Pride
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When asked to explain the inspiration behind the title of her latest EP, Jozzy shrugs, saying Songs for Women, Free Game for N—as is exactly as the title suggests; the Memphis native makes music for women, but if men listen they’ll probably learn a thing or two. “When I’m talking to a girl, [men] always stare,” she says. “It’s not a trick to it, it’s not game. It’s just understanding who and what a woman is.”
Released in late February, Songs for Women is Jozzy’s first project since signing to Love Records, the label created by Sean “Diddy” Combs to highlight R&B talent (Roc Nation and Hallwood Media are handling management for the singer.) It’s her biggest release as a singer, following years of success as a songwriter who has worked with artists like Billy Ray Cyrus, Chlöe Bailey, Beyoncé and Timbaland.
Featuring production credits from Diddy, Stevie J and others, the 10-track project is full of adoration and longing for women, from the “Free Game” interlude that features Eartha Kitt’s viral laughter and unflappable response when asked if she’d compromise for a man to “Replay,” the mid-tempo offering about the memories that remain after a relationship has ended. The project isn’t just a debut for Jozzy, though; as the first signee on Love Records, Jozzy’s EP represents a beginning for the label, signaling the type of sound we might come to expect from the Diddy’s latest venture. The mogul pulled no punches when it came to promoting his newest signee, introducing her as the “R&B Biggie” onstage at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards and co-directing her first music video.
Jozzy says she signed with Love Records because Diddy understood and accepted her identity in a way that previous collaborators had not. In the past, she says her appearance and sexuality (“I was gay, I was a masculine woman”) perplexed people who didn’t think she should be making vulnerable R&B music. “When they heard ‘Alone,’ a lot of people were like ‘she doesn’t sound how she looks,” she notes, adding that she wants people to look past their biases and stereotypes to give the music a chance.
Diddy didn’t see those hang-ups, though. “Puff is good at seeing positive and good things in people … Notorious B.I.G. wasn’t the most handsome guy but he saw it in him and then boom, everyone else saw it,” she says. “If Puff says it’s cool, it’s cool,”
“Jozzy is a very special and dynamic talent that only comes around once in a generation, so I’m excited to see how her music sets a new standard for R&B,” Diddy told Billboard in an emailed statement about the singer. “Her skills as a writer and performer, matched with her style and energy has the potential to make her one of the greats and I’m proud to play a part in shaping the next chapter of her career.”
At the foundation of Jozzy’s artistry is her ability to craft songs that capture a distinct feeling or moment and make them feel universal. She’s been doing this for other artists for years, long before she got an opportunity to do so for herself on a big stage. Jozzy co-wrote Billy Ray Cyrus’ verse on Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” and has multiple credits on Latto’s 777 album, including for the single “It’s Givin.” Recently, she landed songwriting credits on SZA’s no. 1 album SOS for the song “Low” and on Chlöe’s forthcoming solo debut album for the song “Pray It Away.” “I can be anybody as a songwriter,” she says. “Like the song I wrote with Chloe, ‘Pray It Away.’ [I wrote] ‘Fuck n—a, fuck n—a, I just learned to hate from a fuck n—a.’ I would never say that. It’s like being in a movie. I can be any character.”
Last year, just before Beyonce’s Renaissance album was released, she learned the singer had transformed a demo she’d co-written and titled “Right Here, Right Now” into the six-minute disco track “Virgo’s Groove.” “Beyonce turned that s–t into a masterpiece,” Jozzy says, noting the original production sounded like Houston R&B. “We had a great song, but the way she colored it … it’s crazy.”
Jozzy says she now has the management and legal team to help ensure she’s being fairly compensated for her work with other artists, but she still laments the idea that songwriters should be “ghostwriters” or underpaid. “There [are] people trying to fight for us, but we need a union. There are a lot of songwriters that are struggling,” she says, noting she believes they should be paid on the frontend, even if it’s only a couple thousand dollars, in the same way that producers are.
“These songwriters are broke. It’s sick. If you don’t want songwriters, just put the beat on the radio and see how it goes,” she quickly adds. “I tell people I work with, ‘Are you going to be on the right side of history or the wrong side of history? Because I’m telling. I’m calling your name out.’”
Lately, she’s been working hard to save some of her songwriting magic for her own releases, too. While attending the Wireless Festival in London last year, when she got an idea to film the visuals for the reflective single “Alone.” In the video, which was co-directed by Diddy, she wanders the dark streets in Paris ruminating on her desire for companionship. At one point, she performs on a sidewalk with the Eiffel Tower — a singular symbol of Paris that for forty years was the tallest structure in the world — behind her, before being joined by Diddy for his signature dance, the Diddy Bop.
Jozzy says she wanted to use the Eiffel Tower as a symbol of the isolation she was feeling both in the song and in her own personal life at the time. “If you look at the Eiffel Tower, it sits alone. But it’s so beautiful,” she says. “It’s the irony of being in Paris and I was really going through some s–t with a girl. Who wants to be alone in Paris? Shawty was supposed to be out [there] with me.”
The year has certainly started off on a high note, but Jozzy is always looking forward to her next songwriting credit and her next project as an artist. She hopes to release a new project before the end of the year and she’s been working with famed choreographer Laurieann Gibson to prepare for future live performances.
But, for now, she’s just hoping to keep bringing attention to Songs for Women. “I just want to continue to get more ears on it, she says. “Keep getting new fans.”
With states such as Tennessee and Florida taking aim at drag queens through controversial legislation, Trixie Mattel, Bob the Drag Queen and a troupe of other queens and performers are ready to fight back.
This week, Producer Entertainment Group (PEG) announced “Drag Isn’t Dangerous,” a new campaign in partnership with other LGBTQ media organizations (including GLAAD, Q.Digital, Trixie Cosmetics and more) to combat anti-LGBTQ legislation around the country through awareness and fundraising.
Kicking off as an online information campaign, “Drag Isn’t Dangerous” is set to lead up to a livestreamed, one-night-only telethon featuring dozens of artists in a series of live and pre-taped performances. The initiative has confirmed Trixie Mattel, Bob the Drag Queen, Jinkx Monsoon, Katya, Eureka O’Hara, Ginger Minj, Monét X Change, Peppermint and more as performers, with “many more names to be announced,” according to a press release.
Mattel, who recently completed her world tour with Katya, made her feelings about the state of anti-LGBTQ legislation very clear in a statement released with the news. “The only place where men in dresses sexualize children is church,” she wrote.
Bob the Drag Queen, who’s currently preparing to join Madonna on her world tour, added, “The most traumatizing thing about drag isn’t harming kids, it’s getting sent home first on Drag Race … but I can’t relate.”
Jacob Slane, a partner and talent manager with PEG, said in a statement that the organization was “sick” of the continued attacks on the LGBTQ community from state legislatures. “These bans are not just about trans people or drag performers. It is a systematic subjugation of LGBTQ people,” he wrote. “Through the ‘Drag Isn’t Dangerous’ campaign, we want to show that drag performers are not dangerous groomers, sexual deviants, criminals or whatever is the latest evangelical slur du jour. We want to raise awareness and funds to make a difference in the lives of LGBTQ people who are under attack.”
The “Drag Isn’t Dangerous” telethon will take place on Sunday, May 7. For tickets and more information, click here.
Musician Durand Jones is sharing an intimate look at his personal life with a new video for his debut solo single “That Feeling.” The track – off his upcoming LP Wait Til I Get Over – is an ode to Black queer love from the lead singer of Durand Jones and the Indications and marks the first time the singer has openly discussed his sexuality.
“That Feeling” reflects on Jones’ first queer relationship and the mixed feelings he felt about “taboo” love. “I dedicate this one to a cajun dude out near Lafayette, Louisiana. Back in the day, our bond and love for another was so close and intense, that it overwhelmed me,” Jones said in a statement released with the song. “I began to be scared of it and ashamed. I found myself in a flurry trying to find the feelings when I said I would be so many things for him.”
Jones continues, “It’s the first breakup song I’ve ever written, and it’s the first and only love song I’ve written directly to another man. I wanted this song to be a big climatic build of emotions – to capture our frustration, sadness, and nostalgia that comes with the end to any intimate relationship.”
The single is released alongside a music video directed by Will Niava and McCray Sutherlin. Backdropped by scenes of gulf Louisiana wetland, the video follows Jones and a younger version of himself falling in love for the first time. When an older Jones returns to his hometown, he and his former love exchange fleeting glances at a Southern dinner table and tender gazes in a marshy field, capturing the aching yearn of long-lost love.
Jones’ debut solo album Wait Til I Get Over (due out on May 5 via Dead Oceans) serves as a reckoning of Jones’ relationship with his hometown of Hillaryville, La., a town first established as a form of reparations to previously enslaved Black Americans. Check out the official video for Jones’ “That Feeling” above.
Everyone has their celebrity crushes, including celebrities themselves. And when Saweetie revealed who she was crushing, she certainly caught their attention.
In an interview with E! News posted on Monday (March 20), Saweetie revealed that her “celebrity guy crush” was none other than Lil Nas X. She shared that she thought “he is so fine,” and added that “he look better than me … I be like, ‘What is your skin regimen?’”
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It didn’t take long for Lil Nas to hear about Saweetie’s confession. Retweeting a fan account that posted a clip of Saweetie’s response, the “Industry Baby” singer joked that he was ready to switch teams for her. “goodbye lgbt community, we had a great run,” he wrote next to a heart emoji.
The adorable exchange came just a few hours after a dustup of online drama involving the pair, when fans noticed that Saweetie liked a tweet questioning Lil Nas X’s sexuality with a clip from his recent Lollapalooza Chile performance. The “My Type” rapper quickly dispelled rumors that she thought Lil Nas was secretly straight in a tweet of her own, saying, “he was lookin fine af that’s why I liked the video I didn’t see the shadiness …. *unlikes*.”
Lil Nas X also clapped back at the original tweet claiming that he was “not really gay or not really that feminine it’s so forced,” questioning the qualifications of the person making the accusation. “oh no guys it’s the estrogen expert,” he tweeted.
Check out the clip from Saweetie’s interview and Lil Nas X’s response below:
Country, pop and Americana artists congregated at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Monday (March 20) for the benefit concert Love Rising to support the LGBTQIA+ community and to oppose a slate of bills that negatively impact the LGBTQIA+ community and transgender teens.
The arena was packed, as the evening featured a bill featuring Maren Morris, Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Jason Isbell, Sheryl Crow, Allison Russell, Yola, Amanda Shires, Yola, Joy Oladokun, Jake Wesley Rogers, Wrabel, Brittany Howard, Fancy Hagood, Autumn Nicholas, Mya Byrne, Julien Baker, Shea Diamond and more. Sibling duo Brothers Osborne, who had been slated to perform during the show, was forced to back out of the performance just prior to the show, as member John Osborne and his wife Lucie were welcoming twins.
The concert also raised awareness and funds to battle a slate of anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation — particularly Senate Bill 1/House Bill 1 and House Bill 9/Senate Bill 3, which ban drag shows in the presence of minors, and transgender procedures for minors. On March 2, Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1/HB1 and SB3/HB9; SB3 takes effect April 1 and is already impacting live events and queer artists in the state.
Just days after these legislations were signed, four-time Grammy nominee Russell and radio personality Hunter Kelly (who hosts the LGBTQIA-themed country music show Proud Radio on Apple Music) began working to rally a stellar slate of artists from the Nashville music community and beyond to oppose the legislation.
The evening began with a video featuring cast members of RuPaul’s Drag Race Live!, with drag performer Asia O’Hara emceeing the evening.
“Drag is not a crime,” O’Hara said. “We are here tonight to say one thing and one thing only: Enough is enough.”
In addition to the top-shelf lineup of performers on hand, drag artists were featured throughout the evening, including Nashville-based Veronika Electronika, who said, “I think it comes down to our LGBTQIA+ communities are not being afford the same protections as other groups. … If you think this stops with legislation against the trans community and the drag community, wake up!”
The evening featured repeated calls for donations (by texting “Love” to 99126) to the organizations aided by the concert, including Inclusion Tennessee, OUTMemphis, Tennessee Equality Project and the Tennessee Pride Chamber, as well as Brandi Carlile’s Looking Out Foundation. (The Looking Out Foundation doubled donations up to $100,000.) Donations can still be made at propeller.la.
Nashville mayor John Cooper surprised the crowd by taking the stage to proclaim March 20 Love Rising Day in Nashville.
“Every person, regardless of who they love, how they dress and how they identify, deserves to be treated with love and respect,” Cooper said. “We will always be a welcoming city. Let me say that again: We will always be a welcoming city. I speak for all of Nashville when I say to all of our LGBTQ+ neighbors, we are glad you are here … we must support one another by speaking up and speaking out against discrimination and hate when we see it, because we are better and stronger together.”
Here, we look at 10 top moments from the evening:
Adeem the Artist
Nonbinary singer-songwriter Adeem the Artist expressed gratitude for the organizers of Love Rising, including Russell (who backed Adeem on banjo), David Macias and Ali Harnell.
“It’s a weird juxtaposition of jubilation and fear … I live in Tennessee a state that wants to criminalize my very identity,” they said before performing “For Judas” from their latest album, White Trash Revelry.
Jake Wesley Rogers
Queer performer Jake Wesley Rogers, whose career launched in Nashville, started off by telling a story of a childhood school memory, prior to launching into the dramatic “Pluto,” including the key line “at the end of the day, you and me are both the same/ We just wanna be loved.”
“A few weeks after our test, our teacher informed us that Pluto was no longer invited. It’s one of my earliest traumas, because if you are an outsider you know how that feels … Tonight, Nashville, we realize that oftentimes our insecurity is our superpower. Take all your fears, worries and let it explode in this arena and let in all the love that you are.”
Sheryl Crow
“This is a statement about what kind of world we want to live in, living our free truth … and that we don’t let politicians inflict their fear story on any of us,” Crow said before launching into her 1996 hit “Everyday Is a Winding Road.”
She later shared how she has to explain to her sons how “some people don’t get to live like they want to because it doesn’t align to someone’s political agenda.” Crow went on to perform “Hard to Make a Stand,” and encouraged those in the audience to register to vote.
Maren Morris
After performing “Crowded Table” alongside Russell, Oladokun, Amanda Shires and more, Morris returned to the stage for a solo performance, recalling how earlier in the day, her young son visited several drag queens in their dressing rooms and delighted in watching as they perfected their hair and makeup for the show.
“Yes, I introduced my son to some drag queens today, so Tennessee, f–king arrest me,” Morris said. She went on to perform “Better Than We Found It” and then welcomed drag performer Alexia Noelle to perform “Meet Me in the Middle.”
Joy Oladokun
Brandishing a guitar emblazoned with “Keep Hope Alive” Joy Oladokun performed the hopeful “Somehow, Things Just Get Better.”
“I never thought there would be a world where I could be out loud about who I love … it’s f–king hard to live here and specifically a country that feels like it’s always attacking who you are. It’s hard not to just hide in the f–king house and I wrote this about the cyclical nature of life and how things turn around hopefully,” Oladokun told the crowd.
Cidny Bullens
While taking the stage to introduce transgender performer Mya Byrne, Bullens took a moment to share a powerful testimony of a life that includes time performing with Elton John and Rod Stewart, singing lead vocals on the Grease soundtrack, and working in Nashville with artists including Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris and more. Bullens also spoke of physically transitioning from Cindy Bullens to Cidny Bullens in 2011.
Speaking of the ream of Tennessee legislations, Bullens said, “The state of Tennessee does not support me, or any other LGBTQ, transgender, or non-binary person. They targeted us all, they targeted humanity, they targeted love. This can’t stand because we won’t let it.”
Jason Isbell
“I can’t tell y’all how happy I am to be in this room with so many good people,” he said before launching into his now decade-old song “Cover Me Up.”
“Everybody deserves to be free to love yourself for who you are. You can’t really love someone else until you love who you are, so that should be available to everyone,” he said before welcoming the Rainbow Coalition band, which had been backing the artists all night, back to the stage. He continued with a rendition of Wet Willie’s “Keep on Smilin’,” tweaking a key lyric to say, “The state of Tennessee’s playing games/ And they say that you’re to blame.”
Hozier and Allison Russell
“What an honor it is to be part of this event, and to be part of your beautiful city” the Irish-born Hozier told the crowd while taking the stage. “[Irish political leader] James Connolly once said that no revolutionary movement is complete without its poetical expression. There are so many elements of queer culture that are no less than revolutionary. In a time of fear-mongering, just standing up for who you are is revolutionary.”
One of the most powerful moments — in an evening filled with powerful moments — came as Hozier was joined by Russell to perform “Nina Cried Power,” with Russell’s fiery belting a perfect match for Hozier’s grainy, fervent voice.
Hayley Williams and Becca Mancari
Williams, known both for her solo work and with Paramore, recounted her family’s move to Nashville when she was 13, and how the community — in particular, the creatives in the LGBTQIA+ community — influenced her music and artistry. She also brought a moment of levity to the show, telling the crowd, “If you’re a drag performer — skilled, talented — I’m sure some of them wake up thinking, ‘Why did I shave my legs for this?’” Williams said, before performing Deana Carter’s 1997 hit “Did I Shave My Legs for This?”
Williams teamed with Becca Mancari for an acoustic rendition of “Inordinary” from Williams’ second solo album, Flowers for Vases/Descansos.
Russell, Ruby Amanfu and Shea Diamond
“Never let them extinguish your fire — we were all born into the same world. Nobody has the right to take your rights,” said singer-songwriter Shea Diamond. “We are so much bigger than the hate they divide us with … Trans is beautiful, and drag queens are saving the world. So in this moment, we can’t allow them to stop everything we’ve built.”
Brandi Carlile and her family, who could not be in attendance, sent in a video tribute and introduced Russell, who welcomed to the stage Ruby Amanfu to join Russell and Diamond. Together, their three illustrious voices elevated “A Beautiful Noise.”
Russell then welcomed her daughter and several friends to join them for “You’re Not Alone,” which Russell originally recorded with Carlile.
“This is circle work that we are engaged in,” Russell said. “Circles are powerful — there is no one above, no one below … every single one of us equal worthy and beautiful. There is nothing we together can’t do when we work together in these magic circles.”
Drag queens and musical theater go together about as well as peanut butter and jelly, a fact that was proven yet again on the latest installment of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
On last week’s episode (aired Friday, March 17), the six remaining contestant got to perform in a fan-favorite challenge: the Rusical! Fighting for parts and learning their songs and choreo, the queens put on a show-stopping performance of Wigloose: The Rusical, telling the story of a small town trying to ban drag —which sounded pretty familiar to the audience at home.
With the judges struggling to find flaws in what was one of the best Rusical performances to date, they ultimately adored Anetra’s hilarious-yet-moving performance as the show’s supportive mother. Meanwhile, the panel split hairs and decided that Loosey LaDuca and Salina EsTitties didn’t wow them as much as the other girls on the runway, landing them both in the bottom.
Performing in a chilling lip-sync to Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” both queens did their best to showcase the inherent drama of the song. Ultimately, Loosey’s eerie performance earned her another week in the competition, bringing Salina’s competitive run to a close.
Billboard caught up with Salina following her elimination to talk about surviving three lip-syncs on the show, how timely Wigloose feels today, and the backstage drama that came from RuPaul’s infamous question, “who should go home tonight and why?”
You made it to the top six! How are you feeling about your Drag Race journey?
I feel amazing about it. Being there, it didn’t feel like it was that big of a deal, because I was like, “Yeah, I wanted to get to the top!” But after the fact, looking back, I was like, “Wait … top six out of 16 bitches? That’s great.”
With being in the top six, you also join a handful of Drag Race queens who have survived three or more lip syncs, like Jujubee, Coco Montrese and others. Was that something that you were consciously thinking about in the moment?
I mean, no, because we all know that third Beyoncé lip sync was supposed to be Mistress — we all saw that interview! [laughs] No, no, it’s fine, I got to give an iconic Beyoncé moment, I was fully ready, bitch. The thing with our season is it felt like anyone could have been in the bottom at any point. We’re all so talented and good at this, that if you put any one of the girls there, it would have been a fight regardless. It did feel good winning, obviously. But at the same time, it really felt like anyone could have been in my situation, which made it such a weird experience to live through. To be able to keep going felt amazing.
A lot of the girls were like, “Oh, I’m just here to have fun!” But I think, deep down, we were all really there to try and win and do our best.
Yes, girl, people are trying to win this season.
Oh, we see that with Miss Loosey, don’t we, honey? [laughs]
I’ve also love that you shouting the phrase “Free Willy” when Anetra leapt over Marcia in the episode prior has become a full-blown meme on Twitter.
I was so happy they kept that in. When we were watching that lip-sync, when she leapt over her, it was the most iconic lip sync situation we had seen all season. So the fact that they made me a part of it was just sickening. And Marcia had no clue that happened in the moment! The way everyone was screaming in the room, it was just insane.
Let’s get into this week and the Rusical episode. For the one trillionth time on this show, we get this moment where Loosey and Luxx are fighting over who gets to play the lead. You backed out quickly from that fight — do you think it’s really worth it to fight for the lead role in these challenges?
In a situation like this where you’re really vying for wins and you want to get noticed by the judges, in the lead role, you’re going to get noticed the most. Usually, the conversation quickly steers towards, “Oh, you could really mess up! You could do really bad!” But I think with musicals, and the fact that a lot of us drag queens are theater queens, it’s the perfect opportunity for us to showcase everything we can do — dance, sing, act, lip-sync — all at once. As a theater major myself, I wanted that lead role, too! But, I wasn’t gonna fight over it.
I think everyone was very struck by how unbelievably timely this Rusical was. Having a show about a small town trying to ban drag while that actual real thing is actively happening in Tennessee and on the precipice of happening in other states felt really wild.
It’s literally so insane. It’s fully like that thing with how The Simpsons kept predicting the future — now it’s Drag Race. At the time of filming, which was almost a year or so ago, Ru had just done an interview with Jimmy Fallon, I think, talking about acceptance and drag queen story hour, which was sort of the main issue at the time. But it’s still happening today, and now it’s even crazier. It’s actually wild how relevant it is today, and I’m really grateful that this is all lining up the way that it is, because what a great way to combat this and show that it’s really about love at the end of the day.
How have you been dealing with all of the news coming out of places like Tennessee lately?
It’s crazy. Our good sister Aura lives in Tennessee, and she has been a very vocal advocate, and she’s been using her platform to fight against it. We’ve all kind of been asking her, “What can we do to help?”
It’s interesting, too, now that I’m traveling to these smaller, rural towns where I’m thinking, “Wait … y’all don’t like us.” It’s very scary out here today.
Getting back to the Rusical, the judges weren’t kidding when they said that all of you killed this performance. When you were preparing for Wigloose, could you tell that this one felt like such a strong Rusical challenge?
The music is so good. We could not stop singing “Everybody’s going Wigloose” ever since we left the show. Like, we’ve all been talking about how we genuinely can’t wait for it to go on iTunes so we can actually listen to it. Leland is a literal genius, and he’s fast making all of this stuff while we’re there. It’s insane.
So, yes, we knew we were crushing it. When the critiques happened and there were no bad critiques, it felt correct. Like, “the show was perfect, let’s just read you guys for your looks.” So it was like, “Okay, cool, we did something iconic that’s going to go down in history.”
Speaking of critiques, this week the dreaded question comes up; “Who should go home tonight, and why?” I appreciate that you let the girls who said your name know exactly how you felt about being picked. What’s that experience like, having to answer, and being told that these girls want you gone?
Well, in that moment, I was truly like, “Well, it’s only two people out of five.” I had a feeling in my heart that they didn’t even necessarily believe that was true. Up until this point, I had been in the bottom for two design challenges and the one interview challenge, which no one thought I should have been in the bottom for to begin with. So, Loosey straight up told me, every design challenge, “You shouldn’t have been in the bottom.” So, in the moment, I was like, “If that’s the case, Loosey, your math about why I should go home just doesn’t add up.”
So I thought, “Let’s go out with a bang. If this is my last episode, I’m gonna go down with a fight.” And I was so mad that they weren’t pushing back at me during Untucked! Like, “fight with me, dammit!” And then Anetra comes in with, “Well, RuPaul was asking about who deserved to go,” and I was like, “Shut up, Anetra, I’m not even talking to you, I’m talking to Loosey!” [laughs]
We get to this lip sync — I just want to know what your approach was, knowing you had this chilling, emotional song to perform while wearing giant hot dog fingers?
Girl, it was giving Everything Everywhere All At Once. The whole point of EsTitties is that she’s an actress, she takes these serious beats, but the reality of who she is really is just chaos, insanity and camp. I knew it would look ridiculous, but as long as I played it so serious and heartfelt, it would make it even more hilarious that I had these massive hands.
Get your St. Patrick’s Day weekend off to the right start with some new tracks from your favorite queer artists. Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of Queer Jams of the Week, our roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists.
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From Doechii’s pitch-perfect new collab with Kodak Black to Joy Oladokun’s life-affirming new anthem, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below.
Doechii feat. Kodak Black, “What It Is (Block Boy)”
Simply put, Doechii has never sounded better than she does on “What It Is (Block Boy).” On her bouncing new track, the rising singer lets her voice loose over an instantly-catchy backing track complete with light guitar riffs, chunky piano chords and a killer beat. Add into it a verse from “Super Gremlin” superstar Kodak Black, and you have a certified banger on your hands.
Joy Oladokun feat. Noah Kahan, “We’re All Gonna Die”
Existentialism has never sounded quite as good as it does on Joy Oladokun’s new anthem. The aptly-titled “We’re All Gonna Die” sees the singer-songwriter taking on a “f–k it, let’s see what happens” approach to just about everything has to offer. While the lyrics might occasionally dip into a slightly more pessimistic worldview than fans of Oladokun are used to hearing, the sweet, churning production immediately casts away all doubt — “We’re All Gonna Die” is truly about having fun with what little time you’ve got in this world.
Princess Nokia, I Love You But This Is Goodbye
There’s something about I Love You But This Is Goodbye, the sparkling new EP from Princess Nokia, that is deeply endearing. Throughout the project, which sees the star switching up her hip-hop stylings for a pop-rock-meets-electronica vibe, Nokia charts a full journey from love to loss and back again. Her pen is fully intact with some A-plus songwriting on tracks like “Angels & Demons,” while others like lead single “Closure” let you bask in their delicious production. It’s a remarkable EP from an artist in need of much more recognition than she’s already earned.
ODESZA feat. Claud, “To Be Yours”
For their very first collaboration together, electronic duo ODESZA and indie star Claud prove to be a perfect match. “To Be Yours” perfectly toes the line between each of the artists’ respective worlds, employing the crystal clear production work of the sought-after dance pair as well as the confessional songwriting of the fast-rising bedroom pop singer into one gloriously fun single. If you’re in search of a good song to simply vibe out to this weekend, look no further.
Greyson Chance, “Herringbone”
Greyson Chance would like his jacket back please — and if you could bring his heart back with it, that would also be very helpful. “Herringbone,” the heartbreaking new single from the alt-pop singer-songwriter, is an ode to all things lost as Chance begs his lover to please come back after their breakup. With a gentle touch and some very well-written lyrics, Chance owns every ounce of his own anguish on this gorgeous new song.
Siena Liggins, “3 Bad”
Siena Liggins is ready for some experimentation. On “3 Bad,” the singer’s latest track, Liggins manages to take hyper-pop sounds (pitched-up vocals, plinking percussion and blown-out bass drums, to name a few) and make a deeply introspective, chaotically sad breakup song. While she promises self-destruction to her old flame, Liggins doesn’t implode — she expands her sound and dives into a new era of her career headfirst.
Shelly Fairchild feat. Shamir, “Fist City” (Loretta Lynn cover)
There is something so deeply engaging about artists as different as Shelly Fairchild and Shamir teaming up to tackle a Loretta Lynn classic like “Fist City.” The pair don’t lean away from the distinctive sounds of the country superstar — instead they lean in, bringing a folksy twang to every beat of this delicious cover. With a set of voices uniquely suited to one another, Fairchild and Shamir shine on this gorgeous tribute to a late icon.
Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist below:
More than perhaps any other show in the history of television, RuPaul’s Drag Race has always prided itself on creating a space for the intersection of pop culture and queerness. Whether it’s in a lip sync for your life to a famous LGBTQ anthem, or a pitch-perfect Snatch Game impersonation of a gay icon, Drag Race delivers a bevy of queer cultural moments every year.
In the series’ more recent seasons, one particular brand of those moments emerged as a fan-favorite: the Rusical challenge. Since the debut of “Shade: The Rusical” back in season 6, every main season of Drag Race has featured the now-iconic challenge where queens are tasked with picking roles and creating on a show-stopping theatrical experience. Complete with costumes, choreography and the occasional 11 o’clock number, the Rusical challenge is a near-perfect way to celebrate the queer community’s undying obsession with musical theater.
Just like Broadway itself, pretty much anything can be turned into a Rusical: Some challenges have seen queens telling an original story about drag ingenues interacting with evil queens; others have seen them telling the lightly altered stories of pop divas; one even saw the queens attempting to sell fake pharmaceutical products. In the case of season 15, the queens will be performing in their very on Footloose parody, Wigloose: The Rusical on Friday (March 17).
What makes a good Rusical performance? Below, Billboard takes a look back at every Rusical performance in the history of RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, and ranks them from worst to best based on their general concepts, execution, music and overall impact. Take a look at where your favorite Rusical ended up below:
‘PharmaRusical’ (Season 10, Episode 2)
Concept: Who came up with this? It’s sort of funny, but ultimately very strange and random to take the format of drug infomercials and transform them into drag puns that sort of become songs. We don’t need to hear a song about a drug called Badonkadonx that will give you a bigger butt — even when it’s trying to be over-the-top and campy, it still fizzles out.
Execution: It’s tough to remember a single performance from such a strange Rusical. The Vixen made the most out of what she was given, and Mayhem Miller’s ballad about anal options was objectively funny. The rest largely got left in the background.
Music: The songs of this Rusical are disjointed, skipping around frequently from hip-hop to Broadway to pop at a frenzied pace. There’s not a lot to say here – there’s very little that’s actually successful in this music.
Overall: Especially in a season that had another (much better) Rusical, the PharmaRusical was a forgettable experience, and one that you certainly don’t need to think too much about. If you’re looking to rewatch old episodes, feel free to skip this.
Glamazonian Airways (Season 7, Episode 2)
Concept: While being slightly more coherent than the PharmaRusical, Glamazonian Airways still elicits the question, “Why?” Spoofing airline takeoff videos makes a bit more sense than satirizing pharmaceutical commercials, but it isn’t exactly ripe for comedy.
Execution: Mrs. Kasha Davis served a full ham dinner, which is the only sensible choice for this strange lip-sync experience. Ginger Minj earned her win with her choreography and her wacky faces. Most of the other queens in this challenge did a serviceable job, with only Katya, Miss Fame and Sasha Belle standing out for their struggle with performing the number.
Music: With a top 40 pop feel to each of the songs, there’s a plenty of continuity here. There’s nothing particularly exciting about the selections, but they certainly aren’t bad.
Overall: Glamazonian Airways is another rare swing-and-miss among the Rusical challenges. Especially when compared to later entries on this list, this season 7 challenge failed to take off.
Kardashian: The Musical (Season 9, Episode 5)
Concept: Now this is what we call a concept. Taking a Broadway sensation like Hamilton and parodying it by changing the subject to reality TV royalty is a perfect way to get both the competing queens and the audience at home invested in what’s happening.
Execution: Unfortunately, even with such a good concept, two queens ended up bearing the weight of this Rusical on their shoulders. Alexis Michelle’s unhinged portrayal of Kris Jenner was perfect for the challenge, and Shea Couleé’s Blac Chyna was an absolute scene-stealer. But in a musical centered around the role of Kim Kardashian, it’s hard to watch Cynthia Lee Fontaine’s strained stint in the spotlight.
Music: The music isn’t bad, per se. But when the reference point you’ve chosen to mimic is a musical like Hamilton, there’s suddenly a lot of expectation to live up to. The “club song” featuring Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan was fun, as was “Momager,” but the moments meant to directly reference Lin-Manuel Miranda’s magnum opus fell apart.
Overall: The idea of Kardashian: The Musical is greater than the sum of its parts. While the concept should work, the only truly memorable parts of this performance were Alexis Michelle, Shea Couleé, and Nina Bo’nina Brown constantly insisting that she should’ve been Blac Chyna.
Shade: The Rusical (Season 6, Episode 4)
Concept: As the first-ever Rusical, the idea behind Shade is simple; what happens if we take some classic stage tropes and reflavor them for drag queens? A winsome ingenue, a jaded diva, a brassy villain, a Greek chorus — they hit all of the marks. It’s not particularly inventive, but hey, it’s not really meant to be.
Execution: Courtney Act, Adore Delano and BenDeLaCreme are absolute stars in this Rusical. Courtney and Adore nail the live singing, and BenDeLaCreme is pure camp as the eye-patched, leopard-printed villain. Outside of that, there’s not a lot to say; queens like Darienne Lake and Gia Gunn struggled with their singing, while Trinity K. Bonet and April Carrion looked lost on the stage.
Music: As RuPaul once said to Nina West and Silky Nutmeg Ganache: “Meh.” This musical was designed to be campy and funny, not musically exciting.
Overall: Shade: The Rusical kicked off the Rusical challenge trend on Drag Race, and featured a number of highly entertaining, memorable performances. But taken altogether, the numerous rough patches showed some of the kinks that still needed to be worked out for the future of this challenge.
Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical (Season 10, Episode 8)
Concept: Considering that The Cher Show, an actual Broadway musical exploring the life of this pop icon, was already in the works at the time of this Rusical’s release, it’s safe to say that the concept is solid. This is a simple, fun way to give each queen the spotlight, by having them highlight a different era in the Goddess of Pop’s decades-spanning career.
Execution: The good largely outweighs the bad here — Kameron Michaels’ ’60s Cher had great vocals and a very funny impersonation, Monét X Change proved that she could sing the house down, and Miz Cracker delivered one of the best (and frankly, underrated) performances of the show as Vocoder comeback Cher. A few queens stumbled, like The Vixen and Asia O’Hara, but even then, the queens still worked this number out.
Music: While the performances in this challenge made us Believe, the music was not Strong Enough. The verse for Miz Cracker’s comeback Cher, including like “I know the gays will buy this/ And I know Britney will try this” is far-and-away the best, while the Movie Star Cher section sounds like it’s pulled from another project entirely. When the music works, it works — unfortunately, there are more than a few sections where it doesn’t.
Overall: The format of this unauthorized Cher Rusical, along with some high-quality performances from the queens of season 10, make up for the music’s dip in quality.
Social Media: The Unverified Rusical (Season 13, Episode 8)
Concept: Taking each major social media platform and personifying them into a cast of wildly unhinged characters is an easy, albeit hackneyed plot device that leads to all kinds of ridiculous on stage shenanigans. It’s fun, it’s campy, it’s what you’ve come to expect from a Rusical. It’s certainly not worth a downvote, but it’s not getting retweeted any time soon.
Execution: The queens did a pretty good job in this challenge, with a few exceptional standouts, and a few who we simply must swipe left on. Rosé, as expected, killed her role as Foxy, Denali and Gottmik’s Russian bots had us rolling, and while the judges were focused on a mistake Tina Burner made in character, we couldn’t help but absolutely adore her performance as the evening’s emcee, Friendster. Meanwhile Symoné and Kandy both fizzled in their respective roles as Instagram and LinkedIn, while Elliott with 2 Ts’ TikTok impersonation felt like it simply could not pass the vibe check.
Music: The song parodies here are very good — rewriting both the music and lyrics of Barbra Streisand’s iconic Funny Girl showstopper “Don’t Rain On My Parade” to fit the theme was the strongest choice of the night, with the nods to Broadway staples like “The Cell Block Tango,” “Do You Hear the People Sing?” and even “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” picking up a lot of the slack from the bland story.
Overall: While the concept may not have been particularly inventive or interesting , Social Media: The Unverified Rusical was saved by smart musical numbers and showstopping performances from a few of the queens. Feel free to give it a like.
Trump: The Rusical (Season 11, Episode 4)
Concept: Some fans were very trepidatious about Drag Race making light of the controversial president and his lackeys with this Rusical — but looking back, this was probably the most on-brand way for Drag Race to address the Trump administration. Turning Grease into a political spoof where the queens get to openly mock those surrounding Trump (and praise those who opposed him) was about as good of a concept as we’ve seen in these Rusicals.
Execution: The queens did a great job on this yuuuuge challenge. Silky Nutmeg Ganache stole the spotlight with her Oprah Winfrey number, Nina West’s turn as Sarah Huckabee Sanders was gut-busting, Ariel Versace nailed the leading role of “Shandy,” and Yvie Oddly’s deranged Kellyanne Conway was exactly the right amount of crazy. But without uttering a single word, Ginger Minj’s guest star turn as Donald Trump himself was the show-stopping moment of this entire Rusical.
Music: It’s not easy to create multiple parody songs about political corruption in the style of Grease, but Drag Race managed to do it. While not every number was a winner, the vast majority of them hit their marks as needed, and deftly walked the line between imitation and original.
Overall: Trump: The Rusical had the potential to fall flat on its face, yet it managed to be one of Drag Race‘s most consistent Rusicals. It was over-the-top, funny, and kept the spirit of Grease intact throughout, all while getting to throw up a big middle finger to the Commander in Chief.
VH1 Divas Lip Sync Live (‘All Stars’ Season 3, Episode 2)
Concept: Simplicity, it turns out, is key when putting together a Rusical. With Drag Race and All Stars having made the official move over to VH1 , creating a musical around the network’s iconic Divas series made perfect sense for the show — and felt like a simple, easy way to both reimagine tracks from RuPaul’s catalog and let the queens embody some of their favorite chart-topping artists.
Execution: Simply put, everyone did great. BenDeLaCreme was born to shake her ass while impersonating Julie Andrews, Shangela’s Mariah was spot-on, Trixie Mattel could pull off Dolly Parton in her sleep, and Bebe Zahara Benet looked like the spitting image of Diana Ross herself. Even Thorgy Thor’s turn as Stevie Nicks, while less impressive than some of her cohorts, was still unbelievably entertaining to watch.
Music: Retrofitting each of RuPaul’s singles for different divas — spanning genres like pop, country, rock, adult contemporary and more — is a Herculean task. But each song fit every queen and made the performance that much more fun to watch, anticipating just how they would take a song like “Peanut Butter” and make it work as a Celine Dion showstopper.
Overall: From top to bottom, this challenge checked every box it needed to, and earned its Diva title.
Bitch Perfect (Season 8, Episode 2)
Concept: With Pitch Perfect‘s continued cultural dominance back in 2016, this challenge was a perfect way to honor (and poke fun) at the impact of a cappella. There’s no need for a convoluted plot or fleshed-out characters when all we really want to see is our favorite drag queens competing in different collegiate singing troupes.
Execution: Go back and watch Bitch Perfect and try not to have a great time. Everyone in this challenge is giving their best, campiest performance art, and absolutely working out the choreography. The late, great Chi Chi DeVayne is an immediate standout — her handstand-twerk continues to impress us to this day — while Thorgy Thor’s unbridled energy is infectious. Kudos to every single one of these queens.
Music: This is some of the best music ever put to the stage in a Rusical challenge. Whether they were going for bubblegum pop on “Jealous of My Boogie” or scintillating hip-hop on “Geronimo,” every a cappella arrangement in this performance was absolutely stellar.
Overall: It may not be the first one that comes to mind for some fans, but Bitch Perfect is far and away one of the best Rusical performances ever brought to the mainstage of Drag Race. Everybody say “underrated!”
Moulin Ru! The Rusical (Season 14, Episode 12)
Concept: This story is about … drag. The idea here is pretty simple — taking the hit film and Broadway musical Moulin Rouge, re-translating it using the music of RuPaul herself, and casting drag queens (as well as Leland and Leslie Jordan) in the roles. With a built-in and already beloved story, you have yourself a winning formula for a Rusical.
Execution: Can we get a standing ovation? Throughout this marvelous Rusical, each of the seven queens did a fabulous job pulling out all the stops to ace the monumental task of telling the story of Moulin Rouge armed only with RuPaul’s repertoire. Some queens, though, sparkled more than others — Lady Camden in particular, in her Harold Ziegler-adjacent role as “Mama Z,” stole every moment she appeared, nefariously stroking her beard and twiddling her mustache. Willow Pill also managed to shine as the Green Fairy with her high-energy, ratcheting-up performance in the show’s back half.
Music: Producers Leland and Gabe Lopez nailed the assignment. Each of the tracks throughout the Rusical took on RuPaul’s songs — including “Cover Girl,” “Freaky Money” and “Jealous of My Boogie” — and gave them that dramatic, brassy twist that makes Moulin Rouge so fun to listen to over and over again. Also, listen closely to that Green Fairy medley, and you’ll hear the beautiful vocal stylings of Allie X giving a truly unhinged performance.
Overall: Season 14’s installment of the annual Rusical challenge was, to borrow a phrase, spectacular-spectacular. With a clear-cut concept, some entertaining takes on RuPaul originals and a series of show-stopping performances, Moulin Ru will go down as one of the best Rusicals in the show’s herstory, come what may.
HERstory of the World (‘All Stars’ Season 2, Episode 3)
Concept: Taking a tour through history, guided by a handful of the powerful women who helped shape it? Brilliant. Not only is the concept easily accessible for fans, but it opens the door for hilarious performances and creative liberties with music throughout history. Someone in the Drag Race writers room deserved a raise for this concept, and we hope they got it.
Execution: Even the judges had a hard time finding faults in these performances. They ended up singling out Katya and Ginger Minj, but both excelled in the challenge — Ginger’s absolutely unhinged Catherine the Great was hilarious to watch, and Katya’s Princess Diana felt spot-on. Of course, the two scene stealers were Detox as a neon-colored, opera-singing Marie Antoinette, and Alyssa Edwards’ rootin’, tootin’, gun-shootin’ Annie Oakley. If there had been an audience, we would have expected a standing ovation.
Music: With every song, the producers upped the camp factor, making this challenge even funnier than it needed to be. Making hard pivots from heavy metal to opera to rockabilly to salsa, the music in HERstory of the World is insane — and yet every song works for the context it’s put in.
Overall: While it was far from the first Rusical, HERstory of the World certainly helped cement the Rusical’s status as a mainstay challenge on Drag Race, thanks to how exceedingly well it was executed.
Madonna: The Unauthorized Rusical (Season 12, Episode 7)
Concept: The fact that we don’t have a real-life Madonna jukebox musical is, frankly, criminal. With a songbook as iconic and versatile as Madonna’s, Drag Race would be foolish not to pay homage to the Material Girl’s career through a Rusical.
Execution: First things first — yes, Jan was robbed. The New York City queen slayed every vocal, nailed every dance move, and was a near-perfect embodiment of Early Madge. But when you look at the rest of the talent in this Rusical, it’s understandable why the judges had such a hard time choosing who should win the challenge — everyone was phenomenal. Gigi Goode’s True Blue-era impersonation was endlessly entertaining, Jaida Essence Hall served pure sex, Crystal Methyd was ridiculous (and really good!), and even Brita (who ended up sashaying away in this episode) did an excellent job portraying the iconic cone-bra phase of the Queen of Pop’s career.
Music: One word: composition. Nailing a parody song is a difficult task, but each and every track in the Madonna Rusical perfectly evokes a specific song in her catalog without directly using its melody. Every song managed to be both funny and good — a feat that no other Rusical accomplished quite like this one did.
Overall: This Rusical had everything — incredible performances, a strong well of material to pull from, excellently orchestrated music and stellar choreography. Frankly, no other Rusical compares — Madonna: The Unauthorized Rusical is unquestionably the best Rusical in the history of Drag Race. Period.
Lil Nas X has never been one to shy away from a fight with an internet troll, as he proved yet again after one user made an ill-fated comparison involving the rapper.
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On Wednesday (March 15), Lil Nas quote tweeted a user who made a comparison between the rapper and disgraced social media influencer Andrew Tate. “On the left, we have ‘Lil Nas X’ twerking on Satan. On the right, we have Andrew Tate, who teaches young people to think critically, to take care of their physical health and build financial security,” the tweet said alongside two images of Lil Nas and Tate. “Guess which one is deemed controversial and which is hailed as a role model.”
The “Industry Baby” rapper first pointed out that he wasn’t really “twerking on Satan” in his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” music video. “1. that is a cgi animated being not satan from the bible book,” the rapper wrote.
Getting to his larger point, Lil Nas pointed out that he never signed up to be anyone’s idol, and encouraged his fans to think for themselves rather than finding a celebrity to admire. “2. there’s no such thing as a good role model,” he continued. “y’all need to find yourselves and stop looking for people to look up to.”
Fans of the “Old Town Road” singer also made sure to add a third point to the debate: Lil Nas X is not an alleged human trafficker. Tate and his brother Tristan were detained by Romanian police on Dec. 29 on suspicion of “human trafficking and rape.” Tate and his brother were denied bail for a third time on Wednesday (March 15), remaining in Romanian prison while awaiting formal charges.
As George Santos continues to dig himself deeper and deeper into the ongoing scandal about his many (many) lies, viral comedian Randy Rainbow is happy to sit back and watch … and yes, sing a show tune or two.
On Wednesday (March 15), Rainbow released his latest parody song, “Life’s a F–king Fantasy for Santos,” castigating the New York congressman for his repeated lies both on and off the campaign trail. Kicking off the video with a cheery reinvention of “Jolly Holiday” from Disney’s 1964 classic Mary Poppins, Rainbow wastes no time in letting Santos know exactly what he thinks of him. “Ain’t he a sack of BS?/ How’d they elect such a mess?” Rainbow opines in the song’s opening strains. “I think he might be high.”
As the song picks up steam, Rainbow — now dressed in full Julie Andrews drag — begins to rattle off a list of things on Santos’ resumé. The resulting patter mixes in disputed claims the representative has actually made (that he was a “Wall Street tycoon,” for example), other claims that he has attempted to obscure (such as his alleged career as a drag queen in Brazil), and a few funny jokes that the comedian peppered in (calling Santos “the very first woman to land on the moon.”)
Just as things begin to get as chaotic as they can, Rainbow suddenly transitions into new parody of The Seekers’ 1966 hit “Georgy Girl,” taking on the Australian folk-pop group’s groovy look to further humiliate Santos. “Hey there, Georgy girl/ Shut your stupid hole and don’t deflect,” he croons over the mellow production. “Find a little self-respect/ And maybe it’s you they’ll like.”
By the time it’s the final stanza of the song, Rainbow expertly mashes both songs together to get in a series of last digs at the embattled congressman. “His nose keeps growing as the Feds close in,” Rainbow declares. “‘Cause everything’s a fantasy with Santos/ My fantasy’s that Santos goes away!”
Check out Rainbow’s full parody video above.