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Music Monday: “Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)” – Beyoncé, featuring Madonna’s “Vogue”
Beyoncé went meta with her “Queens Remix” of lead single “Break My Soul” by interpolating Madonna’s “Vogue” into her instance classic House song, and I cannot stop devouring and dissecting it.
Somehow, Beyoncé just improved my favorite pop song of all time.
I’ve been spinning Beyoncé’s new record Renaissance for a few weeks now. If there’s one quick way to my music-loving heart, it’s to produce an album full of durable songs that’s dancefloor ready from front to back. While I’m not an official BeyHive member, but Beyoncé is on my list of artists of whom I keep a complete discography – so, I’ve had (and have heard) all of her songs.
My complete collection doesn’t usually extend to remixes, but in this case I made an exception. That’s because this remix of “Break My Soul” interpolates Madonna’s “Vogue” and ads a whole set of new lyrics from Beyoncé riffing on Madonna’s classic film star rap in the original song.
It’s well-established on this blog that “Vogue” is my personal gold standard of pop singles. When Madonna released it 32 years ago it struck me like a lightning bolt, as much for it message of finding acceptance on the dancefloor as for its House beat.
“Vogue” was Madonna’s first dabble in House music, thanks to co-writer and producer Shep Pettibone and his samples from The Salsoul Orchestra’s post-disco classic “Ooh I Love It (Love Break Groove).” Voguing itself was a NYC ballroom culture dance style that hadn’t broken through far into the mainstream at the time. It’s unsurprising Madonna would hear a house beat and think of the dance, but it was pure serendipity that she wound up making the word and the dance synonymous with House music across the world.
(This was memorably documented on the first episode of Season 2 of Pose, “Acting Up,” which gives a fictionalized glimpse at how the NYC ballroom scene initially reacted to Madonna’s track.)
As I’ve grown and learned more about house music, voguing, and ballroom, I realize that even though Madonna was using “Vogue” to shine a spotlight on ballroom culture, she was also appropriating it for her own use. It was the moment that marked her ascension to global dominance. She used that platform to preach acceptance and to raise awareness for HIV/AIDs, and she employed many dancers and choreographers along the way, but it’s not as though of all her success trickled down the people who were innovating Voguing in the ballroom scene. [Read more…] about Music Monday: “Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)” – Beyoncé, featuring Madonna’s “Vogue”
RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2, Episode 3 – A Bottomless Brunch: Review & Power Ranking
Kia ora and welcome to my review and power rankings for the third episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2 – A Bottomless Brunch.
This is a paired comedy challenge meant to simulate hosting a drag brunch. Clearly it was a case of false advertising, as there was nary a breakfast or lunch in sight, but plenty of bottoms!
In my pre-season ranking, I mentioned that Hanna Conda had perpetuated racist tropes in the past, including some performances appropriating cultures in insensitive ways. That came to light in this episode in a workroom conversation, which confirmed my understanding that Hannah had already begun to take action to grow and make reparations before been cast on the show.
I’ve seen a lot of fans calling Hannah “the racist one” and comparing her to Scarlet Adams from Season 1, and I want to speak to that for a moment.
No one can remove the harm they’ve done through their racist actions, whether they are overt and intentional or passive and the result of unconscious bias. However, they can take action to reduce and remove those behaviors, and they can apply themselves to being educated about other cultures without asking Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to do all of the emotional labor on their behalf.
I understand that fellow white/Pākehā fans who are strident in their labelling of Hannah as “the racist one” feel they are doing their part to confront bigotry. However, in this instance I think you and I both need to consider stepping back from our label-makers to observe Hannah’s behaviors and to listen to how her community is receiving her (both in general, and in specific when it comes to Kween Kong on this episode).
Even if you have done years of anti-racism work yourself, if you are white/Pākehā it’s not for you to accept or decline Hannah’s apologies or approve or reject her reparative behaviors. And, if you haven’t done any anti-racism work, Hannah’s LinkTree offers several good starting points from an Australian perspective.
Just as I’m telling you not to accept or decline Hannah’s apologies, it’s not down to me to say she has done “enough” on her anti-racist journey to be crowned as a representative of the Drag Race franchise.
I think it’s important that we’re all aware that this is a part of her history. For some BIPOC fans and community members, that history might be too hurtful to allow them to appreciate Hannah’s art. We need to leave space for them to have that feeling and to take cues from it, just as we should make space and take cues from BIPOC folks who are welcoming her anti-racist education.
Kween Kong raises a good point here – that in Samoan, there is no word for “sorry.” True apologies come in the form of actions, not words.
Finally, having now lived in New Zealand for half a decade, I can tell you that racism presents itself differently in Australia and New Zealand than in North America. I have seen overt, vile, casual racism in NZ that I’m familiar with from the states. I’ve also seen insidious, baked-in cultural bias stemming from a much-more-recent history of white colonialism in NZ.
No racism is “better” or “worse” than any other racism, but trying to apply an American understanding of racist actions or reparations to an Australian or Kiwi isn’t always going to be effective. That’s especially true with issues related to Indigenous and Aboriginal peoples. In learning about NZ’s Treaty of Waitangi and the modern Waitangi Tribunal, I realized I had no framework as an American to apply to the issue. I had to listen carefully to expand my own understanding of race and racism.
I think if I can boil all of that down to one statement – both for Hannah and for us as fans – it is “listen and learn.” We should all be quick to confront bigotry when we spot it and to hold people accountable for it. The process of disassembling that bigotry and changing behaviors and thoughts in the longer term is something much more complex – and much harder to label.
We all need room to be able to grow and improve as kinder, more-accepting human beings, but we can’t make people accept us if they’ve been harmed by our past behavior.
Last week, Hannah Conda sat atop my Episode Two rankings. Has she maintained her top spot despite another week without a win? And, has Kween Kong bounced back in the standings after a strong showing in this episode? Read on to find out – and let me know if you agree (or disagree) in the comments below.
If you want to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2 outside of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. (Note that if you’re in the home country of a franchise you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see that content.)
Readers, start your engines… and may the best Down Under drag queen win!
Drag Race France Season 1 Episode 8 – Grand Finale & Dragnifique runway power rankings
Bonjour bonjour bonjour, mes chers lecteurs!
Photo by Ranobrac
We’ve reached the end of Drag Race France Season 1! We now have our first ever queen of French drag and I have nothing left to rank… or do I?!
If you have been reading my recaps all along this season you will know I am very pleased with our winner, but more than a little surprised with her win. That’s especially true after rewatching the episode to see just how approximate her choreography was in the choreographed lip sync challenge.
However, I think our new reigning queen drove home her story as the rightful champion in every other aspect of the episode. She had the most compelling personal chat with Nicky Doll, the most thrilling runway presentation, a strong and emotional speech to her younger self, and by far the most captivating final lip sync.
I think it’s always a good thing to be reminded that an artist can win Drag Race without having to be a perfect “all-arounder” who is brilliant at every challenge and who has an easy-to-consume approach to drag. I’d rather take someone who is truly brilliant in some areas with a real weakness in others than someone who is slightly above average at everything.
That said, I would have been happy with any of these top three queens winning a Drag Race crown, which is not something I can often say about a group of finalists. Usually even when I am equally excited for everyone, I’m still leaning towards one in particular as a winner. This time, while I did have a sentimental favorite, on merit alone I could’ve seen any of them taking the crown.
Before we wave a final au revoir to Drag Race France, shall we have one final ranking? Let’s take a look at the final eleganza looks from our 10 queens – and, please comment if you agree (or disagree!) with my rankings.
If you want to watch Drag Race France you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. (Note that if you’re in the US you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see the US Franchise.)
Lecteurs, start your engines. Et, que la meilleure Drag Queen gagne!
Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 Episode 5 – Snatch Game: Review & Power Ranking
Welcome to my review and power rankings of the fifth episode of Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 – Snatch Game!
This was a classic Snatch Game with a clear top group of performers and a few obvious bottoms. The funniest queens were very funny, and the unfunniest queens were very bad. That lead to a shocking elimination.
Seriously: this wasn’t just any shocking elimination. This is perhaps the most-shocking early-t0-mid season elimination since Morgan McMichaels back on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 2! We had a front-runner sashay away who tanking Snatch Game but who was crushing the competition, who killed her runway look, and who gave a strong lip sync that could’ve credibly been declared a win.
If Brooke and Yvie hadn’t been granted a double-save on their Snatch Game, it would’ve been exactly this shocking.
For me this raises an essential question of what we want out of Drag Race. Should it shock us, or do we want it to be predictable?
If Drag Race is a fair competition where queens battle to survive every week, then it will sometimes yield surprising results as queens make their own luck. We’ve seen that many times over, but especially starting with Season 9 with the fall of Valentina and the lip sync victory from Sasha Velour. Jaida Essence Hall’s Season 12 dominance was another fair win, as was Bimini defying her early-season story on Drag Race UK Season 2 to come back to crush the back half of the show.
If Drag Race is instead structured story with clear heroes and villains, then the weekly ups and downs matter less and we occasionally get counterintuitive judges choices to preserve that storyline and protect queens when they falter. There’s no better example of this than last week’s finale of All Stars All Winners, where several competitive wins were voided in favor of awarding success based on storyline. While it is typically more subtle on regular seasons, we’ve seen this with blatant saves of certain queens, like the “Kandy wait” moment in Season 13.
For me, the examples from the “fair fight” category have all been more memorable and satisfying, and the moments from the “structured story” category all linger as disappointments. That means I have to learn to take the shocking along with the satisfying.
I think a major difference in Canada’s Drag Race is that it has never shied away from these “fair fight” moments in its first two seasons, where there have been several eliminations that were shocking not due to the weekly performance that lead to them, but because they violated our story expectations.
Even if it’s frustrating in the moment, it’s not a bad thing. It is part of what gives Canada’s Drag Race a certain underdog charm compared to the US franchise, and it often becomes a star-making turn for the queen who got the shock.
What do you think? Do you prefer a season with some shocks, or a season where the story is obvious from start to finish? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
If you want to watch Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 outside of Canada and the UK you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. (Note that if you’re in the US you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see the US Franchise.)
Readers, start your engines! And, may the best Queen (of the North) win!
[Read more…] about Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 Episode 5 – Snatch Game: Review & Power Ranking