Barbara

Barbara is the third studio album by American drag queen Trixie Mattel. It was released on February 7, 2020, through Producer Entertainment Group, and is Mattel's first studio album released under a record label. The name "Barbara" is a reference to the original first name of the fashion doll Barbie, from which Mattel takes much of her visual inspiration. I'm obsessed with chronology. Two Birds was '50s radio country a little bit; One Stone was folk revival, like early '60s; and for this one I wanted to go more post-Beatles Invasion, beach bimbo, B-52s-meets-Blondie-meets-Fountains of Wayne. It's this 2000s sound with a super '60s aesthetic. Living in L.A. for a few years, between L.A.'s perpetual summer and spending my summers performing in vacation towns like Provincetown, where every day is summer vacation, and between being in a great relationship… you can tell the music is very sunny, happy, sugary. I do standup comedy, but I've never had a lot of songs that are feel-good to sing, and this is so handclap-y and sweet and sugary. After I finished One Stone, I got -- not bored of it, but I was like, "okay I did a folk record, now it's time to move on." I started revisiting a lot of my old favorite bands like Blink-182, Weezer, Fountains of Wayne, and started listening to more of my favorite girl bands like Blondie, the Go-Go's and the Donnas. You can hear that in this record: electric guitar mixed with sweet, girlie-fun melodies and lyrics. - Trixie Mattel

On her ebullient third studio album, 2020's Barbara, drag superstar Trixie Mattel (aka Brian Firkus) expands her folk and country approach with electrified tracks that evoke beachy '60s pop and dance music.