful’

‘Comfort and Joy’
Washington Master Chorale
Sunday, Dec. 22, 5 p.m.
Church of the Epiphany
1317 G St., N.W.
washingtonmasterchorale.org
With its warmth and unfettered imagination, it’s no surprise that the Washington Master Chorale’s enduringly popular winter program remains a holiday favorite.
This December the Washington Master Chorale (WMC), helmed by out artistic director Thomas Colohan presents “Comfort and Joy” a selection of British and American works like “Lute-Book Lullaby,” “I Saw Three Ships,” “Puer Natus” by Samuel Scheidt and “Hosanna to the Son of David” by Orlando Gibbons.
In addition to these Christmas classics, WMC will perform 2022 Florence Price Commission Winner Mason Bynes’s “Ephiphanytide” and Ēriks Ešenvalds’ “Northern Lights,” the firsthand accounts of arctic explorers Charles Francis Hall and Fridtjof Nansen and their experiences surrounding the fabled aurora borealis.
Described as “reverent and beautiful” by “Northern Lights” tenor soloist Opal Clyburn-Miller, “Comfort and Joy” fuses drama and well-being, and the import of light.
And as an artist who uses they/them pronouns, Clyburn-Miller says where classical music is concerned, “it seems people are put in their boxes and that’s where they stay.” They add, “there’s been some progress. It’s pretty much a traditional art form.”
With regard to their career, Clyburn-Miller, the Baltimore based Peabody Conservatory student, says the work usually comes through word of mouth: “You show up, you’re a good colleague and people want to work with you again.”
The solo piece, according to Colohan, is perfect for Clyburn-Miller. The soloist says in response: “Maybe I have the imagination to think of what Northern Lights might look like in Eastern Europe. I’ve never been that far north but I can put myself in that sense of wonder and astonishment.”
But the gig hasn’t been entirely without its tests. The lyrics are in Latvian, a new language for the meticulous singer.
“It’s been a bit tricky getting the Latvian down,” they say. “Usually in my singing experience, it’s been German, Italian and French, and I’m familiar with Spanish and some Hungarian and Russian, but this is entirely new.”
A perfect chorale venue requires easy parking; good acoustics; a concert level Steinway, and an excellent organ; a sanctuary wide enough to accommodate a 50-person chorale; and audience friendly loos, says Colohan.
The Church of Epiphany meets most if not all of these requirements.
Raised Catholic in Richmond, Colohan came out at Ohio’s progressive Oberlin Conservatory. Around this time, he remembers visiting Washington for a music educator’s conference and partying at JR.’s, Badlands, and other bars. He says, “I saw that D.C. had a huge population of clean-cut gay boys. That journey which started with me being gay, prompted me to ask questions.”
As WMC artistic director since 2009, Colohan, who lives with his partner in Silver Spring, became increasingly interested in secular poetry and literature, especially the ways in which it intersects with chorale music. For him, that became the heart of the art form.
“My secular approach is wider than some. I’m like the curator of the museum going down to the basement to bring some stuff up. You cannot hear the music if we don’t sing it.”
He’s remained conservative as an aesthetic but not an ethos. “I can wear a blazer and not be crazy right wing. Spiritually speaking, I’m Zen Buddhist now.”
A lot of the concert is about darkness and light. Colohan says, “In ancient times when the world became darker, the days leading to the solstice were scary and then on the 22nd they saw that days were getting longer and it was lighter.”
“Comfort and Joy” closes with a candle lit chorale memorably singing “Silent Night.”
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