As a pop nerd (and Britney Spears‘ number one fan), I don’t believe in the term ‘guilty pleasure.’ If a song is good, it’s good. I’m not the same, I have no shame…I’m on fire, etc. etc. (Get it? It’s a reference.)
I say this because, of all the artists and ‘artists’ I write about, Jeffree Star is probably the closest thing to being my guilty pleasure.
When I first found his album lying in my mailbox over the summer, I was briefly overcome with a wave of nostalgia. Memories flooded in from the glory days of MySpace: It was a better time–a time when the self-portrait in the bathroom mirror was just being perfected by teens worldwide, when DIY-pop stars like Lily Allen were born, and a time where Tila Tequila was not yet introduced to Twitter.
But it was also the time of Jeffree Star, the outrageous ex-makeup artist of Kelly Osbourne and Paris Hilton/drag queen who, for better or worse, kept me tickled with his bitchy cold gone sugary sweet ‘ice cream and razorblades’ persona. A queen with a king-size ego, Star was a memorable e-fixture during my awkward adolescence.
As I came to learn later last year after a few initial spins, Star’s debut album Beauty Killer is genuinely good fun: From the namedropping lunacy of “Bitch, Please!” (“Make my bottle pop like a Pussycat Doll / Smoked up Michael Phelps and won a gold medal”), to the fairly unsettling lollipop-licking instructional “Lollipop Luxury” featuring Nicki Minaj (!!!), to the dare-I-say-it actual goodness of the title track’s luscious, breathy chorus.
Now, it seems as though Star is truly rolling out the album’s promotion, having just released the video for “Get Away With Murder.”
The professional-ish look and feel of the video impressed me from the get-go, especially given that–from the looks of it–the video was shot on location at some scuzzy motel. There’s some cheerleader-inspired drag choreography, some glam shots and super-split legs, and even a glittery chainsaw! Like the starring ladyboy himself, the video is brash and sloppy in moments (though if you gather a gaggle of heaving boys atop each other, that sort of thing tends to happen), but not without its own kitschy, campy appeal.
Alright, look…let’s get it straight: Yes, this is just another addition to the continually downgrading, endlessly narcissistic trend in pop music and culture that revels in material lust, mindless trash and empty emotions, which will inevitably lead us all spiraling down to the gates of Hell. But you know what? It’s kind of fun to seat-dance to in the car.
So go on Jeffree, and wave your freak flag high–I salute you.
Beauty Killer is now on iTunes.