Episode 012: Dorian Electra
Dorian Electra is a queer and genderfluid singer, songwriter, and performance artist from Houston, Texas.
We are looking at Dorian Electra since International Non-Binary People's Day is happening tomorrow on 14 July, so I wanted to review work by somebody outside of the gender binary. It also felt like it would be good again to dive into another music review after having such fun reviewing the musical 2 weeks ago!
Now unlike the usual set up where we go through an overview of the media and the plot before then diving into a spoiler filled section, this episode is going to be slightly different. Since music, specifically albums or songs, might have overlying themes and stories, it's a bit more difficult for us to talk about this media in the usual format. So, when I am covering audio based media like this the episode will be more overview of the creator and details on the released work, with specific discussion on a few of the songs under review.
You can either listen to the podcast with the link below, or read the transcript on this page.
Dorian Electra is most known for their visual style with their high-concept music videos and their experimental pop-like musical style that discuss topics such as gender and sexuality while challenging oppressive norms. For a bit of background, Electra was born in June 1992 to father Paul Gomber, the “Rockstar Realtor in Houston” and mother Paula Fridkin, an artist and jewellery designer. They graduated from a Montessori high school and later attended Shimer College in Illinois.
They first gained attention back in 2010 with their music video “I’m in Love with Friedrich Hayek”, which lauded the philosophy of the Austrian economist of that name. Not every day an economist gets a song after someone is stuck reading their work for their senior thesis in high school, but Dorian has admitted to really liking economics. This can be seen with other videos they have put out on the topic such as FA$T CA$H, another pop go at explaining economics.
However Dorian has mentioned wanting to cover many interesting topics and have done so with works such as “Ode to the Clitoris”, seeking to desentisise people to the word clitoris by exploring the history of it from ancient Greece to now, or releasing things such as “The History of Vibrators”, “Dark History of High Heels”, and “Years of Drag” all in 2016, focusing on the histories of queer history and intersectional feminism while collaborating with many artists.
What we are reviewing today is a selection of songs from their two self released albums, “Flamboyant” from mid-2019 and “Agenda” from late 2020. I picked a lot of songs to discuss today based on if there was a music video available as well. I wanted to do this as I think as well as telling a story with the audio side of things, since Dorian is quite skilled at putting together the video side of things as well to tell their ideas, it would be good to review both aspects of this. So let’s start with Flamboyant!
Flamboyant is the debut album from Dorian and actually had four different releases, from the original release, deluxe version with additional songs, to an all instrumental listing, to a version with voice memo demo recordings of the songs. If you are someone like me who loves to see how a song has evolved or how the music sounds without the vocals, having all these releases is brilliant to really look into different aspects of the songs.
The album has 11 tracks, coming in at just over 31 minutes, with the deluxe edition having 4 additional songs and a remixed version. What's quite interesting is how, although the album is quite experimental pop, it also brings in elements of dubstep, R&B, and even new wave elements, all while the songs are focused on examining masculinity and confronting gender stereotypes in subversive ways.
The first song from the album we are going to discuss is “Career Boy”. The song is clearly aimed at those that make their whole personality about their work and career, being a career boy willing to stay late and essentially work at the expense of their own health and wellbeing to make it up that corporate ladder. The lyrics are quite sharp since “it’s lonely at the top” seems to comment on the fact if you only ever focus on your career, you are choosing to sacrifice other meaningful relationships in your life which can be quite lonely for people as well as “nothing is ever gonna make me stop” with how determined people can be in putting their careers first. Overall it’s a catchy song that does make you think about the emphasis men will put on their career above all else.
The video for this is obviously set up in your typical American office set up, with Dorian working alone at night going through countless coffees, at one point going overboard and pouring hot coffee overthemslves, before also going made at the printer and on the meeting room desks. It's a really interesting way to show the way we slowly go mad trapped at work and even end up damaging ourselves, before we take this a step further with Dorian chained to the filing cabinets and inflicting pain on themselves with the office stapler. Another highlighting of when we make work our life, we are sometimes taking up this sado-maschichistic role of really just hurting ourselves by sacrificing everything else in our lives for the boy.
The next song “Man to Man” is a perfect example of Dorian confronting gender stereotypes. The song seems to challenge the idea of men having to be closed off with their emotions and not being direct about how they are feeling, with Dorian claiming “I ain’t straight but I’ll say it straight to you”, showing they aren’t afraid to challenge this behaviour in their music. The beat is fairly straightforward since the song is slightly repetitive in wording, but it does have the gem of “Are you tough enough to open up?”, again pushing against the idea that men have to be closed off as it is actually much tougher to be open and honest with how we are feeling at times.
Again the video is fairly impressive in terms of quality and how it furthers the message of the song through visual imagery. We have scenes of Dorian in various settings and outfits where men have been tough, whether it is backstreet alley fights, centurion armour, fencing, or even in the boxing ring. I have to say, Dorian wears everything so well, and it's really great to have the subversion of when the boxers get close together and we assume they are going to start the fight, they make out instead.
Moving onto the song “Flamboyant”, the anthem for anyone that has been criticised for being too loud or flamboyant in life as it basically states that I am extra, I have always been extra and will be, so don’t tell me what to do! I like this as a reminder that people can present themselves as they wish and it isn’t anyone's place to tell others how to act, dress, or anything else in their life. The song is also an impressive show of the technical mixing on the vocals, as you get to hear the different effects on their voice and I feel it really works well on the song. As you can imagine, the video for this is turned up to eleven, with scenes of Dorian lying on the rug next to the fire in their red robe, playing the keyboard in their gold sparkle blazer with matching nails, or even dancing in their blue outfit more accustomed to the old French royalty. All of it just further shows how fabulous some people are when they own their flamboyant nature and really fits the song.
Next is “Guyliner” which in its simplest form is about guys wearing eyeliner, and really it challenges the stereotype that men can’t wear make-up in such a simple way. They talk about how they look fabulous in it so of course they will wear eyeliner, or since they are a guy it will need to be marketed as guyliner to deal with that fear men have of being seen to wear make-up. Always love anything that challenges the perception that make-up is only for one gender, when really anyone can use it. Also, after “Masc for Mask” (as in facemask), this song has my second favourite take on the saying with “Masc for Mascara”. The music video just let you know there are flashing lights, which is really considerate for that to be included as a warning for the video since I don’t think it's common amongst all music videos made. Overall well produced and great to see the variety of ways Dorian wears the liquid eyeliner in different scenes (especially as an American football player in full outfit too!).
And just before I move on from this album I wanted to touch on “Adam and Steve”. Its a much more melodic song compared to the ones discussed above, having a slower tempo to it as it explores homophobia using that stupid phrase of “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve”. It’s actually a lovely way to subvert the hate pushed by religious groups claiming their religion is against it by focusing on the fact that “God made me and he loves me” which seems to be something religious hate pushers seem to forget, that their God made people in their image and loves them. So really pleased to hear this song and the video that goes along with it furthers this message with a lot of religious imagery to it.
So, moving onto the second album, My Agenda. This once was affected by that pesky COVID-19 pandemic, so Dorian did have to record most of the vocals in a home studio, and it actually has a whole bunch of appearances from other artists like The Village People, Pussy Riot, and even Rebecca Black. As we expect, there is another concept to this album, this time looking at toxic masculinity and incel culture, but seen through a queer lense. And if it wasn’t obvious by the title of the album, it is a reference to the “gay agenda” that we all know about but can’t let the cis-hets find out about.
The album has 11 tracks once again, this time coming in at just over 25 minutes, with the deluxe edition having seven remixes and four new songs. Similar to the previous album, although there is a strong pop vibe to the music on the album, Dorian isn’t afraid to mix various elements from other genres into their music such as EDM, gregorian chanting, dubstep, or even some viking metal! It is really interesting to look at someone who is more than willing to blend genres to see what works best for them to share their content. There is an interesting approach that Dorian takes with this album in that they are blending not just musical genres but also looking at blending political discussions as they work through aspects of toxic masculinity and incels in an entertaining way.
So the first song, the album’s title song, “My Agenda”is probably one of my favourite songs! The song itself has been said to be written from the perspective of a conspiracy theorist who is watching their country being taken over by a gay dictator, which is portrayed so well in the music video. The beat itself is very pop-ish and catchy, with the only part I wince at being the mid-song screeching and blow horn noise, otherwise it's something you can easily hum to yourself after hearing. You also have Village People and Pussy Riot also contributing part of the vocals which gives us a bit of variety on how the lyrics are delivered too.
The video itself is absolutely fabulous, kicking off with Dorian in a fabulous outfit as they are clearly putting chemicals in the water to turn everyone gay, the clear gay agenda! But this is just the start, since as the song progresses we have furries cruising in their car through the city, Pussy Riot serving tainted water on a plane before it crashes, Village People and Dorian in tactical armour ready to impose martial law, and even getting giant mutated frog destroying the city. Cause putting all the chemicals in the water did indeed turn the freaking frogs gay! It feels like a 15 out of 10 on the scale of how extra a video can be, but I fucking love it!
Next on the talking block, “Barbie Boy”. A very quick paced song that I couldn’t help compare in my head to Aqua’s Barbie Girl for the obvious naming reason, it is all about being the perfect boy and someone's favourite toy within a nice chirpy song. It does have the typical effect that a lot of Dorian’s songs have, which is around just after half-way in the song there is a shift in the musical tone of it before then swapping back into the previous style to finish the song off.
“Sorry Bro (I Love You)” is actually a very short and simple song, all based on playing with sexuality and gender. It's an interesting presentation on homoerocticism, so that rather than being seen as shameful, it's a lot more fun and normalised through the song. As I am sure you know what I will say, the video with Dorian working out with the bro’s further pushes all of the themes of this song, and I appreciate this song trying to again let guys know it isn’t shameful to love your bros.
Moving on to another song, we have “EdgeLord”. Another song that has quite a simple beat and lyrics to it, so it is maybe not the most cerebral of songs, it does seem to hold a mirror up to those people that seem to push boundaries just to be seen as edgy and cool. So really vibing with those of incel culture in what feels like a very camp way. The video itself is maybe not the best when I compare it to the other videos from today, as although it has some interesting visuals, such as Dorian being a messed up version of the Joker from Batman since ‘edge-lords’ aspire to this kind of character, it doesn’t seem to grab my attention overall.
The final song that we are going to look at today is “Give Great Thanks”. It’s quite a slow tempo compared to some of the other songs I have looked at today, and this is based on the fact it is a song about someone being thankfully for being used sexually, mainly via getting face fucked. So again very typical of being quite explicit and in your face about topics that aren’t discussed every day through the song, and I did have to have a giggle at the “fuck my face for a hundred days” line, mainly for me taking this literally and thinking that would need a lot of viagra to go for that long! The music video for this is actually quite subdued compared to the others we have looked at today, which seems to reflect the more mellow rhythm of the song. It does still come with a strobe warning just in case some of the flashes would be an issue for viewers.
Final Feelings and Recommendation
In terms of recommendation, I would say to most people to give a couple of Dorian’s songs a listen, as even if electronic pop may not be your preferred genre, there is a good mix of musical styles used at times plus the topics being discussed lyrically are still interesting to hear. I don’t think every song will be for everyone, but there is enough of a range that you will find something to enjoy, and the only caveat is maybe don’t share every song with younger members of the household if you want to avoid awkward conversations on what face fucking means.
I would also highly recommend not just listening to the music, but also taking the time to watch their videos for their songs, as these are quite high quality and do add to the songs overall meaning, unlike with some musicians who may just do a music video of them playing the instruments without much thought of visually interpreting their songs.
Rating wise, I would give Dorian Electra a strong 8 out of 10 points on the gay agenda, as I think the idea behind what they are producing are really interesting, and how they present them is in a unique fashion. The music videos all seem to have a lot of attention to detail put into them, as you can see some behind the scene videos they have shared for their work, and although not every song is something I would keep on my mp3, it is still fairly impressive.
NO SPOILERS AHEAD
As mentioned before, no spoilers this episode as we are discussing music and the musician.