Raise your hand if you've been waiting all week for part two of my interview with RuPaul. Excellent. Drum-roll please...
PM: So after you decided you were going to cut another record, how did you do it? What's your creative process? And what can we expect to hear on this one?
Ru: In the past four years I've continued writing and recording music. That's a constant. Whether I was going to put it out or I was going to let someone else record it, I was always doing it. My creative process is always there. On this record, I enlisted some friends to co-write with me. In fact, I did all the things on this record that people would expect from me. But this time there are also some songs that are coming from the man behind the mask, and that is decidedly different from anything I've done before. In the past I've touched on those real feelings, but never to this degree.
PM: So it's more personal this time around?
Ru: A whole bunch more personal! In fact, I was thinking I should cut some of the songs because I didn't want to alienate people. But then I thought about how I've spent a lot of my life trying to make people feel comfortable with me. This time, I owe it to myself to just let them have it and give them all the respect and the opportunity to really get to know me.
PM: Tell us about the first single.
Ru: Child, they are gonna love the single. It's exactly what people want. After I finished the record, I sent one of the tracks to my friend in New York to remix it. He said "well, I'll remix this, but I'm going to send it back to you with a track I wrote that I want you to hear.' I told him 'It's done. I'm not going to do any more, the deal is closed.' And you know what? When I got his track, I called him right away and told him 'I'm coming to New York tomorrow so I can record this' because it was fierce and exactly what the album needed. I didn't even write the song and it's the first single called 'Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous.'
PM: What haven't you conquered that you still want to conquer? What's next?
Ru: Well, first, I'm going to tour with this record over the next year. Hopefully we'll do lots of singles and it will have a life of it's own. After that, definitely another book. I'd love to do a stage show that is based on my life, maybe a one-man show. I've got so many things I still want to do! Maybe a makeup line or a line of clothes. I'd love to produce other artists. Maybe a magazine like Oprah. Have you heard of 'O' magazine? Well get ready for 'Ru'!
And with that kids, I sign off this week. Watch this space for more news on RuPaul Red Hot!
Always with you in 4/4,
Peter Mavrik
