1993, what a year! I was ordering Cyndi Lauper’s Hat Full Of Stars and Belinda Carlisle’s Real CDs to fulfill my Columbia House membership. I was running to the theater and falling more in love with Tina Turner because of Angela Bassett’s portrayal of her in What’s Love Got To Do With It. And I was getting my first introduction to drag culture thanks to Rupaul’s “Supermodel (You Better Work)” music video and album Supermodel Of The World.
I loved Atlanta and now have a reason to go back, a Taylor Alxndr show, add it to my bucket list.
Flash forward to 2022 and I’m still buying Cyndi Lauper and Belinda Carlisle music, I’m eagerly awaiting the TV show 911’s return so I can get my Angela Bassett fix, and I’m getting my drag education from Taylor Alxndr. Taylor’s new EP, 1993, may flash back (with a little Flashdance) to give nods to that time period but their music is fresh and new. There’s 80’s Chaka Khan realness on “Saturdays,” “Tethered To It” has Nintendo electronic beats mixed in that Peach would be blasting from her Super Mario Kart speakers, and Taylor’s speedy lyric rundown on “In The Moment” has 90’s nostalgia ala “I Want You” by Savage Garden.
I bet Sporty Spice had fantasies like this where she offed the other Spice Girls and cloned herself.
Taylor calls 1993 an EP but I think seven songs is justifiably a full album. It might only be thirty minutes but each song tells a story and will get you moving with it’s pop-club vibe. In 1993, Rupaul started her career and look where she is today. Each season Ru (we’re close like that), bestows the crown of Next Drag Superstar on one of her reality star queens. Taylor isn’t competing for the crown, she already owns it.
This is my jam, if anybody can bring back the Olivia Newton-John sweat bands, it’s Taylor!