Review: RuPaul – Queen of Queens

In this day and age it has become virtually impossible to escape the icon that is RuPaul. She features in multiple movies and TV shows – or as RuPaul says, “Blowin’ up TV and the radio” – including RuPaul’s Drag Race (of course). Her latest release is her new remix album Queen of Queens, featuring eight remixes of classic songs as well as the new track ‘Queens Everywhere’. The original track gives strong 2006 pop vibes with slight Nicki Minaj ‘Roman Reloaded’-esque rap verses, and is definitely meant to make you get up and dance. However, without harming the legend, this song falls short, regularly using popular Drag Race references instead of adding more to collection, making this slightly an unoriginal song.

The album itself features multiple remixes of fan favourites such as ‘Super Queen’, ‘Call Me Mother’ and ‘American’, as well as instrumental versions of these remixes. The ‘American’ remix by DJ Gomi has quite an ’80s retro feel through the use of the electro piano and bass, whilst ‘Call Me Mother’ gives off very ’80s Klub Kids vibes and will definitely be heard at your local Gay Bar. Meanwhile the ‘Super Queen’ remix (also by DJ Gomi), although still sounding incredibly country, also gives off the same ’80s vibes; DJ Gomi has produced remixes for artists such as Madonna and Janet Jackson, perhaps explaining why there is a huge ’80s presence in this remixes. It also reminds us that RuPaul is a performer from the ’90s, so gives us that ’80s feel in pretty much all his songs/albums.

Now on to the next section of the album which is the acapella versions of ‘Queens Everywhere’ and ‘Super Queen’ – and all I can say is thank you to auto-tune. The acapella remixes are the songs of my own nightmares (sorry RuPaul). For those RuPaul Drag Race-watchers out there, the acapella remixes remind me of Season 6’s ‘Oh No She Better Don’t’ – without the track playing. After listening to the album on repeat I now have the chorus to ‘Queens Everywhere’ (“(Is she a show or no show?) / You better let a bitch know”) stuck in my head, which is honestly affecting my sleep.

I would not classify this as a good or a bad album as it is RuPaul and even if the songs are out of touch with modern music, it still makes us all want to get up and dance. I would recommend listening to this album while slightly intoxicated. Despite this, after multiple listens the album soon becomes catchy and is hard not to love (weirdly enough). Queen of Queens may havereleased to promote the new single ‘Queens Everywhere’, but no RuPaul song can ever top ‘Supermodel (You Better Work)’.

I am sure this will not be the last album or song from RuPaul this year, however in the meantime tune into Netflix every Friday for new episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 11.

Queen of Queens is available now via RuCo, Inc.