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While RuPaul’s Drag Race may have ended for another year – that doesn’t mean the competition had to be over. Indeed our two runner ups, Adore Delano and Courtney Act, have both recently released singles to great acclaim from their fans. However while Bianca Del Rio walked away with the crown, we have to wonder who will win in the battle of the idols.
The first single to come out was Courtney Act’s own ‘Mean Gays’. Fans of the show will remember the Australian queen singing this little ditty on the main stage. However thanks to the magic of the recording studio Miss Act’s comedy song has had something of a auditory facelift into a campy pop tune, with a music video to match.
Shortly afterwards the grrl from Azusa’s single ‘DTF’ dropped like it was hot, and it was. We have always known that Danny Noriega was a great singer from his brief stints in American Idol. Now, as Adore Delano we are treated to a banjee girl delight of hard beats and strong vocals. The beat and vocals were enviable and left us itching to see more from Delano and her first studio album in drag, especially once we caught a glimpse at the sexy video that accompanied it.
The question however is this, which one is the better single? Well we here at Vada decided that we would pit these two off in a classic battle royale to see which of these members of the Drag Race family would take home the crown on their musical ability.
Our criteria to decide a winner is simple, we are looking at the song itself, then the video and then (perhaps most importantly) the boys we got to watch strut their stuff during the video which we simply must count separately. The question is, who will emerge the victor, let’s find out.
Song
Musically both tracks have a lot going for them and ‘Mean Gays’ and ‘DTF’ both have that sound that would make us run to the dance floor … after a few dozen cocktails at 1am. ‘DTF’s beat combined with Delano’s amazing vocal quality gives her track a hard edge that has a far reaching quality, while ‘Mean Gays’ is just so helplessly repeatable. That said though Courtney’s revised take on this song is, dare we say it, too safe.
Much like the Australian Idol contestant’s time on drag race she felt a little too middle of the road to go that far and the comedy she was reaching for, while good, has been done before and better by the likes of DWV. Indeed this on occasion sounds like it could have been a sanitised version of a song by Willam Belli but without the biting humour this other Drag Race alumnus is known for. ‘DTF’ meanwhile knows what it is and knows where it wants to go and Delano goes for it with everything she has.
So in a tough early round we have to give to ‘DTF’ if only by the hairs on Willam’s chinny chin chin.
Music Video
Both of the videos on offer here are wonderfully realised and compliments the style of each queen beautifully. Adore really does look like she is going to cut a bitch between each of her lyrics while Courtney’s offering shows her wild and campy aesthetic in true technicolor realness. However, if there is one thing Gaga taught us, it is the importance of production values and showing no restraint in performance, which means we have to give this round to ‘Mean Gays’. ‘DTF’ is a wonderful blend of urban charm and tongue in cheek humour.
That said Delano seems to pour all her energy into the vocal quality and the beat and left very little left over for the video which, while having striking imagery and left us feeling more like WTF not ‘DTF’!
Our transatlantic queen Miss Act, however, embraces the comedy visually in a way she failed to grasp in the song giving a bit more edge. In particular the scenes of Act in and out of drag and fighting with herself thanks to the magic of split screen had us grinning like a cheshire cat and longing to hit repeat on YouTube ad nauseum. Any video that makes you hit replay more than once has got to be something special, and Mean Gays does not disappoint.
Two rounds down and a late victory put both queens neck and neck to take home the gold, but with one category left it all comes down to the boys, and whether they left a lasting impression.
Boys, Boys, Boys
While the boys feature in the videos themselves we cant count them in the same league, after all there is so much of them to admire on their own, so we have to judge each separately. This is where the fight really does look like it can go in ‘Mean Gays’ favour since it features a terrific trio of beautiful models in tiny Marco Marco briefs.
As if that isn’t enough the male alter ego of Courtney Act, Shane Jenek, makes an appearance to remind us all once again that as well as making a pretty girl she can do boy drag too. However, when we watched ‘DTF’ we could not help but be enamoured with that one boy in the laundromat who decided to bare his chest and then everything else. After some Nancy Drew style investigation we found this bronzed adonis is none other than male model Max Emerson and any boy who looks out the screen at you like that immediately catches our attention … especially when the drawers hit the floors!
It is a tough choice but ultimately we have to say that quality wins out on quantity, and while ‘Mean Gays’ has a lot of pretty boys ready to party it is ‘DTF’ and its lone charge that has us ready to go steady.
So after an exhausting pitched battle that leaves The Hunger Games looking like a child’s tantrum, we here at Vada have decided the winner of this fight is Adore Delano and ‘DTF’. Sorry Courtney Act, you may be a knockout but this time you were knocked out!
You can get both ‘DTF’ and ‘Mean Gays’ from Amazon and iTunes and Adore Delano’s album, Till Death Do Us Party, is preparing to drop on 3 June 2014.
