Last night’s premiere was the best first episode of any
Drag Race season I’ve seen in years. The first series, if we are being honest, struggled to get all the best queens – many working the current circuit were nervous about how the show would be received and decided to wait for the second series to audition. It definitely shows.
While there were some exceptional queens on series one, it was clear last night that the general talent level this year is higher from the very beginning. Darlington gothic queen Cherry Valentine cheerily informed us she was a drag queen, a Botox aesthetician, and a mental health nurse, which means that even if she doesn’t win this show I want to hire her on retainer. The truth, is you just don’t get queens like Joe Black, Lawrence Chaney, or Ginny Lemon in the US: Ginny and Lawrence, for example, are evidently meticulous and highly controlled performers, who can masquerade as erratic fiascos. Joe Black was weird, retro, and grandiose: even koo
15January 2021
Ashnikko has never been afraid to speak her mind, and
Demidevil, her new mixtape, is no exception. The release, which is effectively the artist’s debut album, brings together the trap-infused pop she’s best known for, with zippy one-liners (“I don’t need a man I need a rabbit,” she sings in “Deal With It”) and early-noughties throwbacks (there’s a R-rated cover of Avril Lavinge’s “S8er boi”). Previous tracks such as breakthrough single “Daisy” and Grimes collab, “Cry”, are punchy standouts, while “Slumber Party” is a fiercely feminist banger with a sapphic twist.
Elsewhere, London post-punk band Shame return with a rambunctious second album, London jazz experimentalist Robohands takes us to the 70s with his jazz and krautrock-infused library music, and Sleaford Mods’
.and all the other fashion news you missed this week, including Louis Vuitton’s collab with Urs Fischer, a Chanel podcast, and Kendrick Lamar’s film series for Calvin Klein