Sidecar Records and Producer Entertainment Group
Pop, 2014
You may remember Danny Noriega from that season of American Idol where… no, you probably don’t, and that’s alright, as he didn’t even make it to the finals. He is more popularly know these days as Adore Delano, the mermaid drag queen from the sea – as she calls herself – who amassed a big following online via his YouTube videos before capturing the runner-up spot on the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Knowing when to cash the check while the going is hot, Ms Delano releases her debut effort, Till Death Do Us Party, just in time for the series finale of that show.
While most drag queens release either overly campy novelty singles or campy parodies of current bestselling hit songs, Ms Delano goes straight for the jugular and unleashes eleven tracks that could fit in beautifully with the current landscape of EDM music resting on the cleavages of pop tarts. Party, which samples a bit of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire, and Speak My Sex are acid-laced anthems that could give Miley Cyrus and pre-rehab Ke$ha a run for their money. DTF are raunchy as can be, as Ms Delano is proud of that. Calling All Goddesses is a predictable but rousing cry for sisterhood and girl power that sets the mood for the rest of the album perfectly, and Give Me Tonight is an in-your-face invitation to dip one’s toes in the shimmering pools of Ms Delano.
I Look Fuckin’ Cool, her duet with fellow drag queen and RuPaul Drag Race runner-up from the previous season, Alaska Thunderfuck, is gloriously messy, discordant, and defiant. This song is a fun Easter egg if one knows these two queens, because the song is unapologetic in its celebration of everything trashy-beautiful – just like the aesthetics of these two queens.
It’s not always dance till you drop, however. I Adore U is a half-sung, half-rapped song all about a break-up that sees Ms Delano showing a mopey face all full of vulnerability. It’s a melodic mid-tempo tune that has a hook that sticks to the mind and won’t let go. Hello, I Love You is a cheeky love song from what seems like the most charming stalker in the world – this one, unlike the others, is more at home being blared from the radio at full volume during the summer.
Admittedly, the tracks here aren’t going to break any new grounds or revolutionize the world. But it’s all about the party, and Ms Delano makes it so easy to just go along and dance to her groove. Party? Absolutely.
