TransVocalizers — Great Drag Music Videos — and more

Princess Boy by Aline Queen

From time to time, I’m sent video links to a lot of the new music I feature in this and the companion Perpetual Change column. One such video that was out of the ordinary for mainstream dance music is Aline Queen’s Princess Boy.

I’ve never reviewed a single song video before, but trust me, this one is worth it. Having said that, perhaps a bit of background is necessary.

Aline was born in Belgium, but now lives in NYC. Even at an early age, Aline was fascinated with gender identity, transformation, and even liked to dress up some of the neighborhood boys in girls clothes. “It was like a clothing store party and we would all swap clothing,” she said in a press release. “It would piss off our parents and teachers. We were really quite precocious children.”

This fascination stayed with her as she developed her skills as a musician and a performance artist. She is regarded as a strong LGBT ally, and is committed to “increasing the visibility and rights to people within the LGBT community and society at large.”

Princess Boy is a great dance tune, the lyrics hit home, and the video-well, very visibly appealing and speaks for itself.

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Learn more about Aline at her website. She’s also on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, and music is available on iTunes.

Animal by Berlin

Terri Nunn

Another video that features drag and crossdressing in a big way is Berlin’s Animal. Back in February, I posted a brief review of Berlin’s new album, also called Animal. At this point, I won’t rehash the band’s history or that review in particular. (Remember Sex (I’m a…)?) However, even though Berlin has been around as a viable musical entity for a long time, lead vocalist Terri Nunn is still a powerful singer — and damn good looking, too.

The video for Animal was filmed in an S&M dungeon in L.A. It features guest appearances from RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni Raven and Sister Indica, and DeMensha of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Find out more about Berlin online and also on Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, rdio.com, spotify, instagram, YouTube, and Amazon.com.

NEW MUSIC

Billy’s Back On Broadway by Billy Porter

Billy Porter as Lola

Oh, this is really a different project than what I’m used to hearing and reviewing. However, when I realized who Billy Porter is, it got my interest up immediately. Without taking the time to go into a lengthy history of Mr. Porter’s achievements (…and it would be a considerably lengthy list of accomplishments), our main interest in him is that he was cast as the drag queen Lola in the Broadway hit musical Kinky Boots.

Billy’s Back On Broadway is the album he’s always wanted to make. It’s filled with the best known Broadway tunes everyone knows-material such Everything’s Coming Up Roses, Luck Be A Lady, Happy Days Are Here Again, Don’t Rain On My Parade. He also duets with Cyndi Lauper on Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy, and covers Lauper’s song I’m Not My Father’s Son as well.

Produced by Rob Mounsey and featuring a full orchestra and some of the finest session players anywhere, this is an excellent project for Broadway fans, Billy Porter fans…and anyone who wants to see and hear another side of Lola. Learn more on Facebook, Twitter, and music on Amazon.

Call Me Crazy… by Sevyn Streeter

Sevyn Streeter is definitely an R&B singer. Her 7 tune EP Call Me Crazy… shows the chops she has as a vocalist who manages to bring an almost traditional R&B voice to a contemporary groove. Her best vocal is found on Sex On The Ceiling, a slow groove that shows off those aforementioned chops. Three other tracks — It Won’t Stop (featuring Chris Brown), Shattered, and nEXt — fill out the dominant genre for the project.

The rest of the CD is dance material, although two of the cuts, B.A.N.S. and title cut Call Me Crazy… have somewhat odd syncopated rhythms for dance material.

Sevyn Streeter shares writing credits on each tune. She is also listed as one of the executive producers, along with Chris Brown, Tina Davis and Britney Davis.

Clip from nEXt by Sevyn Streeter

Head Or Heart by Christina Perri

Christina Perri’s new project, Head Or Heart, offers up 13 new tunes, all written or co-written by Perri. While this column mostly deals with dance related material Head Or Heart is interesting in that Perri touches on different genres, albeit in a very particular writing style.

Of the 13 tunes, only Burning Gold and One Night are danceable. Another, I Don’t Wanna Break, which sounds a lot like ABBA, starts as a good dance groove, but goes in another direction midway. The ABBA influence appears again in Shot Me In The Heart, which also presents something of a 1960s girl-group sound.

Perri’s song writing has a tendency to move towards a very pronounced beat for several bars, completely drop the groove, and then pick up again later. She does that with several tunes, almost making it something of a motif. Nonetheless, she’s not afraid to show her influences. Besides the aforementioned ABBA and girl-group nods, there’s a bit of a Celtic feel on Trust, and light rock grooves throughout the rest of the project.

The project’s standout tracks are Human (one of her best vocals on the album, and a very well produced, dynamic song); The Words (very English ‘70s rock feel); and Run (the best production moment on the CD.)

Vocally, Perri’s voice is somewhat reminiscent of Kate Bush and her songwriting, while predictable at times, is strong and well thought out. All in all, Head To Heart is a strong, well crafted album. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Music is available through her website as well as iTunes and Amazon.)

Tags: Aline Queen, Berlin, Billy Porter, Christina Perri, featured, music

Category: Drag Queen, Music