If you watch RuPaul’s Drag Race, you have heard of all stars season two winner, Alaska Thunderfuck (yes, she is named after a strain of marijuana). If you don’t watch the flashy Logo reality show, Alaska, along with the distinct jargon that is prevalent throughout the album, may seem extremely foreign. This type of music is primarily for a specific audience—primarily those in the LGBTQ community or just anyone with an interest in drag (i.e. bioqueens or fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race); mainly because the only space where the music is publicly played are in gay nightclubs and drag shows. Although many believe this genre of music to simply be a joke, it is just really fucking good and empowering to many.
After winning the crown in October, Alaska released Poundcake, following her debut album Anus (2015). The album is inherently satirical, considering drag queens portray females to an over the top degree—it is intended to make you laugh. Not only is it laugh-inducing, but it is also just plain catchy. The lyrics are quick-witted and the beats are perfectly dancey.
The album opens with her second single, “The T,” which in the drag queen community, the “T” is a word used for telling one the truth. In this song, featuring Season 6’s Adore Delano, Alaska reveals a lot about her personal life, such as her relationship with season 4 winner, Sharon Needles—“let’s pay woman an equal wage/no seriously what the fuck/now let’s talk about my exes/I cheated on Sharon with a guy in Texas/I’m just kidding he was really in Florida/but that the fuck fucking rhymes with Florida.” The music video is just as shady.
“Let’s Do Drag” is just what the title says—it is basically an ode to doing drag. The lyrics open with “put some makeup on my face, face/come on over to my place, place/we done mashed, cooked, and baked, baked”—which are all terms that refer to putting on drag makeup.
Alaska’s Twitter bio is “glamazonian princess from the planet glamtron,” which rings true in “Slaytina,” where she uses a robotic (or alien?), monotone voice for the entirety of the song. It appears to be a homage to all of RuPaul’s drag race contestants where she names their best aspect in order to create ‘Slaytina,’ the ultimate drag queen.
Featuring Season 6 contestant, Gia Gunn, “Stun” has become one of the most popular songs on the album. Lyrics include famous catchphrases created by Gunn and other queens, such as “got mug for days”—meaning one’s makeup is really good, “looking like fish”—a drag queen that looks exceedingly feminine, “feeling your oats”—feeling energetic or excited.
“Diamond in the Rough” is the ballad of the album, and shows that Alaska was trying to do more than just create a typical witty drag queen album. “High” and “It Is What It Is” are also on the slower side, showing a more emotive side of the queen. Alaska juxtaposes these few songs with tracks such as, “Race Chaser” which follows a song called “Chicken,”—they are the more ridiculous songs on the album. Both of which are country/hoedown themed and are just really fun to listen to.
Puppet is the single off the album and also the most memorable. The title of the album is named after “Lil Poundcake,” a puppet character that Alaska created during a challenge on Season 5 of RuPaul. This character is a white trash pageant queen, who is just really repulsive—“roaches in my bag/roaches in my suitcase/roaches in my hair/dickpig riding like poundcake.” In the video, “Lil Poundcake” loses a pageant and goes mad singing “I’m not your puppet/bitches can suck it/I’m not your puppet/daddy mother-fuck it/I’m not your puppet.” Alaska Thunderfuck’s new album Poundcake is sickening and leaves us gagging for more (that’s a good thing).