PopMatters — My Writing

Trixie Mattel, the multi-talented drag queen who rose to fame as the winner of the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, might as well be called Midas. Everything she touches turns to gold. Whether it's her popular Internet show with fellow queen, Katya Zamolodchikova, The Trixie & Katya Show, or her chart-topping country music records, or her personalized line of cosmetics, Mattel (aka Brian Firkus), who is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has made a global name for herself. Recently, Netflix premiered a documentary about the drag queen, Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts. And soon Mattel will release a new book with Katya, called, Guide to Modern Womanhood.

Indeed, she has many fingers in so many pies. We caught up with Mattel to ask her how she keeps up with all that she has going on. Has the Coronavirus has disrupted her work? What's the favorite joke she's ever written? And much more.

Q&AJake UittiApril 21, 2020PopMatters

Tame Impala's 'The Slow Rush' Is an Open Diary Set to Perfect Music

The Slow Rush, the latest LP from Kevin Parker, aka the mastermind behind the psychedelic band, Tame Impala, is as much a self-reflective open letter to the world as it is a beautifully obfuscating, transmuting, rippling piece of music. On the 12-track album, the band's fourth, Parker reminisces, offers notes on where he's come from, where he's been, and what the future might hold for his psyche, all amidst Tame Impala's signature dreamy, 1960s-retro-through-a-million-pedals sound.

ReviewsJake UittiFebruary 12, 2020PopMatters

Kanye West's New Sunday Service Choir Sings... A Lot

People change. If nothing else, this is evident on the latest release from producer Kanye West, Jesus Is Born, performed by the West-led Sunday Service Choir. The album, which is not a Kanye West album, per se, but is very much of the musician in his contemporary creative state, is his latest homage to Christianity's God and Jesus Christ. It is also a drastic shift from the earlier days of West in the center of the spotlight, with shirt collar popped, sunglasses on, and a general sense of "look at me" about him.

ReviewsJake UittiJanuary 23, 2020PopMatters

R&B Dynamo Parisalexa on 'Songland', Billboard and Ambition

Parisalexa, the 21-year-old R&B songwriting dynamo from Seattle, by way of New Jersey, is already a rising star in the pop music world. That's evidenced by her tens of thousands of streams on YouTube and her recent appearance on the popular NBC television show, Songland, during which she pitched a nearly perfect pop song to famed songwriter, Charlie Puth. And while Paris didn't win, Billboard said after the episode that hers was not only the top song of the episode but of the entire season. With that in her back pocket, Paris continues to write and record and release new music, including this new jam of late. We caught up with the artist to ask her about her first-ever song, her experience on NBC, and what the word "ambition" means to her.

Q&AJake UittiJanuary 8, 2020PopMatters

The 10 Best Country Albums of 2019

In September, Ken Burns released his thorough documentary, Country Music. The 16-and-a-half-hour-long PBS series looks closely at the 100-plus-year history of the American art form. For Burns, whose films have exhaustively covered quintessentially American topics like the Brooklyn Bridge and Jazz, the task meant combing through thousands of photos and hundreds of hours of interviews. The work is staggering and came at the perfect time.

Country music has deep roots and a long tradition. Much of it is beautiful. Listening to Hank Williams or Loretta Lynn is divine, of course, but both America and the genre have changed significantly since the days of Merle Haggard. Today, country music has many influences beyond the prairie and the porch. Pop is infused in the music. So too is hip-hop. Furthermore, the people making the music look and live differently from many of the heroes depicted in the early days of Burns' film.

EssayJake UittiDecember 19, 2019PopMatters

Hip-Hop Legend Kurtis Blow: The Interview

Kurtis Blow was there at the beginning of hip-hop. Without him, the genre may never have become the worldwide phenomenon that it is today. To list off, Blow was the first rapper to sign to a major label, receive a gold record for rap, tour the US and Europe, record a national commercial, create a rap music video, and the first rap millionaire. Today, he is on tour with the production of the Hip-Hop Nutcracker as the show's - what else - emcee.

Blow, known for his songs, "The Breaks", "Basketball", and "If I Ruled the World", is generous in conversation. A man of faith, he speaks freely about his history at the birth of hip-hop as well as his time working as a minister, spreading religion. We caught up with the emcee-orator to talk about his origins in hip-hop, how the genre grew, and what he might have become hadn't it been for the truly American invention.

Q&AJake UittiNovember 11, 2019PopMatters

RECENT ARTICLES

Thank You