The Relationship Between Music and Drag
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Recently, the topic of drag queens and drag shows have been some pretty touchy subjects with the recent push to ban drag shows in various states within this country. As someone who is a huge lover of all things drag and has such a major respect for the art, I find the idea of banning drag to be absolutely absurd. However, I am not here to get into the nitty gritty of politics, but instead figured I could share a little history and insight into the performance art that is drag and its relationship to music. Naturally, I feel like most people that are against something typically just don’t understand it so I would be more than happy to contribute.
When most people think of drag shows, they usually imagine a performance in a club or venue with the performer dancing and lip syncing to a fun song while gathering tips from those in attendance. However, you may not have ever considered why that is a common form of drag performance. Before I discuss further, I definitely want to say that there isn’t one certain way to do drag or perform as a drag queen, especially since the art is ever evolving, but I am simply discussing the more common scenario and how we got there.
When it comes to a typical drag show or performance, you will likely see men dressed up as women, or occasionally considered as a form of female impersonation. This concept has been around for centuries, made popular by theatre and performing arts only allowing men to be actors, therefore, men were continuously playing the female roles in plays. Although that concept is nothing new, the idea of men dressing up as women continued on outside of the theatre as a form of entertainment, or even a form of gender expression. For men dressing up as women to perform in bars or clubs, the female illusion would quickly be ruined the moment these men decided to sing on stage with their natural vocals. Because of this, these performers would select a song sung by a woman and then choose to lip sync to further this illusion. This became a common practice of drag performance in gay bars and clubs. However, it doesn’t stop there.
Because the essence of drag is performance art, the drag performers choosing to lip sync these songs wouldn’t just get up there and make it look like it was actually them singing, they would full on perform the song. What do I mean by perform the song? They would take serious ballads and put all their emotions into them and perform them in a way that would tell a story. For more upbeat songs, they would take the opportunity to show off their dancing, and sometimes gymnastics, skills. When drag performers added these extra flairs onto these every day songs, they were able to add another layer to the song. They were able to share their interpretation of the song, tell the story, or even take one song and practically create a one man show out of it, thus providing significant entertainment to the attendees. Essentially, drag performers found a way to enhance every aspect and emotion in a song to create a form of entertainment.
The art of lip syncing has become such a phenomenon and staple in the world of drag that there are now full on lip sync battles, most notably the lip sync for your life in RuPaul’s Drag Race. However, the relationship between music and drag doesn’t stop there.
Another sort of relationship between the two art forms includes those musicians and singers that have chosen to incorporate a more elevated persona on stage when singing, basically taking elements of drag and adding to their act. For example, artists like David Bowie, Lady Gaga, Kiss, Boy George, and even the more androgynous versions such as Annie Lennox. These individuals are known for their music but with the way they present themselves on stage, they actually helped further the mainstream acceptance of drag by incorporating its elements. Funny enough, many folks who actively say they are against drag will probably claim to be fans of at least one of these artists. Although the idea of artists like these creating an on-stage persona isn’t exactly the same as a drag queen performing at a local club, they do have a common denominator of gender bending and creating a persona to accompany music in order to exaggerate their art.
To take it a step further, there are instances where these two forms of drag meet in the middle with drag queens going on to create careers as musicians. The most obvious example of this is RuPaul with his multiple albums, and even more recently, Trixie Mattel. Fun fact: Trixie Mattel was actually the first artist at Austin City Limits Music Festival to perform in drag. Another example of this is intersection of art forms is the famous drag queen, Jinkx Monsoon, making her Broadway debut as Matron “Mama” Morton in the production, Chicago, this year. Moments like these where the two art forms collide are so exciting to witness and helps lessen the stigma towards drag performers.
Due to this intersection of art forms, they actually both get to benefit from the other. For drag, the idea of musicians incorporating elements of drag into their stage presence or performance has helped extend the spectrum of drag and bring the idea to audiences that may otherwise not come across drag. For musicians, drag performers have time and time again selected otherwise great songs and taken them to the highest level possible with the exaggeration of emotions, dance, comedy, storytelling, and more to elevate the songs into so much more than what was originally anticipated for the song. Even better, many artists have benefitted from their music being well loved by the drag and LGBTQ communities, so much that they have solidified a solid fan base, such as Lady Gaga, Cher, and Beyoncé.
Although drag and music are considered separate forms of art, I do believe that each art form benefits from the other and the relationship between the two is such a lovely outcome. I mean, there is nothing like attending a drag show where the drag queen is performing a song you already love, and yet you find yourself engulfed in the performance and loving it more than you could imagine. I honestly have so much love for music and drag, I just hope those who seem to question the latter give it a chance.
Thanks for reading and support your local drag artists!
