Trixie Mattel

Trixie Mattel works as a drag queen, singer-songwriter, and comedian whose performances fuse standup with acoustic pop in a distinctive variety-show style. Wider notice arrived after her appearance on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2015. Alongside the web series UNHhhh created with fellow RuPaul alum Katya Zamolodchikova, she has issued two Top 20 Billboard Folk albums: Two Birds in 2017 and One Stone in 2018. The 2020 release Barbara entered the Billboard 200, while the double LP The Blonde & Pink Albums, drawing on power pop and new wave, appeared in 2022.

Born Brian Michael Firkus in 1979 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she spent her childhood in a rural setting marked by limited financial resources. An abusive stepfather who rejected any expression of her gay identity repeatedly mocked her femininity by calling her Trixie, an experience that later shaped her drag persona. Early exposure to country figures such as Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton led her to pick up the guitar in childhood, with further encouragement coming from her grandfather, himself a guitarist and teller of jokes. After finishing high school she obtained a BFA in Music Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, during which time a stage production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show sparked her initial interest in drag. By 2008 she had chosen her stage name, partly inspired by Mattel's Barbie doll, and begun performing throughout Milwaukee.

In 2015 Mattel achieved prominence on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race, where an early exit in episode four was followed by a return that placed her sixth overall. She subsequently relocated to Los Angeles and introduced the web series UNHhhh with Drag Race colleague Katya Zamolodchikova while also pursuing standup and acting roles, including a self-portrayal on an episode of American Horror Story: Roanoke. Her debut album, Two Birds, arrived in 2017; the country- and folk-oriented set reached number 16 on the Billboard Folk Albums chart and expanded her reach.

The next year she won the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, after which One Stone, her second album, again charted at number 16 on the Folk Albums tally. November brought the combined collection Two Birds, One Stone. In 2019 she introduced the Trixie Cosmetics makeup line and unveiled the comedy special Trixie Mattel: Skinny Legend. Third album Barbara appeared in June 2020, showcasing a fuller, electrified sound highlighted by the '60s pop-styled track "Malibu"; it peaked at number 66 on the Billboard 200. With UNHhhh paused amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Mattel and Zamolodchikova created the home-filmed series Trixie and Katya Save the World, later resuming UNHhhh while also launching the podcast The Bald and the Beautiful; their satirical self-help book Trixie and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood became a New York Times best-seller in 2020.

Additional musical activity included covers of Lana Del Rey's "Video Games" and the Violent Femmes' "Blister in the Sun," both gathered with other recordings on 2021's Full Coverage, Vol. 1. April 2022 saw the release of fourth studio effort The Blonde & Pink Albums, a double LP that incorporated '70s power pop and '80s new wave elements together with contributions from Shakey Graves and Michelle Branch; the set reached number 17 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart.