Trixie Mattel

A drag queen, singer/songwriter, and comedian, Trixie Mattel is known for her unique variety-show blend of standup and acoustic pop. She emerged to wider attention after competing on the seventh season of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2015. Along with the popular web series UNHhhh with fellow RuPaul alum Katya Zamolodchikova, Mattel has released two Top 20 Billboard Folk albums, 2017′s Two Birds and 2018′s One Stone. She hit the Billboard 200 with 2020′s Barbara and delivered a double LP, The Blonde & Pink Albums, in 2022.
Born Brian Michael Firkus in 1979 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mattel grew up in a rural area with few economic advantages. She has described suffering under an abusive stepfather who didn’t allow her to express her gay identity. He would derisively call her “Trixie” when she acted feminine, an experience that would later inform her work as a drag performer. Raised on country artists like Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and others, she started playing guitar at a young age and gained early inspiration from her grandfather, who played guitar and told jokes. After high school, she earned her BFA in Music Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It was during this period that she first became interested in drag while appearing in a stage performance of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. By 2008, she had adopted her drag name (inspired in part by her love of Mattel’s Barbie Doll) and began performing around Milwaukee.
In 2015, Mattel gained fame while competing on the seventh season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Though initially eliminated in episode four, she later reentered the competition and finished in sixth place. Following her time on the show, Mattel moved to Los Angeles, where she launched the web series UNHhhh with fellow Drag Race contestant Katya Zamolodchikova. She also began performing standup comedy and acting, appearing as herself on an episode of American Horror Story: Roanoke. In 2017, Mattel issued her debut album, Two Birds, a country- and folk-influenced record that helped broaden her audience, landing at number 16 on the Billboard Folk Albums chart.
The following year, she competed on and won the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars. On the heels of her win, she released her sophomore album, One Stone, which again reached number 16 on the Folk chart. That November, both of Mattel’s albums were combined into the Two Birds, One Stone collection.
In 2019, Mattel launched her own Trixie Cosmetics brand of makeup and premiered her comedy special Trixie Mattel: Skinny Legend. Her third album, Barbara, arrived in June 2020 and found her further expanding her sound with a more robust, electrified production. Included on the record was the breezy, ’60s pop-infused track “Malibu.” The album reached number 66 on the Billboard 200. Also, with UNHhhh on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mattel and Zamolodchikova launched the home-based web series Trixie and Katya Save the World. UNHhhh eventually resumed filming around the same time that the duo debuted their podcast, The Bald and the Beautiful. In addition, they scored a New York Times best-seller with their satirical 2020 self-help book Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood.
Mattel also stayed busy with music, releasing a cover of Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” and a cover of the Violent Femmes classic “Blister in the Sun.” She compiled these and other cover songs on 2021′s Full Coverage, Vol. 1. In April 2022, she released her fourth studio production, The Blonde & Pink Albums. A double LP, it included guest appearances by Shakey Graves and Michelle Branch. ~ Matt Collar