''Slay Belles'' is the ninth studio album and second

Christmas album Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject m ...

from American singer and drag queen

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960; stylized as RuPaul) is an American drag queen, television personality, actor, musician, and model. Best known for producing, hosting, and judging the reality competition series '' RuPaul's Drag Race ...

. It was released exclusively via iTunes and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

on 23 October 2015, through RuPaul's label RuCo. It was also made available to stream through

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

. ''Slay Belles'' sees a return to Christmas music for RuPaul after releasing his first festive album, ''

Ho, Ho, Ho ''Ho Ho Ho'', also known as ''VH-1 Presents RuPaul: Ho Ho Ho'', is a 1997 Christmas album and the third studio album by American singer and drag queen RuPaul. Released on October 28, 1997 by the record label Rhino, it is RuPaul's first album fe ...

'', in 1997. The album features RuPaul's frequent collaborators,

Michelle Visage Michelle Lynn Case (nee Shupack), better known as Michelle Visage (born September 20, 1968), is an American singer, television host, actress, radio DJ and producer. She first gained recognition as a member of the musical group Seduction which ...

and

Big Freedia Freddie Ross Jr. (born January 28, 1978), better known by his stage name Big Freedia ( ), is an American rapper and performer known for his work in the New Orleans genre of hip hop called bounce music. Freedia has been credited with helping popu ...

, as well as Markaholic,

Ellis Miah Ellis Miah (born March 21 in New York City) is an American songwriter, record producer, composer, vocalist and DJ of Bangladeshi and Caribbean descent. He has had over 17 records on various ''Billboard'' charts including the ''Billboard'' 200, El ...

Todrick Hall Todrick Hall (born April 4, 1985) is an American singer, choreographer, and YouTuber. He gained national attention on the ninth season of the televised singing competition '' American Idol''. Following this, he amassed a huge following on Yo ...

and

Siedah Garrett Deborah Christine "Siedah" Garrett (born June 24, 1960) is an American singer and songwriter who has written songs and performed backing vocals for many recording artists in the music industry, such as Michael Jackson, the Pointer Sisters, Brand N ...

. The album's interludes feature the Pit Crew from ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

''.

Background

RuPaul released his first Christmas album, ''

'', in October 1997, almost exactly 18 years before the release of ''Slay Belles''. The album was a combination of original songs, standards and comedy vignettes. The album was tied into a television Christmas special from ''

The RuPaul Show ''The RuPaul Show'' is an American talk/variety show that premiered on VH1 in 1996. Hosted by the drag performer RuPaul, the show had many famous musical guests and was notable as being one of the first national television programs in the United ...

'' on VH1. Much of the humor on the album was of a risqué nature, making it quite different from traditionally wholesome holiday albums. For instance, the classic "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause" lyrics were changed to "I Saw ''Daddy'' Kissing Santa Claus". News that RuPaul was releasing his second Christmas album came after he posted the LP's track list on Twitter, just two days before ''Slay Belles'' release date. A picture of RuPaul, Ellis Miah and Siedah Garrett recording "Brand New Year" in the studio was also posted to his Twitter account the same day. The album was subsequently released on 23 October 2015, just in time for the festive season. Musically, the album sees a departure from RuPaul's first Christmas album and his seventh studio album, '' Realness'', released earlier in 2015. The lyrics throughout ''Slay Belles'' focus on being more heartfelt and meaningful than the comedic themes featured in his 1997 Christmas album. The album also sees RuPaul return to a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

sound after focusing on more

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

and recently

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air ...

music on '' Born Naked'' (2014) and ''Realness'' (2015). The album's title is a play on 'sleigh bells', with 'sleigh' replaced with 'slay', a word frequently used within the

drag Drag or The Drag may refer to: Places * Drag, Norway, a village in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway * ''Drág'', the Hungarian name for Dragu Commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Drag (Austin, Texas), the portion of Guadalupe Street adj ...

and

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term i ...

community meaning amazing, and 'bells' replaced with 'belles' meaning beautiful women.

Promotion

A music video for "Nothing For Christmas" was released on World of Wonder's YouTube channel on December 10, 2015. It features archive footage of RuPaul in the 1980s from the archives of Nelson Sullivan.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
On December 13, 2015, "RuPaul's Green Screen Christmas" aired on Logo and featured music videos for "Merry Christmas Mary", "Jingle Dem Bells", "Deck The Halls", "You're The Star (On My Christmas Tree)", "From Your Heart", "Christmas Cookies" & "Brand New Year". The show and videos featured guest appearances from

and the Pit Crew & contestants from

. The videos featured in "RuPaul's Green Screen Christmas" were uploaded to Logo's YouTube channel on December 15, 2015.

Track listing

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2015 albums 2015 Christmas albums Christmas albums by American artists Pop Christmas albums RuPaul albums