Monday, January 7, 2019

Article: RuPaul’s Drag Race Has Lost Its Free Queer Spirit in Its Lip Sync Songs

In the spirit of the RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars being in season, I thought I’d share this little nugget.

Dragraceallstars

"As a result of this expanding platform, it has become increasingly clear that the song choices are made with less concern for queer authenticity. They have begun to serve the larger goal of appealing to new demographics, capitalizing on the show’s popularity with, for example, young straight women. In the past three seasons, we’ve seen lip sync battles set to hits by Trainor, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Britney Spears, Lorde, Miley Cyrus, and Nicki Minaj—none of whom are inherently unwelcome on the show, of course. But oftentimes the songs have nothing to do with the queer community, or the songs (like Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” or Lovato’s “Cool for the Summer”) actively trivialize them. One could easily imagine Rita Ora’s recent controversial song “Girls” appearing next season, presented uncritically and heralded as an easy, breezy, queer-friendly hit to lip sync to. There is simply something strange about this concerted effort to include evermore current chart-toppers while simultaneously drawing down the number of club classics or diva house ballads that not only define the earlier seasons of the show, but also the musical lives of many queer people."

(Via “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Has Lost Its Free Queer Spirit in Its Lip Sync Songs | Pitchfork.)

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