From home anthems to Drag Race classics, and past
A drag queen’s biggest ability is commonly the artwork of imitation. For some, meaning impersonating pop stars from Cher and Woman Gaga to Jenni Rivera and Mariah Carey. For others, it’s entrancing the viewers with eye-catching, death-dropping lip-synching to a terrific pop music. However a choose few — and we wish to emphasize a really choose few — have mastered the artwork of music making, performing their very own songs in entrance of an viewers.
To rejoice Satisfaction Month, we’ve compiled our 20 favourite songs by drag queens. (Editor’s observe: We assume no duty for any drag queens impressed to make their very own music after studying this listing. The truth is, we don’t encourage it.)
Katya feat. Trixie Mattel, ‘Ding Dong!’
Although she had grown extra well-known post-Drag Race because of a success TV present turned podcast with Trixie Mattel, Katya didn’t enter the music sport till 2020. That’s when she dropped Vampire Health, “a darkish and brooding worldwide musical boat journey by means of the mind and mouth of well-known cross-dresser,” as she self-described it. The standout was her and Trixie’s collaboration “Ding Dong!,” an enormous Eurodance banger that leans into Katya’s Russian drag character by referencing Svetlana Loboda’s “Increase Increase.” Between the Boston native talking Russian and saying numerous phrases in a thick Russian accent, Trixie makes a reference to Silence of the Lambs on the bridge. —B.S.
Alaska Thunderfuck, ‘Hieeee’
Featured on Alaska Thunderfuck’s 2015 album, Anus, “Hieeee” is as a lot a bop because it is a crucial lesson in drag etiquette. Along with her signature snide, dry humor, Alaska lays out the principles of the sport fairly merely: use flash pictures, drink extra, inform them they appear attractive, and “tip these males!” The music has change into a drag-show staple through the years, thoughtfully serving to information any drag-brunch bachelorette events to performing into extra acceptable conduct. After releasing Anus, Alaska appeared on — and gained — Season Two of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars. —B.S.
Mirage Amuro, ‘She’s Such a Bitch’
All it took was a minute and 5 seconds for Mirage Amuro to make her efficiency of “She’s Such a Bitch” an instantaneous basic on Drag Race. Mirage gained the love of the viewers together with her choreography to the music, which began together with her faking being pulled by a canine on a leash, earlier than clacking her heels whereas doing a cartwheel, and later the splits. “You assume I’m a bitch? Nicely you’re not that incorrect,” she declares on the campy monitor that spawned a TikTok development. Despite the fact that she was an early out on her season, with “She’s such a bitch!” Amuro went down in herstory. —T.M.
Adore Delano, ‘I Adore You’
Few drag-queen songs on this listing get as private as “I Adore U.” Adore Delano — who bought her begin by competing on American Idol as a singer nicely earlier than Drag Race — sings and raps the self-penned lyrics about an actual failed love story. “While you flip it again, do you ever marvel, if we may have tomorrow, in technicolor?” she raps on the Until Dying Do Us Social gathering standout. The angsty monitor helped lead Until Dying to debut at Quantity 59 on the Billboard 200 in 2014. —T.M.
Bob the Drag Queen feat. DJ Mitch Ferrino, ‘Purse First’
Drag Race’s Season Eight winner first launched the catchphrase “purse first” within the first episode, getting into the runway with, in fact, her purse first. Naturally, the phrase then turned the premise for Bob’s first single following her win, “Purse First.” Not like the various queens who’ve tried to show their viral moments into hits, Bob is as expert a rapper and musical artist as she is a comedy queen. Fortunately, “Purse First” deftly showcases each side of the star’s skills, a few years earlier than she can be invited to tour the world with Madonna. —B.S.
Trixie Mattel, ‘Whats up Whats up’
Storage rocker? Drag queen? Nah. Trixie Mattel — the musician turned podcaster turned resort proprietor turned make-up mogul — led her album The Blonde & Pink Albums with the seashore rock music “Whats up Whats up,” a step away from the nation sound she turned identified for after her debut, Two Birds. The flirty, foolish monitor rapidly turned a fan favourite and differs vastly from Mattel’s “Dolly Parton, if she by no means made it in another country” sound that Brittany Broski described to Rolling Stone in 2022. —T.M.
Gloria Groove, ‘Vermelho’
Gloria Groove delivers a dance-floor-ready EDM-meets-Brazilian funk banger with “Vermelho.” The Woman Leste standout reimagines the late MC Daleste’s “Quem É,” with Groove singing a couple of attractive “lady in purple” (herself within the third individual) who got here to the get together in a skimpy gown and cherry-red lipstick prepared for an evening out. “I drop it and twerk it for you with my hand in my booty,” Groove sings on the catchy monitor. “Vermelho” is so dance-y it even has a Zumba routine for it. —T.M.
RuPaul, ‘Sissy That Stroll’
“Sissy That Stroll” is a quintessential RuPaul’s Drag Race theme music. The monitor led off Born Bare, the 2014 album that dropped alongside the sixth season of Drag Race, arguably one of the crucial iconic seasons of the competitors present. The electro-pop drag runway staple is generally lyric-less apart from two brief verses, one by which Ru declares, “My pussy is on fireplace, now kiss the flame,” and her command to “fly” and to, in fact, “sissy that stroll.” (Gen Z translation: Get cunt-y, bitch!) The music’s music video starred the Prime 4 queens of Season Six: Bianca el Rio, Darienne Lake, Adore Delano, and Courtney Act. —T.M.
Priyanka feat. Lemon, ‘Come By means of’
Priyanka and Lemon know they’re unhealthy bitches! On “Come By means of,” the celebrities who turned besties on Canada’s Drag Race Season One, proceed their “LemYanka 2020” domination with the monitor’s engaging pre-chorus and catchy refrain, made to sing alongside to at a drag present. After a pair of verses from Pri (“Received a supersized umbrella/’Bout to place you within the shade”), Lemon instantly delivers a fiery rap verse about “leavin’ boys breathless,” and does precisely that together with her bars. “Your dad drops stacks on this and don’t overlook it,” she raps. “He’s tryna discover my pussy pics up on Reddit.” Ouch! —T.M.
Pabllo Vittar, ‘Amor de Que’
An attractive saxophone introduces “Amor de Que” earlier than Pabllo Vittar unleashes lyrics about loving (and having intercourse) freely. Its pre-chorus contains a foolish play in Portuguese, “Eu sento, tu sente,” which interprets to “I sit down, you’re feeling it,” and its title shortens “quenga,” or thottery, as “que.” We love a safe-sex, ass-eating anthem. The music is featured on Vittar’s album 111, which comprises the singer’s foray into English with “Flash Pose,” alongside Charli XCX, who had featured Vittar on the Pop 2 hyperpop standout “I Received It.” —T.M.
RuPaul, ‘Name Me Mom’
Featured on RuPaul’s eleventh album, American, this celebration of Ru’s affect continues to showcase her love for home music. Over a strut-worthy beat, the celebrity rattles off the whole lot that makes her iconic with a slew of tongue-twister rhymes. “Fishy, female up-and-comer/From the Clintons to the Obamas/I hold it tight, now they name me mom,” she declares on the prechorus. By the tip, she calls again to the high-energy chants the MCs in ballroom tradition carry out on the mic whereas rivals take to the runway. —B.S.
Valentina, ‘A Prueba de Todo’
Picture Credit score: Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Photographs
We’re prepared for Valentina to enter her pop-star period once more. The Mexican American drag star channeled the vitality of Alaska y Dinarama’s Spanish queer anthem “¿A Quién Le Importa?” and introduced it to the twenty first century with “A Prueba de Todo.” The disco-pop music hears the drag star singing about having the energy to stand up after any problem, whereas declaring, “I’m a whole lady.” The catchy monitor was co-written by Andrés Torres, the songwriter behind hits from Luis Fonsi, Tini, and Shakira, and served as Val’s reintroduction on RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars 4 after turning into a fan favourite on Season 9. —T.M.
Alaska, Katya, Detox, and Roxxxy Andrews, ‘Learn U Wrote U’
It’s a Drag Race custom to have the highest 4 queens add their very own verses to a music by RuPaul on the finish of the season. Typically the verses are campy, different occasions they’re full crap. However no reimagining has even come near Alaska, Katya, Detox, and Roxxxy’s tackle “Learn U Wrote U.” Who may’ve ready us for Katya’s Russian-accented verse with the hilarious line “That’s a rash, not a herpes sore/Lenin within the streets, Dostoyevsky within the sheets.” —T.M.
Shea Coulee feat. Lila Star and the Vixen, ‘Cocky’
Drag queens shine because of their unabashed confidence. “Cocky” is the materialization of that vitality. Led by Shea Couleé, the monitor options Latina rapper Lil Star with an ultra-quotable verse by which she jokes about flashing her titties on Jerry Springer. (That’s camp.) Then, the Vixen joins for her personal rap verse that ends with the one-line zinger “Why you mad? Repair your face, boo.” “Cocky” was a primary style of Couleé’s pop-star profession. (Her 2023 album, 8, is a must-listen.) —T.M.
Gloria Groove, ‘A Queda’
There’s a motive why Gloria Groove is essentially the most streamed drag queen on Spotify. The drag star is a beloved performer in her native Brazil, and on “A Queda,” she delivers fiery rap bars a couple of metaphoric circus over a creepy xylophone harking back to Melanie Martinez’s Cry Child and the drums from Think about Dragons’ “Believer.” The monitor even makes an look on 2021’s Simply Dance online game, the place (fittingly) a jester teaches gamers the music’s strikes. —T.M.
Divine, ‘Shake It Up’
Picture Credit score: Impress Personal/United Archives/Getty Photographs
Few drag queens have impacted popular culture like Divine, the long-lasting drag character of Harris Milstead. Alongside her performing credit with John Waters, together with Pink Flamingos, Divine dropped quite a few electric-disco bangers within the early Eighties. The synth-filled “Shake It Up,” written by Hello-NRG pioneer Bobby O, stands out as a favourite. Divine’s legacy continues to at the present time, as she’s the inspiration for The Little Mermaid’s depiction of Ursula the Sea Witch, and pop star Chappell Roan paid homage to the icon whereas performing a Kentuckiana Satisfaction. —T.M.
Violet Chachki, Allie X, Lecomte De Brégeot, ‘Mistress Violet’
Allie X and Violet Chachki embrace their darkest fantasies on “Mistress Violet.” Chachki embodies the position of the dominatrix, or “bitch with a whip and Dior tights,” that the pair sing about over gothy, catchy Eighties synths. The monitor’s video sees the pair dripped in Schiaparelli and filmed on an analog digicam, bringing the lyrics’ burlesque and BDSM visions to life in a retrofuturistic our on-line world. “Your ache and pleasure spouse/I’m violent/Feels good to get it out/I like once you say ‘ouch’/Mistress Violet,” they sing. It’s campy, soiled, and lyrically pushed. (Few drag-queen songs can say that.) Allie X continued the sonic affect of “Mistress Violet” on final yr’s Lady With No Face. It was a terrific selection. —T.M.
Conchita Wurst, ‘Rise Like a Phoenix’
Picture Credit score: Ragnar Singsaas/Getty Photographs
This yr marks a decade since bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst made historical past by profitable the Eurovision Tune Contest together with her goosebump-raising efficiency of the anthem “Rise Like a Pheonix.” The operatic ballad, and her stellar dwell rendition in 2014, helped Wurst change into first drag performer to ever win the competition, incomes Austria its first title since 1966. The music not solely made historical past for her nation, however for queer illustration worldwide. On the monitor, Wurst’s highly effective vocals, marked by her soulful vibrato, circulate over the attractive backing of a full orchestra as she sings the inspiring lyrics about being remodeled and reborn. —T.M.
Pabllo Vittar, ‘Ok.O.’
Pabllo Vittar is a pop star. Sure, she’s a drag queen who made historical past as the primary drag performer to play at Coachella, however her artistry is outlined extra by the pop-perfect songs she’s launched over the previous a number of years. By means of boxing metaphors, “Ok.O.” hears Vittar sing about falling arduous for a brand new love: “Got here up for air/Waved the flag/It was a knockout/Your love struck me down,” she sings within the refrain in Portuguese. “Ok.O.” turned the catalyst for the singer’s stardom after serving as a single on her debut album, Vai Passar Mal. She’s earned co-signs from fellow Brasileiras like Anitta and Luisa Sonza, together with becoming a member of Woman Gaga on a remix of Chromatica’s “Enjoyable Tonight.” —T.M.
RuPaul, ‘Supermodel (You Higher Work)’
RuPaul’s early-Nineties hit was the one which modified the whole lot. Launched because the lead single for Ru’s 1993 debut album, Supermodel of the World, the dance music helped break the drag glass ceiling and have become a membership anthem. It was so beloved that even Kurt Cobain was calling it one in every of his favourite songs. The glitzy, catchy monitor is an tutorial one that will help you find your interior diva, and it was simply as essential in making RuPaul the world’s most well-known drag star. She would break new floor because the face of MAC Cosmetics and later change into the primary brazenly homosexual talk-show host. 20 years later, the star would lead the cost in additional serving to popularize drag tradition with the long-running, Emmy-winning competitors RuPaul’s Drag Race, from which lots of the stars on this listing have launched their careers. —B.S.