RuPaul Drag Race Season 11 Winner, Yvie Oddly premieres ‘Drag Trap’ – Album Review
Denver native and Winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11, Yvie Oddly, is set to release her debut album on October 23, 2020.
On the forthcoming album, Yvie wrote to OUT FRONT, “My inspiration for ‘Drag Trap’ comes from all sorts of places. When Season 11 aired and my life changed drastically, I began writing raps to help me navigate my emotions. So the songs range from the pressures of fame to my health, sex, and being a queer Black American … and just everything I needed to get off my chest.”
And after listening to the album in full, I can certainly see where Yvie Oddly has found sonic inspiration throughout her debut album.
The album starts with hard-hitting and a rhythmic track entitled ‘Drag Trap’ featuring Neurotika Killz. Drag Trap is Yvie Oddly’s most recently released single and the name of the project. Still, it isn’t until the 2nd track of the album, ‘Chicken Dinner,’ in which you realize the true nature of the art Oddly seeks to portray sonically.
With the transition into the track, ‘Chicken Dinner,’ you realize the ‘Drag Trap’ album is a comedic based album that frequently finds pathways to juxtapose queer culture and black concepts with comedy. Oddly’s debut album is bound to inspire a bitch to go ‘exorcist on the dick.’
‘Hype Master’ is the type of track I would need to hear playing when out and about at an LGBTQ club or bar. I found Yvie Oddly’s ‘Hype Master’ track perhaps the track most radio-friendly track. ‘Watermelon Bubblegum’ is probably one of my favorite tracks on the album. It gave me major Doja Cat vibes between her bars’ flow and the pressing sensation that the beat provided.
It is out of ‘Watermelon Bubblegum’ and ‘Gigging Master’ as my favorite tracks on the album. ‘Gigging Master,’ another one of Oddly’s singles from the album, gives us insights into what life is like being an entertainer in multiple cities and her work as a Drag Queen. “From city to city,” she says.
‘Grind Me, Master,’ with its sampling of the very familiar Grindr notification sound-effect, provides an excellent energy shift. The beat becomes heavily inspired by reggaeton and house music themes. The flute that intermittently plays throughout the track to the beat in ‘Grind Me Master’ gives the track an almost trippy effect, and I applaud the reference to Oddly’s work on drag race.
‘Take A Nap Master’ — was total relatable content. Still, lines such as “My life is like a laxative / I make them lose their shit,” as heard in the track ‘Sick Bitch Master’ that serves as one of many examples of the quality and charming wordplay Oddly provides listeners throughout her album.
Karen Master serves as the album’s emotional peak. Oddly doesn’t lose her flair for colorful wordplay even when addressing society’s issues that affect Oddly’s identity as a black person. Karen Master the song that we all need to hear. It is an ode to the frustrating antics we’ve seen Karens engaging in on mainstream and viral media. I especially appreciate Oddly taking the time to point out aspects of cultural appropriation we’ve become accustomed to seeing. Karens who take from Black culture but want to weaponize police against black people and contribute to systematic racism. F U, Karens. And thank you for saying their names, Yvie Oddly.
‘Garbage Juice Master’ closes out the track with a heavily reverbed Yvie Oddly that brings Travis Scott vibes heavily to your ears. The layering vocals edge listeners to the end of Miss Oddly’s debut album.
For more information on Yvie Oddly and Drag Trap visit here.
