Trixie Mattel

 One Liner: Lovely Americana from a drag queen

Wikipedia Genre: Country folk, Americana, folk, pop
Home: Milwaukee, WI

Poster Position: 10
Weekend Two Only.
Sunday at 6:30 on the Tito's Stage.

Thoughts:  I love this.  It's absolutely the weirdest thing on the bill so far - an over-the-top drag performer in looks, but in sound, a really lovely folky/Americana sound.  Like, here is Mattel's most streamed track, "Heavy Crown," with 5.4 million streams.  If I just listened to this track, I'd think I was hearing some little Ben Platt looking dude sitting on a stool and evoking James Taylor.

It's fucking beautiful.  Like, legitimately wonderful to hear.  I came home and played it for the wife while showing her a photo of the artist, and she was floored.  It's so odd.

This next one sounds like a Lana Del Rey cover or something.  "Video Games," just over 4 million streams.

Haha.  Sounds like it because it is a cover.  Sorry, I'm an idiot.  But I'd also like to be proud of myself for recognizing that it was LDR!  "Mama Don't Make Me Put On The Dress Again" made me laugh out loud the first time I heard it, and then it made me a little sad.  Also, it sounds like something the Barenaked Ladies would have created back in their heyday.

Trixie came to fame through RuPaul's Drag Race, winning the third season of the All Stars.  New York Magazine called her the fourth most powerful drag queen in America.  Prior to becoming Trixie, this was Brian Michael Firkus.  Wikipedia says that Firkus had an abusive step-father who would call him a trixie when he acted feminine, which inspired half of his drag name.

I'm going to educate myself on this, and maybe you'll learn something too, because I have no clue how a drag performer wants to be gendered.  The Wikipedia article uses both genders, saying that "he" is a vegetarian but then also saying that "she" is releasing a make-up brand.  According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, it will depend on the performer.  Some are transgender and switch their pronouns no matter if they are in costume or in regular clothes, and others will only switch their pronouns when they are in character.  The example they give, which is good, is how an actor will not keep referring to themselves as their character's name after they step offstage.  Except Nic Cage probably does that.  Anyway, so when he isn't in the full drag costume, he is Brian, but when dressed up like mega-Barbie, she is Trixie.  Now you know.

She also has a bunch of highly fun covers - Violent Femmes' "Blister in the Sun," Cher's "Believe" (which is quite lovely), "Keep on the Sunny Side," and Johnny/June Cash's "Jackson" (with Orville Peck).  See, like this:

That is fun.  She also has an album of Christmas songs that push the boundaries of what you might expect to hear from a Christmas song.  Like "All I Want for Christmas is Nudes."  Or "The Night Before Contact," which mentions jerking off to Julia Louis Dryfus in Veep.  Mmmkay.

Some songs are definitely more pop - "Malibu" is the one I'm listening to right now - and those are less interesting to me.  I like the pretty, American-ish ones more.

Here is a video of Trixie getting a makeover.

And answering some questions about drag queens:

You know what?  Sure, I'd go see what this is all about.  Her voice is great, so it seems like it would both be fun but also good.