The Drag Racer had a Christmas album before, and he's back with another one for 2015. The difference this time around is more than a decade of reality-show celebrity, to the point that the numerous spoken-word interludes are mainly comprehensible only to those who follow the various RuPaul broadcasts. And there's one of those for every song on this album, exhausting my patience. Apparently this album is the soundtrack for a Christmas special airing on Logo TV this season, so it's possible the spoken word clips are actually from the show. We're more about the songs though, and there's 10 of them, created in a dance/pop/R'nB style that on some tunes almost evokes the 80s, and it appears that they're all originals, other than a cover of "Deck the Halls" and a short throwaway rendition of "Joy to the World." Things start out promisingly with "Merry Christmas Mary," an ode to being "loud and proud," and "Christmas Is About Love," which could be a single very easily if hit radio would be caught dead playing songs by people over 50. "You're the Star (On My Christmas Tree)" starts out nicely retro but bolts for the modern day quickly, "Christmas Cookies" lays on the 50's "doo-bops" behind the double-entendres, and "My Favorite Holiday" could have been done by Dead Or Alive back in their heyday. "From Your Heart" is a duet with Michelle Visage, Ellis Miah and Big Freedia join in on the hip-hop "Jingle Dem Bells," "Nothing For Christmas" plays on everybody's holiday nightmare, and the obligatory nod to New Year's is the dance-out processional "Brand New Year" with Siedah Garrett. If you like modern R'nB/pop, this is actually a decent album, although I'd make a playlist with the "interludes" removed, myself. It's definitely an improvement over RuPaul's previous Christmas album, which was mostly covers and parodies, with at least a few candidates for playlists and mixtapes.
Leave a comment