Trixie Mattel Delivers Sonic Diversity on New Album ‘Barbara’, out Feb 7

For years, Trixie Mattel has broken boundaries not only for drag performers in the music world but also for LGBTQ+ artists in the genres of country, folk and Americana. Trixie has harnessed her songwriting chops, guitar skills and her quick-witted, hardworking spirit to become a surprising, captivating and inspiring figure in pop culture and music. And on February 7, she will release her third album, ‘Barbara,’ taking herself to the next era of her sonic journey and further elevating what it means to be a drag queen today.

‘Barbara’ (the formal first name America's favorite 11.5 inch fashion doll) will be laid out to reflect a vintage double-sided album. The first side features a plugged-in late 60s/early 70s vibe (reminiscent of Trixie’s 2019 stand-alone single “Yellow Cloud”) full of sugary, high-voltage reflections on beachside love, painting the town red, and a celebrity crush.

The second side hearkens back to the introspective folk that took Trixie to the top of the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and iTunes Singer/Songwriters chart (for her second LP ‘One Stone’) with quieter country-tinged songs about putting cynical doubts of love to bed, the liberation of moving on from a broken heart, and that humbling moment of resolution after a lover’s quarrel. 

All songs are performed by Mattel, with six of the eight tracks written/co-written by her, alongside a moving cover of LGBTQ+ country trailblazing icons Lavender Country’s “I Can’t Shake The Stranger Out Of You” (a heartbreaking lovelorn look at the complexities of sexual intimacy in the gay community), and the full-throttle super mod ode to looking your finest, “We Got The Look” written for Trixie by Ashley Levy of the Blah Blah Blahs. Tomas Costanza produced the latter track, while Nick Goldston produced the other seven tracks off the album.

Of the concept for the album, Trixie said “a decade of being Trixie has me looking back at my initial sketches of her with freshly painted-on eyes. She's still the plastic paragon I've always imagined; a Malibu-mod fashion doll with a darkened wit - but now there's more. While Hollywood has afforded me a life of astroturf and pink hi-balls, I've also been wisened by deep love and suspicious tan lines. I created Trixie Mattel with a "Side A/Side B" to the character, so this record's two-part feel is as natural to me as teasing my hair."