Queer Icon RuPaul Turns Back The Hands Of Time With Upcoming ‘Remember Me’ Album
It may not seem like it, but self-proclaimed “Supermodel of The World” RuPaul first broke down the doors of the entertainment world with her boundless charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent more than two decades ago.
Since her own mainstream debut with the dance-ready anthem “Supermodel (You Better Work)” in 1993, the now 56-year-old reality show hostess of RuPaul’s Drag Race has pretty much done it all: she’s acted in several big-screen productions, including Spike Lee’s Crooklyn and The Brady Bunch Movie in 1994 and 1995, respectively; appeared on several popular sitcoms of yore, such as Sabrina The Teenage Witch and Ugly Betty; and even picked up a Primetime Emmy win for her self-created televised drag queen competition that has, as of this posting, helped more than 100 contenders channel their own charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent into worldwide success.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw9LOrHU8JI
Despite her many accomplishments, however, RuPaul’s one true love has always seemingly been found in the melody, with the queer icon releasing eight studio albums, four compilation albums, three remix albums, two Christmas albums, and a handful of one-off singles after her first public offering, 1993’s Supermodel of The World, which peaked at No. 109 on the Billboard Top 200 (her highest charting disc, 2014’s Born Naked, bested that position by eight spots).
Now, as a way to connect the old with the new and, in turn, introduce some of her younger followers to some earlier “Ru tunes,” the iconic female impersonator recently went back in the recording studio to create fresh takes of a collective of her past musical offerings with the introspective Remember Me: Essential Vol. 1.
Teased in tandem with the reveal of the contestants participating on Season 9 of RuPaul’s Drag Race (which has become the norm when it comes to latter RuPaul music releases), Remember Me is composed of three new songs and eight covers of classic Ru jams recorded throughout her entire musical journey with accompaniments by several guest artists, including Ellis Miah and Skeltal Ki.
.@RuPaul Has RuWorked His Classic Hits For The New Album, “Remember Me”https://t.co/6kWXH3GBmS pic.twitter.com/Jv9okSuO2b
— Logo News (@NewNowNext) February 2, 2017
Check out the full track listing, by way of the WOW Report, as well as the original albums on which some of the tunes made their premieres, below.
- Rock It (To The Moon) [feat. Kummerspeck] (original recording)
- Just a Lil In & Out [feat. Ellis Miah] (Red Hot – 2004)
- Remember Me / Back To My Roots Medley [feat. Skeltal Ki] (original recording)
- Supermodel [feat. Skeltal Ki] (Supermodel of The World – 1993)
- A Shade Shady (Now Prance) [feat. Vjuan Allure] (Supermodel of The World – 1993)
- Free 2 Be [feat. Skeltal Ki & Chris Willis] (Wigstock: Music From The Original Motion Picture – 1995)
- Call Me Starrbooty [feat. Yxlr] (Starbooty: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – 2007)
- A Little Bit of Love [feat. Kummerspeck] (Foxy Lady – 1996)
- Snapshot [feat. Macutchi] (Foxy Lady – 1996)
- Do The Right Thing [feat. Yxlr] (Starbooty: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – 2007)
- House of Love [feat. Matt Pop & Ellis Miah] (Supermodel of The World – 1993)
- Mighty Love [feat. Matt Pop] (original recording)
Incidentally, not one of the eight covers that RuPaul offers up for Remember Me are works of Lucian Piane, the troubled music producer who collaborated with Ru on most of her albums after the Starbooty soundtrack in 2007.
Over the past few months, Piane, who often publicly gloated about his platonic connection with Ru all over social media as well as during appearances on several singing challenge episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race, seemed to fall out of favor with Ru and the world at large following a supposed mental breakdown that many believed was drug induced, as Queerty theorized back in November.
Just recently, after taking some necessary time off from social media, the New York native confirmed that his problematic actions, including Twitter posts where he once referred to Ru as the “wisest n*****r” he knew, were indeed the cause of a supposed weed overdose.
“I’d like to extend an apology to anyone who might have been offended by what I said during my ‘marijuana psychosis,'” he partly expressed in an Instagram post, as noted by the Washington Blade. “A few months ago, I ate 800mg of cannabis edibles in a 48-hour period and that much apparently takes a while to get out of your system.”
Perhaps certain things aren’t so easy to flush away after all. RuPaul’s Remember Me: Essential Vol. 1 is now available for pre-order on iTunes and Amazon. The LP will be released in full on February 3.
[Featured Image by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]
